Czech law

The first polluters were surprised, when a police officer told them to lift that cigarette bud according to the new law, otherwise they would have to pay the fine. Most of them cooperated and lifted it from the ground, but still the self-confidence of 13 polluters didn’t allow them to bow before the police officers, so they rather paid the fine of 500 czk.

As a matter of fact, this may be a real change. I was skeptical to the proposal at first, because often some new laws that pass won’t get through to the people, like laws about prostitutes, drugs etc. But it seems Prague will get cleaner hopefully. But what I still miss in Prague, is a good old-fashioned car with a tank and a hose, which would clean the streets with Vltava water every evening. If that will be another step, I am happy.

The Holidays have started, and with them, the new fines started to be given awy. Perhaps, a cigarette bud thrown away can be the reason. Or a chewing gum spitted on a pavement. Or even throwing some bread to pigeons. If there appears to be an oily pool under a vehicle, the owner can find a fine behind his windscreen wiper. All this due to the new public notice for clean Prague.

The police officers can fine a caught litterer up to thousand czk at the place. If the person refuses to pay it, the offense is dealt with at the town council, the officers can lift it up to 30 000 czk. Anyway Prague municipal council proclaims the public notice is not intended for persecuting decent folks. The idea is the police should have a tool for people who litterbug usually one spot on everyday basis.

The first of July brought the changes into effect. Since today, to spit out a chewing gum on a street, to throw away a cigarette bud or just feeding pigeons equals a possible fine.

The new public notice of cleanness takes itself seriously, and so the police officers of Prague will be ready to check it from the first day.

The fines which are possible to get at the spot go up to 1000czk. This is a common practice in all good European metropolises. Prague police is hardening, and we can look forward to other limits, too – drinking alcohol at public places ban will be probably passed as well, soon.

It was ruled out, Prague joins other world metropolises, having laws against polluting public spaces. The new public notice was published on Thursday by Prague representatives. And any violator can pay quite a lot – up to 30 000 czk, which is 1200€.

According to the public notice, a police officer can fine a polluter up to 1000 czk at the place, for CIGRETTE-END, CHEWING GUM, or DOG DEJECTA. If it goes to administrative procedure, the sanction can be up to 30t.

The public notice is official since 1st July 2008, ever since the police will check whether it is adhered. The polluter will get a fine, plus he will have to clean it after him. The typically controlled places will be the Prague centre, everyday more crowded, and other frequently visited places like Prague Exhibition ground.

Originally, the idea was no one should have a different sign, so no one will envy the other. Ideas and reality vary, so in the end it only helped to nurture corruption of officers, responsible for the plate. The drivers should, in the future, gain the licence plate either the traditional way (computer roll) or to choose it by themselves.

Drivers should get the possibility of setting the last five letters of the plate, the first two, which show the registration place and the code of the region, would stay the same. The Prague town council is serious about that matter, and if the proposal won’t pass through the Transport Department, they plan to submit it to the Parliament.

Are you going to the centre of Prague with your car and do you need to park there? Here is a short guideline how to use Prague Parking Zones.

The districts of parking zones are Prague 1, Prague 2, Prague 3, Prague 7. You can encounter three colours of lines – orange, green and blue, having different functions.

Orange Zone
Short-term parking zones equipped with a parking meter, charging 40 czk per hour. The maximum time possible to spend in the place is limited to 2 hours, the minimum time to pay is 15 minutes, the price is 10 czk. You have to pay there only from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. From 6 p.m. to 8 a.m., it is free of charge.

Green Zone
Medium-term parking zone, allowing to stay up to 6 hours. Those are charged 30 czk per hour, or it is possible to pay 120 czk for 6 hour straight away. Again, as with the previous case, the zone is equipped with a coin-operated parking meter, that can collect Czech coins. And again, the zone is effective from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Blue Zone
The long-term parking zone is designed solely for local residents, or companies based in the district. Otherwise it is almost impossible to get a parking card to this zone. Do not park there without the park card, as the police focus on those zones, checking them quite often.

Service Zone
Either for the handicapped, or for other subjects at the base of a special request, in the case of commercial subjects markedly charged.

The trend of Parking zones spreads from the centre of Prague to the other parts, so be prepared that every single year will widen the places of paid parking.

The supreme court didn’t support Vaclav Klaus in his opinion about judges.

The whole matter started two years ago – the Czech president nominates judges, and Klaus decided not to nominate about a dozen of new judges, because he “ … feel they are too young”. Meanwhile most of them didn’t comment, and they are judges already, those who dared to oppose and started a lawsuit still can’t work as judges. The only one who continued to resist president’s will is Petr Langer – and the Supreme Court ruled out Klaus cannot base such important matters solely on his feelings.

