People can probably give powers of attorney not only in paper form, but also in electronic form, which will be in the power of attorney register. The innovation will be brought about by the government's amendment to the Basic Registries Act, which was approved by the Senate without any changes. The matter will now be sent to the President for his signature. The Council allowed the same-sex partnership rules to be passed without a meeting. The Senate wants to remove the Pilsen-Linné zone from the Strategic Constructions Act so it can continue to be used by the military. The proposal will now be considered by the House of Representatives.
The delegation registry is aimed at serving the people to give full powers electronically and it will create a centralized system for them, which other authorities will have access to. When people represent someone in a situation or give someone a power of attorney, on the other hand, they represent themselves when dealing with authorities, for example an accountant when filing a tax return.
Deputy Prime Minister for Digitization Ivan Bartos (Pirates) said the state should start the registry from July. It will be integrated with other public administration bodies. “The Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs are offering themselves in the first line,” he said.
A power of attorney remains in the power of attorney register until it is revoked or expires. It also contains power of attorney forms for various purposes. In addition, the principal can revoke the power of attorney at any time, but the paper document remains. According to the Deputy Prime Minister, such cases should not arise in the case of digital plenary powers. The benefit is an increase in legal certainty, said Bartos.
This year's expenses related to the representative register should be approximately 205 million kroner at most, and 76 million kroner next year. For the next two years, the costs will always be approximately 34 million kroner, according to the explanatory report.
Legal definition of affordable housing
The Senate also approved a statutory definition of what is considered affordable rental housing. According to the amendment, tenants in affordable housing generally have to hold a lease of up to two years with an option to extend for a limited period. The starting rent should not exceed ninety percent of the local customary rent.
Hana Cordova Marvanova from the ODS and TOP 09 clubs opposed this, according to which the rent set in this way does not mean affordable housing, and the Union of Cities and Towns also disagreed with the adjustment. Hynek Hansa (ODS) said that affordable housing will not be ensured by subsidies, but by adequate apartments. In agreement with them, Miroslav Adámek (ANO) pointed out that the definition of affordable housing was included in the government's amendment only in the House of Representatives and would cause problems in practice. Nevertheless, 41 of the 75 senators from all factions supported the amendment, except for the ANO Club and SOCDEM.
For example, in affordable housing provided by the state, region, and municipalities, rent in the first year may not exceed an amount calculated from the costs associated with the construction or acquisition and operation of the affordable rental unit. At the same time, it should be lower than the comparable regular local rent.
In subsequent years, the available rent may increase by inflation, but not by more than four percent per annum. The rent price maps will be processed by the Ministry of Finance. According to critics, the difference between potential rents puts private providers of affordable housing at a disadvantage against public providers and may violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Up to a certain level of net income, affordable housing can be achieved by homeless families, victims of domestic violence, or through so-called discretionary occupations. These include health professionals, teachers, police officers, paramedics and social service workers.
Zone in Lini
According to the Senate, the Pilsen-Linné zone should be removed from the Act on Strategic Constructions to ensure its continued use by the military. The draft will now be considered by the government and the House of Representatives, which, on the initiative of Senator Vladislav Vilimek (ODS), could soon approve the draft already in the initial round of discussion.
In the Act to Accelerate the Construction of Strategically Important Infrastructure, the zone in Linz is listed as a strategic business park, mainly used for the production and storage of batteries for electric vehicles. Volkswagen Group plans to build this so-called Gigafactory. However, at the beginning of last November, he announced that the decision on building the factory would be postponed until 2025, leading to the end of the negotiations.
Among others, the site houses a former military airport with a concrete runway, now used by the Army to operate air rescue services with its helicopters. In the future, according to Vilimek, the zone will be used for training and logistics.
Definition of Anti-Gypsyism
The Upper Chamber, like the government, adopted a definition of anti-Roma sentiment, known as anti-Syganism, to reject discriminatory and stereotypical treatment of the Roma minority. But on Wednesday, its government revised its version of the non-statutory definition in line with the English original, which was set out in 2020 by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).
“Anti-Gypsyism or anti-Roma discrimination is expressions or actions of individuals, as well as strategies and practices of institutions that lead to the marginalization or exclusion of Roma, physical violence against them, devaluation of Roma culture and way of life, manifestations of hatred against Roma,” he said from the adopted Senate version of its opening Quoted by Miroslav Plevny (STAN).
According to the accepted definition, the Roma are stigmatized and persecuted as “Gypsies” because of their ethnic origin, and are associated with a number of offensive stereotypes and misrepresentations that represent a specific form of racism. In this context, the definition is reminiscent of the Roma Holocaust, the Nazi extermination of the Roma during World War II.
Clarification of wrong area of consumer law
On Wednesday, the Senate approved a clarification on a flawed section of the consumer law. According to supporters of the amendment, led by Michael Rataj (STAN), the current wording of the law may allow for multiple interpretations, including the impossibility of discussing the crimes of an administrative body other than the Czech Trade Inspection.
According to the drafters, such an approach is unacceptable and will disable the supervision of consumers' legal rights. The amendment therefore aims to establish that all executive officers who are legally empowered to supervise are responsible for dealing with offences.
The Upper Chamber wants to expand the range of debtors of health insurance contributions. Because of this, he recommended an amendment to the Parliamentary Amendment, which must now be debated again by the Lower House. The amendment, which complements previous grace years or so-called fall periods, is intended to allow fines and any enforcement costs to be waived.
