Administrative law

• The need of transposition of Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data required adoption of a brand new regulation on personal data protection. The newly adopted Act no 122/2013 Coll. on Personal Data Protection is binding as of 1 July 2013, brings along new legal definitions and emphasizes the right for privacy protection and the duty to process personal data in a way to prevent infringement of data subject’s fundamental rights and freedoms. Under the new regime, only the controller is entitled to process personal data on its own behalf. The new act also modifies the status of entitled and responsible persons. In addition to the requirement to have full legal capacity and a clean criminal record, the responsible person is also obliged to pass an examination before the Personal Data Protection Office. Further, the new Act reflects the technological development, which significantly affects the personal data protection, by providing new conditions for biometric data processing and conditions for personal data transfer to third countries.

• The National Council adopted Act no 142/2013 Coll. which amends and supplements the Act no 377/2004 Coll.  on Non-smokers Protection. The purpose of the amendment is to improve non-smokers’ protection, mainly through a precise definition of places where the smoking is banned. The amendment is binding as of 1 July 2013. On the basis of the amendment, smoking is banned in shopping centres, with the exception of premises which are separated from the common spaces in the shopping centre in such a way that the harmful substances produced by the tobacco products, or the smoke and tar of the tobacco products, or made of goods which are designed for smoking but do not contain tobacco, do not get into and do not pollute the common premises of the shopping centres. The smoking ban covers also restaurant facilities, with the exception of the restaurant facilities which assigned at least 50% of its area to non-smokers. This non-smokers area must be located at the entrance to the restaurant facility and the smoking area must be separated in such a way that the harmful substances produced by the tobacco products, or the smoke and tar of the tobacco products, or made of goods which are designed for smoking but do not contain tobacco, do not get into and do not pollute the non-smoking area of the restaurant.

Family law

• The National Council adopted Act no 125/2013 Coll. which amends and supplements the Act on Family. This amendment was adopted in the wake of the Act on Family interpretation provided by the Supreme Court in its 5 Cdo 217/2010 judgment. The Supreme Court ruled that the claim for default interest for late child support payments (výživné) has no legal basis, since it is not based on a contractual relationship between the parties to the proceedings. The Court held that the child support payment creates a legal relationship under the family law and is therefore not a relationship under the civil law. This interpretation rendered claims for default interest in child support payment matters impossible. The amendment overturns this ruling and expressly provides the right to claim default interest for late child support payments according to the civil law rules.