Czech laws set the minimum age for judges at 25. Even when all the would-be judges were 30+, Klaus simply decided not to nominate them, and repeatedly didn’t want to explain why he doesn’t want to do it in wider context. But according to Supreme Judges, the president is neither above the law, nor outside of its control. Klaus so has to let Petr Langer be a judge, or explain why not properly.

The anti-smoking law is one of the hot topics of this years lawmakers’ season. The laws are debated over and over, as they often return back because of their bad law enforceability and uncertainty. Last time, it was the problem of smoking ban at tram and bus stations, which nobody took seriously. The seriousness of passive smoking is the main topic of the another proposal of this year.

There may be of smoking ban in Restaurants, with one exception – when the owner accommodates smokers in a smoking room, which would be air-conditioned separately, with no service in the room, so the smokers would have to go for their drinks by themselves.

The smoking law varies from liberal to very strict rules. The definite final version may take longer than expected; e.g. last month the team came with a hard version, banning smoking almost everywhere, last week, there were ideas to unban smoking at some public places. We will see, which compromise will win.

The the beginning of this bizarre story is almost fifty Prague traffic lights – semaphores for pedestrians. They all have those common figures on, one red, one green. An artist with pseudonym Tyc decided that they are boring and that something must be done. He went to the factory where the semaphores are made, bought the original normalized glasses, and got to work. Suddenly, one day morning the figures were drinking, walking their dogs, peeing or simply sitting.

This wasn’t the first time Tyc changed reality; he is a member of Ztohoven Art Group, who also broadcasted a fictive nuclear bomb explosion on the national television. Not only Prague people liked it – it got the audience at the prestigious Vienna festival sidewalk CINEMA, and they awarded his project by the Audience Award.

Although the public evaluated his acts positively, he wasn’t so excepted by officers. They sued him for compensation of the expenses needed for putting of the traffic lights to the original state, which cost 82t czk, and they won the trial yesterday.

Economic commission of the Czech House of the Parliament is now solving the proposal of the anti-smoking law. But the proposals, collected nowadays, would paradoxically mean less strict rules, compared to nowadays. “If the proposals, that were heard in the committee, would be voted for, the norm should be rather called the smoking protection law.” Boris Stastny from ODS stated.

One of the points is, at the tram and bus stops, the ban would be lifted for the outside of shelters (now it is forbidden to smoke at stops as a whole). Another ideas bring into consideration obligatory smoking vogons in trains, which would mean they would have their little comeback.

The Parliament returns the anti-smoking law back to discussion because of its bad law enforceability and uncertainty.

The union of judges said no to the proposal of Dzamila Stehlikova to ban physical punishment. Such a law would be unnecessary and interfere with privacy.

“Instead of proposals of banning slaps of a child’s hand or other part of body we should focus more on using of present possibilities” the head of Judges Union Jirsa stated.

The Psychologist Petr Smolka points out, the possible ban would take one important eduction means away from the parents. “I have heard there wouldn’t have to be any sanctions in the law though, but then it doesn’t make sense. I can even imagine a situation. When an adolescent would threaten his parents he would inform against them at the social service, if they didn’t let him to a disco.”

Based on novinky.cz

The Ministry of Internal Affairs introduced the new project, which should bring fast solution, or at least limit football hooliganism. The first time this method will be tested is this Saturday match of Sparta Prague with Banik Ostrava.

The procedure seems simple – if policemen seize a hooligan, he will get his judgement summons directly at the stadium with the present state’s attorney, who will decide, whether he will go ahead to a judge. The judge will than pass the sentence.

The project came as a conclusion to the out-of-control situation which took place at the last match of ‘The Two Prague S’. The yet not seen vandalism cost the Letna Stadium 0,5 million czk, ant that nobody was seriously hurt is a miracle.

If the Government and the House of the Parliament will certify the law proposal for children’s laws, those parents who have heavy hand could get into conflict with the law.

What would become illegal? The bureau uses the definition of OSN of physical punishment; to slap a child’s hand or other part of body, to humiliate the child, to make a child suffer mentally.

What should be fine: to tell a child off (without humiliation), to prohibit activities a child likes (TV, computer … )

To break the law wouldn’t lead to sanction yet. The new formula should only warn the public physical punishment is not ok. But The Czech Bureau for Human rights plans to institute a system of financial fines in the future.

Prague court of appeal decided; the ex-policeman Tomas Cermak, who attacked Katerina Jacques while she was demonstrating against a march of Neo-nazis and beaten her, did it legally.

The appeal court complied Cermak’s statement, he did nothing a policeman in his position shouldn’t do.

The court stated his act wasn’t tactically flawless, but he did nothing illegal. “Jacques herself is responsible for her acts. If she obeyed the police orders, she wouldn’t get hurt.” The senate chairman Vlasak commented.

