Issuance of a parking card to the owner of a real estate located in a parking zone

The Complainant complained against the procedure of the town of Znojmo in processing her application for issuance of a parking card that would have allowed her to park her vehicle in the paid parking zone defined by a municipal regulation. In her complaint, the Complainant stated that she owned a specific real estate in the city. The city informed her that pursuant to the regulation concerning the issuance of parking cards, only a natural person with his/her permanent address within the defined area was allowed to apply for the issuance of a parking card. As the Complainant does not have a permanent residence in the defined area, the Municipal Authority rejected her application for the issuance of a parking card.

Pursuant to the Roads Act, a municipality can issue a regulation defining zones for the purpose of organisation of traffic, in which the local roads or portions thereof can be used to park a road motor vehicle belonging to a natural person who has permanent address or owns a real estate within the defined zone for a price agreed in accordance with price regulations.

The cited legal provision cannot be applied in the sense the right to buy a parking card is granted only to a certain group of people. In other words, if a municipality decides to define an area for residential and subscription parking, it cannot exclude from the system a group of people referred to in Section 23 (1)(c) of the Roads Act.

During the inquiry, the Deputy Ombudsman notified the mayor of the fact that according to the applicable laws, the Complainant had the right to be issued a parking card as it was clear that she owned a real estate within the defined area. Following the Deputy’s notice, the Municipal Authority began preparing a new regulation that would provide for paid parking and issuance of parking cards in accordance with the applicable wording of the Roads Act. Currently, the Municipal Authority is ready to issue parking cards to any potential applicant who owns a real estate within the defined area. The Complainant was directly informed in writing that should she be interested, she would be issued a parking card, on the basis of which the Deputy closed the inquiry.