News
Extension of a mining area
November 26, 2009
The deputy of the Defender inquired into the steps of the District Mining Authority in Ostrava and the Czech Mining Authority in Prague and found maladministration inter alia in that the author of the expert reports which served as underlying documents for decision-making by the authorities was biased.
Steps of the head of a children’s home in the relocation of a minor
September 30, 2009
Proposal for annulment of decree on Technical Conditions of Fire Protection of Buildings
September 4, 2009
Proposal of the Public Defender of Rights for annulment of decree on Technical Conditions of Fire Protection of Buildings
Proceedings before the Constitutional Court
Authentication of signatures outside the office of an authority
August 18, 2009
Complaint concerned with the “I, Muslim” programme
July 15, 2009
Complaint concerned with the “I, Muslim” programme
The deputy of the Defender closed an inquiry against the Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting concerning sanction proceedings against Czech Television due to broadcasting the coverage “Já, muslim” (or “I, Muslim”) in the Infiltrace (or Infiltration) programme on October 7, 2005, on Czech Television’s second channel.
Construction of the new National Library
June 23, 2009
Construction of the new National Library
The Defender closed an inquiry into the procedure and decision-making of the Office for the Protection of Competition with respect to the architectonic competition for the design of a new building of the National Library. According to the Defender’s findings, the Office dealt three times with the case. It initially concluded that it was not substantively competent to review acts of the National Library (the contracting authority) within the design competition and discontinued the proceedings initiated by HŠH architekti, s.r.o. It stated that a public contract, i.e. acts of a contracting authority taken in a tender procedure, was not concerned. Two months later HŠH architekti, s. r. o. advised the Office of the risk of awarding the public contract on the basis of the results of the relevant design competition. The Office responded to this by stating that it had found no reasons for commencing administrative proceedings since the procedure of the National Library was subject to an exemption from the application of the Public Procurement Act as a result of applying the rules of international organisations. Although both the National Library and the winner of the competition had pointed to application of the exemption from the application of the Public Procurement Act already in the first procedure, the Office had not dealt with this matter at that time. The Office began to act in the matter for the last time on the basis of a query from the Ministry of Culture, which requested the Office provide a standpoint and recommendation for further steps. Within the aforementioned inquiry, the Office obtained an expert report on the nature of the UNESCO rules and the instructions of the International Union of Architects. It followed from the report that the exemption could not be applied, which was subsequently confirmed by the European Union. The Office therefore advised the Ministry of Culture and the National Library of the inapplicability of the exemption from the Public Procurement Act and informed them that “the winning design was chosen at variance with the procedure envisaged by the law”. It recommended annulment of the competition. The Office did all this through a mere letter rather than an administrative decision and it simultaneously advised the Ministry and the management of the Library that it did not have the power to directly review the legality of “design competitions”. It also pointed out that “…this standpoint cannot replace or predetermine the work of the Office in administrative proceedings that may be initiated by the Office…, if the Office obtains findings on illegal steps of the contracting authority in the tender procedure for the design work or some other related contract”.
Entrusting children to the care of their wider family
June 23, 2009
Entrusting children to the care of their wider family
The Defender opened an inquiry on his own initiative into the matter of minor children whose mother had been detained in April 2008 and taken into custody. The authority for the social and legal protection of children (hereinafter the “ASLPC”) had lodged a proposal for ordering preliminary injunctions, because care of the minor children had to be ensured after the mother was detained by the Police. The Defender found maladministration in the procedure of the ASLPC as it had failed to sufficiently ascertain, directly in connection with the lodging of the proposal for ordering preliminary injunctions, whether a member of the wider family would be able to ensure care of the children (the Defender found no documents in this respect in the file – an official record of an interview with the mother after her detention was also missing).
Exceeded noise limits on the D1 motorway
June 23, 2009
Exceeded noise limits on the D1 motorway
A complainant contested the procedure of the Regional Health Authority of the South Moravian Region, which had permitted the Road and Motorway Directorate to operate a source of noise exceeding safe limits (a part of the D1 motorway). The permission had been issued until June 30, 2009, one of the conditions being completion of noise barriers on both sides of the motorway by the end of 2008. Noise measurement was to take place after the completion of the barriers and the results were to be submitted by the end of validity of the permission at the latest. However, the construction of the barriers did not even commence by the above-specified deadline.
