What is Act No. 150 / 2017 Coll.?

Act No. 150 / 2017 Coll., on Foreign Service and on the amendment of certain laws (Foreign Service Act) — Foreign Service Act (Foreign Service Act).

When it became Act No. 150 / 2017 Coll. effectiveness?

Act No. 150 / 2017 Coll. became effective 01.07.2017.

Is Act No. 150 / 2017 Coll. still valid?

Yes, Act No. 150 / 2017 Coll. is still valid and effective.

Act No. 150 / 2017 Coll. - Foreign Service Act (Foreign Service Act...

150

THE LAW

of 19 April 2017

on foreign service and amending certain laws (Foreign Service Act)

Parliament has decided on this law of the Czech Republic:

ČÁST PRVNÍ

FOREIGN SERVICES

HLAVA I

BASIC PROVISIONS

§ 1

Subject matter and scope

(1) This Act provides for:

(a) the principles and manner of carrying out foreign service;

(b) the status, establishment and cancellation of the representative offices of the Czech Republic abroad (hereinafter referred to as the representative office) and their activities;

(c) the granting and withdrawal of consent to the establishment of diplomatic missions and consular posts of foreign States and offices of international organisations or institutions in the Czech Republic (hereinafter referred to as the "Foreign Representative Office"), the representation of public institutions established under the law of a foreign State and the representation of entities which are not a State in terms of international law;

(d) the performance of consular service;

(e) professional and labour relations in connection with the performance of foreign service;

(f) the granting, lending and withdrawal of diplomatic and consular posts.

(2) This law implements the relevant provisions of the European Union1) and regulates the conditions for the provision of consular protection to the non-represented citizens of other Member States of the European Union (the "non-represented citizen").

§ 2

Definition of basic terms

For the purposes of this Act:

(a) foreign service activities aimed at establishing, maintaining and developing relations with foreign states and other bodies of international law, as well as the protection of the interests of the Czech Republic and its citizens abroad, carried out in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ("the Ministry"),

(b) a foreign service performed by a diplomatic or administrative officer at a post abroad;

(c) a service at the headquarters of a foreign service performed by a diplomatic worker at a post in the Czech Republic;

(d) the consular service of a foreign service having as its object activities under Title V;

(e) work abroad by a technical or administrative worker with a regular place of work abroad;

(f) work at the headquarters of the work carried out by a technical or administrative worker with a regular workplace in the Czech Republic,

(g) a diplomatic staff member of a civil servant in a service relationship or, in exceptional cases, an employee in an employment relationship engaged in foreign service, with the exception of the activities referred to in point (h), who is assigned to a post designated as a diplomatic post in the Staff Regulations of the State Secretary of the Ministry;

(h) an administrative staff member of a civil servant in a service relationship or an employee in a foreign service in the field of administrative activities, assigned to a post designated as an administrative post in the Ministry's official regulations;

(i) by a consular officer, a diplomatic or administrative officer engaged in the activities referred to in Title V;

(j) an honorary consular officer who is not in a service, work or other similar relationship with the Ministry, in charge of the performance of certain consular activities under Title V;

(k) a technical worker employed in an employment relationship engaged in auxiliary, service or manual work related to foreign service, assigned to a post designated in the Ministry's official regulations as a technical post;

(l) a member of the family of a diplomatic, administrative or technical worker, his spouse, partner under the Registered Partnership Act (hereinafter referred to as "partner"), his own child, an adopted child, a child entrusted to a civil servant or to a foster or educational staff, his own parents, an adopter, a guardian and a foster parent; another person shall be treated as a family member only if he or she lives with a civil servant or household worker.

§ 3

Principles for the performance of foreign service

(1) The foreign service is carried out in particular in accordance with the principles of:

(a) loyalty to the Czech Republic,

(b) professionalism;

(c) indivisible,

(d) compliance with obligations arising for the Czech Republic under international and European Union law.

