Dear members,

on behalf of the board, I would like express our hope that you, your family, work colleagues and friends are making safely physically and mentally through these difficult days. We often say the most important thing is our health, and the pandemic has made each of us understand how true that is.

I wanted to write to you to inform you about what is happening in AmCham.

Currently, there are two bills being discussed in the Czech Parliament. Under the first bill, which implements the European Electronic Communications Code (EECC) in the Czech Republic, the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition (Office) would be entitled to require providers of public communications network or a publicly available electronic communications service to provide operational and location data. This would be possible if such data could contribute to clarifying the facts relevant to the detection of any offence under Czech competition law, or the detection of a breach of Articles 101 or 102 of the TFEU, but only if the intended purpose cannot be achieved otherwise or solely with a disproportionate effort. Also, the prior written permission of the President of the High Court would be required.

The Czech Government introduced a new draft legislation transposing the EU Whistleblower Directive. The current proposal, which is the second draft, will probably be amended again during the legislative procedure. Legal professionals fear that the Czech Parliament will not be able to pass the bill within the transposition period as parliamentary elections are scheduled for October 2021.