The planned establishment of the Supreme Building Authority and the system of regional building authorities will not proceed. The issuing of construction permits will continue to be the responsibility of municipalities. The abolition of the purely state-run construction administration, as stipulated in the 2021 Building Act, was signed by President Petr Pavel in the government’s amendment to the Building Act. The presidential office announced this.
The municipal building authorities will remain under the jurisdiction of local municipalities. Only the Transport and Energy Construction Authority, subordinate to the Ministry of Transport, will be established, focusing primarily on transportation and energy-related projects. The approved amendment to the new Building Act aims to expedite and streamline the construction permitting process.
Establishing a state construction administration and transferring building authorities to the state were provisions of the new Building Act of 2021, which the former government promoted under Andrej Babiš (ANO). Its main objective was accelerating the construction permitting process by adhering to specific timelines. However, the current coalition government, comprised of former opposition parties, opposed the creation of a new state authority and decided to abolish it. The amendment maintains the 694 building authorities in municipalities, possibly reducing this number based on construction activity.
The Chamber of Deputies passed the amendment in a rare consensus in March, with representatives of ANO and SPD also voting in favor. “The amendment aims to ensure a simple, transparent, and expedited construction permitting process in the Czech Republic, with the principle of one authority, one process, and one stamp. My goal was to accelerate the construction permitting process through this amendment, allowing decision-making to remain close to the citizens while maintaining a high level of protection of public interests in construction,” emphasized Ivan Bartoš, the Minister for Local Development and Digitalization at that time (Pirates).