(2) In providing foreign services, the State Secretary of the Ministry shall ensure respect for the career system of foreign services and the rotation of services at headquarters and abroad.

HLAVA II

STATUS, ESTABLISHMENT AND DISTORTION OF THE REPRESENTATIVE AUTHORITY

§ 4

Representative Office

(1) The representative office is a ministerial organisational department (2) set up for the purpose of carrying out service tasks abroad.

(2) The representative offices are:

(a) the embassy,

(b) a permanent mission to an international organisation ("the permanent mission");

(c) the consular office;

(d) special missions;

(e) the liaison office or office.

(3) The Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, hereinafter referred to as "the Minister", establishes and repeals the representative offices after consultation with the Minister of State. Before the establishment or cancellation of the representative office referred to in paragraph 2 (a), (b) and (e), the Minister shall inform the Government of the Czech Republic (hereinafter referred to as "the Government ').

(4) The Minister shall determine the scope of the activities of the representative office, including whether it will carry out such activities for several States and, where appropriate, define the scope of activities under Titles IV and V.

(5) If the Minister cancels the representative office, he shall determine which representative office or offices will carry out the activity of the disturbed representative office or, where appropriate, the extent to which that representative office or offices will carry out the activities referred to in Titles IV and V to date carried out by the disturbed representative office.

§ 5

Embassy

The Embassy shall perform the functions of a diplomatic mission under the International Treaty, which shall bind the Czech Republic (3) in respect of the State in which it is established and, where appropriate, in respect of other States (hereinafter referred to as the "beneficiary State '), in particular:

(a) represents the Czech Republic in the recipient State;

(b) promote and protect the interests of the Czech Republic and its citizens in the recipient State;

(c) conduct negotiations with the Government of the beneficiary State;

(d) investigate the situation and conditions in the recipient State, including issues relating to European Union matters, and inform the competent national authorities of the Czech Republic thereof;

e) promotes the objectives of the foreign and security policy of the Czech Republic;

(f) promote relations between the Czech Republic and the recipient state and develop economic, cultural, scientific and other contacts;

(g) in the case referred to in Paragraph 10 (2), it shall also perform the functions of a permanent mission.

§ 6

Permanent mission

(1) The Permanent Mission shall perform the functions of the diplomatic mission in relation to the international organisation in which it is established, in particular:

(a) represents the Czech Republic in an international organisation;

b) promotes and protects the interests of the Czech Republic in an international organisation;

(c) conduct negotiations with authorities and representatives of an international organisation;

(d) conduct discussions with representatives of the Member States representing each Member State in an international organisation;

(e) investigate the situation in an international organisation, monitor its activities and inform the competent authorities of the Czech Republic thereof,

f) promotes relations and the development of contacts between the Czech Republic and the international organisation.

(2) The Permanent Mission shall represent the Czech Republic and promote its interests in activities directly related to membership in an international organisation which are held outside the framework of an international organisation and shall inform the competent authorities of the Czech Republic of these activities.

§ 7

Consulate Office

(1) The consulate offices are:

(a) the Consulate General,

(b) the consulate,

(c) consular management,

(d) a consular office, headed by a honorary consular officer.

(2) The Consultative Office performs functions under the international treaty, which is the Czech Republic binders 4, in relation to the beneficiary State.

(3) The Consultative Office also performs the other functions referred to in § 5 to the extent specified by the Minister pursuant to § 4 (4) and (5).

(4) The Consulate General, the Consulate and the Consulate in the performance of foreign services under this Act coordinate with the embassy representing the Czech Republic in the recipient state.

(5) The Minister shall designate a representative office to oversee the performance of the consular office operated by a honorary consular officer.

(6) The honorary consular officer may be appointed as a person whose social status in the recipient State, knowledge of the circumstances in the intended territory for which the consular office will carry out its activities, the level of relations with representatives of the public and private areas, as well as expertise and experience, guarantee the proper performance of the activities referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3. A Honorary consular officer can be appointed both a citizen of the Czech Republic and a citizen of another state.