Manner of handling used railroad ties
June 23, 2009
Manner of handling used railroad ties
On her own initiative, the deputy of the Defender decided to inquire into the manner of handling used railroad ties. She had learned from several complaints that although contaminated by a number of hazardous substances, the ties were sold to private individuals for reuse. Within the inquiry, the deputy requested statements from the Czech Environmental Inspectorate and the Ministry of the Environment on the nature of the material and the results of inspection findings.
Non-granting of a short-term visa
June 23, 2009
Non-granting of a short-term visa
The case was concerned with the rejection of an application for the granting of a visa for a stay up to 90 days (a so-called tourist visa) to the complainant’s Egyptian friend. The Defender inquired into the case, found maladministration and requires in his final statement, in addition to other remedial measures, that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
Copyright fees
March 26, 2009
Copyright fees
In July, the Defender responded to several filings in the matter of the decree of the Ministry of Culture No. 488/2006 Coll. concerning the collection of copyright fees on so-called flash disks. Since the Defender had dealt with the issue before, he again addressed the Minister of Culture with a request for information as to whether the Ministry of Culture would amend the decree and by what date the potential amendment would be effective. He simultaneously pointed out the most frequent problems contested by complainants (in particular the inappropriateness of the correlation between the amount of the copyright fee and the capacity of the storage medium). In this context, the Minister of Culture submitted to the Defender a draft amendment to the decree that should be soon submitted for amendment proceedings and responds to technological progress in the area of data capacities.
Heritage Protection in Barrandov
March 26, 2009
Heritage Protection in Barrandov
The Defender closed an inquiry in October 2008 into the procedure of the bodies of state heritage preservation where he was dealing with the differing opinions of the Heritage Preservation Inspection and the executive bodies of state heritage preservation regarding the planned building projects in the area of the Barrandov terraces. The Minister of Culture informed the Defender that in order to avoid future conflicts in the assessment of planned building projects in the Barrandov area, Prague City Hall would instigate the issuing of a Protection Plan for the aforementioned protected cultural zone in the sense of Section 6a of Act No. 20/1987 Coll. on State Care of Monuments. Prague City Hall in co-operation with the Ministry of Culture and the relevant body of zoning of the Prague 5 municipal district will issue a general measure for the protection of the Barrandov protected cultural zone, which will stipulate the method of safeguarding the cultural values of the zone from the viewpoint of state heritage preservation. The Defender received a report from the Ministry of Culture in December 2008 on the progress of work in the preparation of the Protection Plan for the Barrandov Protected Cultural Zone in Prague. The Ministry of Culture has already submitted to the government a draft decree stipulating the requisites and content of the plan of protection of heritage reserves and protected cultural zones. The Prague City Hall in co-operation with the Ministry of Culture, the Prague 5 municipal district and the National Institute of Cultural Heritage will take concrete steps towards issuing a general measure for the protection of the Barrandov protected cultural zone after the aforementioned decree comes into effect.
Unauthorised disposal of waste in Libčany near Hradec Králové
March 26, 2009
Unauthorised disposal of waste in Libčany near Hradec Králové
Based on a complaint filed together by Senator Karel Barták, mayor of Hradec Králové Otakar Divíšek, Deputy of Parliament David Kafka, and mayor of the Libčany municipality Jiří Polák, the deputy of the Defender opened an inquiry into the unauthorised disposal of hazardous waste in Libčany near Hradec Králové and in Hradec Králové.