It all happened during a demonstration in 2006. Cermak’s task was not to let opposers of neo-nazi nemonstration get to physical contact with the ‘National Resistance’ group. When the opposers were told to clear the way for the neo-nazis, Katerina Jacques didn’t followed. When Cermak wanted to take her into custody, she put up resistance. So he beaten and loaded her anyway.

Cermak had been dismissed from police forces, now when the court decided in favor of him, he stated he wants to come back to police, plus he wants to get finantial compensation.

Can you buy a pit bull in the Czech Republic? Sure! Can you keep it? Sure! If you know what you are doing, a strong dog can be a really good companion and your security service.

In the Czech Republic, you can buy or get there breeds: Akita, American bulldog, bull-mastiff, Chow, pit bull, Rottweiler, Staffordshire terrier, or even a famous Czech wolf hybrid called the Czechoslovak Shepperd, which is a breed you have seen in the ‘Dancing with Wolves’ movie.

There are almost no regulations or restrictions for these breeds. Of course, there are common-sense laws such as a dog should be on a leash etc. This is what a parliamentarian Jaronym Tejc from CSSD want to change. He proposes something like gun licence for strong dogs. We will see how this will develop, maybe we will get to see less of these really sweet or really deadly breeds on the streets in the future.

Komunisticky Svaz Mladeze (Communist Youth League, KSM)
Was disbanded at the municipal court in Prague yesterday. Two years ago, the Ministry of Internal Affairs chanceled their ‘team’, but the young communists tried to appeal at a court.

Ministry have pointed out the irregularity of the KSM union to the police. The constitution of the KSM contained phrases like: “we struggle for revolutionary overcoming of capitalism” and “abolition of private ownership of manufactures” That is, however, antagony to the Declaration of Basic Rights and Freedoms.

Communist Youth League tried to advocate by “we would expropriation only in return of money and in public interest” the court didn’t accept their argumentation.

Liberalization of the Czech Republic continues. This proposal should make prostitution legal under certain conditions, like: prostitutes must be older than 18, are obliged to carry some kind of prostitute ID card, with a monthly stamp from a doctor, and, most importantly, to pay taxes.

Prostitutes would became private entrepreneurs who would do accounting, pay taxes and insurance. And they could run their business only in joy-houses, which would need permission for the business, too.

The fact is, even Good Solider Svejk written almost hundred years ago, describes Prague as the city that offers “hussies and other good society” but Czech laws about prostitution come from 1951 and are not reflecting true nature of nowadays liberal Czech Republic, which is going the same direction as Holland, for better or worse. This new law can be controversial, but if passed, it will be a step forward, not aside.

For more information about the law continue here

The first time, four years ago, she fought for ban of cage beds in asylums in person. This time, she sent a deputy of her organization Children’s High Level Group, a Czech psychiatrist Jan Pfeiffer, to help with reform of compensatory child welfare.

His task was to establish cooperation with government officials, reduce numbers of institutions and replace them with other kinds of care of kids in need and their families. The number of kids placed in such institutions is very high in the CR (about 20t kids) and instead of falling, the number is rising every year.

But no meeting with a minister has taken place so far. Pfeiffer have stated: “Discussions take place on low level. I have been trying to make a meeting with the minister of social matters Petr Necas for a month now.”

Rowlings first intervention came through quite successfully – cage beds were forbidden in 2007. However a team of BBC reporters have found 5 from 8 institutions still use them, regardless. Pfeiffer doesn’t give up yet; “It is all about finding a good strategy.”

The state discriminates us! Complain Czech water scooters operators.

Czech Sport Association of Water Scooters has filed a charge at the European law court, they are suing the Czech Republic. The reason is, according to the association, no interest in managing of water areas intended for public, plus creating barriers for scooter business.

According to the charges, the Czech Republic discriminates keepers and sellers of water scooters and limits free market with these machines, even when they satisfy EU standards. The association also requested the European community for precaution, which would lead to clarifying of money matters; where go the money for development of water ways. The association claims they have to finance everything connected to the sport by themselves.

Newspaper MfDnes has brought a study, concerning with planned changes in Czech drug politics. Voices for decriminalization are heard much louder now, but what made me interested was the interview with a singer of a Czech rock group and a smoker, Matej Homola. We give you some interesting insights, that should clear up, what is and what isn’t tolerated for marijuana smokers in the Czech Republic.

Did you ever had problems because of marijuana smoking?
No, but my friend, who had a few flowers at home, had to go to give an explanation to the police. Than, it wore away after some time..

How is the Czech Police tolerant to ganja smokers?
It’s quite good here. You sit with a friend in a park, have a joint, and when a police officer passes by, he tells you to butt out, or take it home, that’s all. No aggression like in the US.

What is the limit, of how much you can own?
If you don’t have ten kilos at home, you should be fine. I think about three flowers should be completely o.k.