(7) No salary or salary shall be paid or paid for the performance of his duties.

(8) The public contract concluded between the Ministry and the honorary consular officer may provide for the financial performance obtained by the consular office led by the honorary consular officer as a contribution to the payment of operating costs and the conditions for its provision. The allowance may be granted at the maximum amount of administrative fees under another legislation5) selected by the consular office.

(9) The administrative fees collected by the consular office, which shall be managed by a fee-based consular officer, shall be charged to the State budget by the representative office which shall supervise the performance of its activities, at an amount less the amount of any contribution referred to in paragraph 8. In this procedure, the Ministry does not tie the expenditure of the state budget.

§ 8

Special missions

A special mission is a temporary mission representing the Czech Republic, which is seconded to the other state with the consent of the Czech Republic for the purpose of dealing with certain issues, or for the purpose of carrying out a specific task in relation to this second state6).

§ 9

Liaison office or office

(1) The liaison office or office is established as a general rule in order to ensure the contacts of the Czech Republic with the authorities and representatives of an entity which is not a State in terms of international law.

(2) The liaison office or office shall, to the extent specified by the Minister, perform functions similar to those of a diplomatic mission.

§ 10

Head of the representative office

(1) The Head of the representative office, which is the embassy, is the highest-ranking Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic in the recipient state.

(2) The Head of the representative office, which is the embassy, may also be authorised to represent the Czech Republic with the international organisation. Such a representative may also be entrusted to a diplomatic staff who is not head of the representative office pursuant to Section 5.

(3) The Head of the representative office, which is an embassy, may perform his duties against the recipient State and from the embassy established in another State or from the Ministry. The extent of the activities of the Head of the Deputy Office of the Ministry shall be determined by the Minister.

(4) Pursuant to Articles 5 and 6, the Head of the representative office shall delegate and dismiss the President of the Republic on a proposal from the Government. The other head of the representative office shall be entrusted and dismissed by the Minister.

HLAVA III

Granting and withdrawing consent to the establishment of foreign representative offices and other bodies

§ 10a

The Ministry grants and withdraws consent to the establishment of a foreign representative office.

§ 10b

(1) The Ministry shall keep a list of foreign representative offices.

(2) The Ministry shall keep a list of members of foreign representative offices and their family members to whom an identification card has been issued under another legislation28).

§ 10c

(1) If it is in the interest of the Czech Republic, the Ministry may consent to the establishment of a representation of a public institution established under the law of a foreign state, which together with a foreign representative office to form economic, cultural or scientific contacts with the Czech Republic. With the consent of the Ministry, taking into account the principle of reciprocity, it shall determine the scope of the privileges and immunities which such representation and its members belong to. Paragraph 10b shall apply mutatis mutandis. The Ministry may withdraw consent at any time, or, where appropriate, the extent of privileges and immunities, in particular when applying the principle of reciprocity.

(2) The Ministry may consent to the establishment of a representation of a territorial unit of a foreign state, if this is in the interest of the Czech Republic. Such representation shall not be subject to privileges and immunities. Paragraph 10b (1) shall apply mutatis mutandis.

§ 10d

The Ministry may consent to the establishment of representation of an entity which is not a state in terms of international law, if this is in the foreign political interest of the Czech Republic. The representation of the entity and its members may be granted privileges and immunities not exceeding the privileges and immunities granted to diplomatic missions, but not more than to the extent that the entity grants privileges and immunities to the Liaison Office or to the Office of the Czech Republic pursuant to § 9.

