Effective as of 1 January 2018, an amendment to the Nature and Landscape Conservation Act of 2017 barred environmental groups from participation in zoning and building permitting procedures. After almost four years, the Constitutional Court has now upheld this law as being constitutional. The decision by the Constitutional Court thus confirms that environmental groups cannot invoke the Nature and Landscape Conservation Act to demand participant status in zoning and building permitting procedures, though the Constitutional Court does note that groups are not affected in their right to subsequently challenge a zoning decision or building permit, once issued, before the administrative courts.

As we have informed you in our previous articles, during the approval process of the Tax Package for 2021 (amendment of the Income Taxes Act as of 1. 1. 2021), doubts arose as to whether the legislative process took place in a constitutionally prescribed manner. Now, a group of senators asked the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic to review the constitutionality of the Act’s approval process and proposed it be abolished. According to the Constitution of the Czech Republic, the Constitutional Court can decide on the abolishment of an act should it be contrary to the constitutional order.

Industrial production accelerated its decline in February, negatively surprising analyst estimates. Orders are growing, but there are missing components for production and partial shortages of manpower. The foreign trade surplus fell in line with weaker industry. Unsurprisingly, construction remains subdued.

The disruption caused by Covid-19 to CEE’s M&A market was short-lived as dealmaking returned to the fore in the second half of the year, according to a new report published by Mazars in association with Mergermarket.