Work of the embassy of the Czech Republic in Hanoi
March 26, 2009
Work of the embassy of the Czech Republic in Hanoi
Within the inquiry into complaints concerning the embassy in Hanoi, a joint meeting took place on October 3, 2008, in the Office of the Public Defender of Rights with the representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Asylum and Migration Policy of the Ministry of the Interior and the Head Office of the Foreign Police. The agenda of the joint meeting included the proposed measures concerning the methodology of carrying out interviews with applicants for visas up to 90 days, obligatory signing of the record of the interview with an applicant for visa and the obligation to draw up such a record. The Defender noted only one positive change at the meeting, namely interviews with the family members of EU citizens where the representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed him that a record of the interview is obligatorily drawn up by the embassies with respect to applicants for visas up to 90 days. However, even in these cases the record is not signed by the visa applicant. The Defender will therefore opine critically on the existing practice of carrying out interviews in his 2008 annual report, which is submitted annually to the Chamber of Deputies. He pointed out the issue earlier at the regular press conference on August 13, 2008. The Defender considers the publicising of the issue of interviews with the applicants for visas to be a penal measure in the sense of Section 20 (2) (b) of Act No. 349/1999 Coll., on the Public Defender of Rights as amended. The Defender will continue to carefully observe this area in the future and attempt remedy within his competencies.
Complaint about the fine for unlawful business activity
November 6, 2008
Fine for unlawful business activity
A complainant requested help with respect to sanction proceedings conducted by the trade licensing office of the Brno Municipal Office. The authority claimed that the complainant was actively conducting a licensed trade of “registry keeping” without a trade license, whereby she allegedly performed an unlawful business activity. The activity consists in the keeping of files received earlier, at a time the complainant had a trade license obtained pursuant to the previous legislation. Given that the state subsequently changed the conditions for the conduct of the aforementioned trade and the complainant failed to fulfil the legal conditions, she lacked authorisation for continuing to perform the trade and thus performed an unlawful business activity, in the opinion of the authority.
Ammonia refrigeration in ice hockey stadiums
September 3, 2008
Ammonia refrigeration in ice hockey stadiums
The Defender has long been dealing with the safety risks associated with the operation of facilities where ammonia is used as refrigerant (this involves in particular indoor arenas, cold stores, etc.). The main reason for the inquiry consisted of doubts concerning the safety of such premises and the fact that the aforementioned facilities are not subject to the safety procedures under the Act on Prevention of Serious Accidents (Act No. 59/2006 Coll. as amended), since the quantity of ammonia involved usually does not reach the limits specified in the annex to the aforementioned Act.
Removal of children for housing reasons
June 16, 2008
Removal of children for housing reasons
The Defender found serious maladministration in the procedure of the body of social and legal protection of children (ASLPC), both in connection with filing a motion for ordering a preliminary injunction and in deciding on the awarding of children to pre-foster care. The Defender’s opinion is that in a situation where the mother had advised the ASLPC of her decision to deal with her adverse housing situation by moving to her parents, the motion for preliminary injunction removing the child from the mother should no longer have been filed. The Defender furthermore stated that the ASLPC had exceeded its powers when issuing a “confirmation” for the hospital personnel not to release the children into their parents’ care without consent from the ASLPC. The medical personnel then illegally refused to surrender the children to their mother and thus prevented her from leaving with the children to their grandparents in Slovakia. The Defender furthermore finds maladministration in awarding the children to pre-foster care as the situation in the family had been so stabilised at the time of issuing the decision that it would have been appropriate to negotiate return of the children to the family. The children’s contact with the parents was interrupted in the subsequent pre-foster care. The Defender attributes the situation occurring to poor preparation of the pre-foster care and insufficient guidance of the foster parents by the ASLPC. The Defender awaits a statement of the authority on the ascertained maladministration and will consider further procedure.
Procedure of the Ministry of Finance in fixing the maximum price of Visudyne
June 4, 2008
Procedure of the Ministry of Finance in fixing the maximum price of Visudyne
In association with inquiring into an individual complaint pertaining to the amount of patients’ supplementary payment for Visudyne (a medicine), the Defender’s deputy was informed that Visudyne is supplied by Novartis to the Czech Republic for a higher price than in other EU member states (except Slovakia). Given these facts, the deputy decided to open an inquiry on her own initiative to ascertain whether the pricing decision of the Ministry of Finance in the case of Visudyne was issued in accordance with valid legislation.