April 2012 - A special Czech-Slovak supplement in The Lawyer contains an article highlighting recent changes to Czech legislation that are expected to have a positive impact on the local legal market. Among the recent changes, perhaps the most significant is the major overhaul of the Civil Code in late 2011. The new Code abolishes many holdovers from the Communist era and makes doing business in the Czech Republic much easier and more similar to Western Europe.
Lukáš Ševčík, managing partner of Kinstellar’s Prague office, explains that, “the new code will have a huge effect both on the legal practice and businesses. It will introduce concepts formerly unknown in Czech law, significantly strengthening the principle of contractual freedom and reducing the number of cases where agreements are deemed invalid. Even though the practical changes won’t kick in until 2014, it’s already affecting everyone in the legal arena.’”
Other recent changes include an amendment to Czech public procurement law, which aims at making the process of public tenders more transparent. This is expected to make it easier for local law firms to participate in public tenders (previously, many local firms shied away from public procurements because of concerns over the lack of transparency). The new Act on the Criminal Liability of Companies—which makes legal entities liable for specific crimes, including economic crime, property theft and bribery—could also lead to new instructions for local firms, based on how the courts handle the first test cases.
For more information, please contact Lukáš Ševčík, Partner, at .