News

Entrusting children to the care of their wider family

June 23, 2009 News

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 News

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 News

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 News

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 News

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 News

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 News

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 News

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 News

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 News

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 News

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 News

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.

Dispute about the existence of a publicly accessible purpose-built road in a municipality

April 10, 2008 News

Dispute about the existence of a publicly accessible purpose-built road in a municipality

The Defender opened an inquiry on his own initiative in the matter of a dispute about the existence of a purpose-built road. He ascertained during the inquiry that the highway administrative authority entirely lacks qualified methodological assistance from the regional authority or, as the case may be, the Ministry of Transport. He therefore produced a report on the inquiry with a detailed description of how a road arises, how a publicly accessible purpose-built road differs from a local road and how the highway administrative authority should proceed in cases where access to a road is restricted. The manner in which the highway administrative authority determines the existence or the lack of a road was one of the basic issues dealt with. The Defender stated that in his opinion there may be a procedure pursuant to Section 142 of the Code of Administrative Procedure where the administrative authority issues a declaratory decision.

Ascertaining the reasons for the death of a child in Great Britain

March 26, 2008 News

Ascertaining the reasons for the death of a child in Great Britain

An inquiry into the death of a child of a Czech citizen in a hospital in Great Britain was performed on the basis of a complaint from Senator Božena Sekaninová. The child had died in a British hospital in unexplained circumstances and the mother had not received an autopsy protocol or other information regarding the reasons for the death of her daughter. Although the Defender did not have a direct mandate in the matter (the complainant challenged the procedure of British institutions), the deputy of the Defender provided her with detailed legal advice for dealing with the situation (via the embassy in Great Britain) as well as information on the potential for further intervention of the Defender towards Czech authorities.

Unauthorised disposal of hazardous waste in Libčany

March 14, 2008 News

Unauthorised disposal of hazardous waste in Libčany

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.

Inspection of work safety and illegal employment

September 3, 2007 News

Inspection of work safety and illegal employment

Based on information from previous complaints, the deputy of the Defender opened an inquiry on the Defender’s own initiative regarding the inspection work of the Area Labour Inspectorate for Prague. The Area Inspectorate had performed an inspection on the basis of a complaint from a complainant whose husband had worked for a company without any contract and suffered an occupational injury. However, the Area Inspectorate had failed to ascertain that the husband of the complainant had not been employed with the company concerned at all and found just minor maladministration in the area of work safety.

Unauthorised disposal of hazardous waste in Libčany

September 3, 2007 News

Unauthorised disposal of hazardous waste in Libčany

Following a complaint filed together with Senator Karel Barták, the mayor of Hradec Králové Otakar Divíšek, the Deputy of Parliament David Kafka and the 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.

Eviction of Romani families from Vsetín

August 16, 2007 News

Eviction of Romani families from Vsetín

The inquiry in the case of the eviction of the Romani residents from the balcony house in Smetanova street in Vsetín was closed, stating maladministration by the Municipal Authority in Vsetín.

International child abduction

August 16, 2007 News

International child abduction – the right to a fair trial and the protection of the interests of children

In May 2006, the Public Defender of Rights of the Czech Republic decided on his own initiative to investigate the widely medialised case of children who had been abducted by their mother from Argentina to the Czech Republic. He surveyed the case with regard to the delays in the court proceedings, provision for the interests of the children and adherence to international obligations. It is not the competence of the Czech Ombudsman to review the decision-making activities of courts.

Situation of the residents of a burned down house in Přízová street in Brno

August 16, 2007 News

Dealing with the situation of the residents of a burned down house in Přízová street in Brno

The deputy of the Defender decided to open an inquiry in April 2007 into the matter of providing housing to the residents of a burned down house in Přízova street in Brno. The inquiry concerns the granting of social aid to the residents who have found themselves in an extraordinary situation, including the granting of benefits of aid in material need, provision of the social and legal protection of children and the procedure of the planning authority.