HLAVA IV

PERFORMANCE OF FOREIGN SERVICES

§ 11

(1) The performance of the service at the headquarters shall in particular mean:

(a) the formation of bilateral and multilateral relations with other States and international organisations, including international regional groupings;

(b) monitoring the development of national political relations with other States as well as monitoring their position on important foreign policy issues;

(c) cooperation on the preparation of foreign trips by representatives of the Czech Republic and visits by representatives of other states and international organisations in the Czech Republic,

(d) monitoring, ensuring and coordinating international security activities;

(e) the coordination and security of the preparation, negotiation and national negotiation of international agreements, as well as their announcement and monitoring of compliance and implementation;

(f) preparing development programmes and projects of the Czech Republic and providing and coordinating humanitarian aid abroad;

(g) promoting the objectives of the Czech Republic in the field of human rights and transformation cooperation;

(h) promotion of public diplomacy and regional relations activities;

(i) addressing incidents abroad under Title V concerning the interests of the Czech Republic and its citizens.

(2) The performance of the service abroad means in particular:

(a) meetings of diplomatic staff with representatives of the beneficiary State or international organisation and representatives of diplomatic missions of other States;

(b) monitoring the situation and promoting and protecting the interests of the Czech Republic in the recipient State or in an international organisation;

c) monitoring the conditions for developing and fulfilling the contractual relations of the Czech Republic with the recipient state;

(d) cooperation on the preparation of foreign travel by representatives of the Czech Republic to the recipient state or international organisation and visits by representatives of other states and international organisations in the Czech Republic,

(e) creating conditions for the universal development of relations between the Czech Republic and the recipient State, including economic, cultural and scientific contacts and development cooperation;

f) promotion of regional relations and education in Czech language abroad.

(3) The performance of a foreign service shall also be understood as the performance of a consular service under Title V.

§ 12

Mutual cooperation between the Ministry, other state bodies and legal persons

The Ministry, other state bodies and legal persons to whom other legislation7) provide for mutual cooperation in order to promote and protect the interests of the Czech Republic in the performance of foreign service. To this end, the Ministry may conclude agreements with other state bodies and legal entities defining more detailed conditions for the provision of synergies in the performance of foreign services.

§ 13

Support for the performance of foreign services

(1) The external service referred to in Article 11 (2) (e) may also be performed by staff included in the State's organisational component or the State's contribution organisation established by or subordinate to the Central Administration ("the Sending Organisations"), provided that an agreement has been concluded pursuant to Article 12. To this end, the sending organisation may, with the agreement of the Ministry, send its staff to the representative office.

(2) A person seconded pursuant to paragraph 1 shall be managed by the Head of the representative office in accordance with an agreement concluded pursuant to Paragraph 12; such person shall receive instructions from the sending organisation under that agreement.

(3) A person seconded pursuant to paragraph 1 may, for the purpose of performing in the recipient State, use the name of the sending organisation, if this is consistent with the practice of the receiving State.

(4) The sending organisation shall terminate the secondment of its staff to the representative office, if the Ministry so requests, without giving any reason.

§ 14

(1) In order to promote the performance of foreign services, the Ministry may establish a state contribution organisation. The Ministry shall issue the instrument of establishment of this State Contribution Organisation. The State contribution organisation shall be established on the date specified in the instrument of incorporation. The instrument of incorporation shall also include the following information:

(a) the designation of the founder of the State Contribution Organisation;

(b) the name, registered office and identification number of the person of the State contribution organisation;

(c) the definition of the purpose for which the State contribution organisation is established;

(d) the subject matter of the main activity or other activity of the State contribution organisation, where appropriate;

(e) the designation of the statutory body and the definition of the basic organisational structure of the State contribution organisation;

(f) the definition of the assets of the Czech Republic entrusted by the Ministry to the State Contributory Organisation when it is established;

(g) the definition of the period for which the State contribution organisation is set up and, where appropriate, the indication that it is set up for an indefinite period.

(2) The Statutory Authority of the State Contributory Organisation established under paragraph 1 shall appoint and revoke the Minister.

(3) The Ministry may decide to divide a State contribution organisation established under paragraph 1, to merge it or to merge it with another State contribution organisation established under paragraph 1, or to amend such State contribution organisation. At the same time, it shall issue the instrument of incorporation of the emerging state contribution organisation or the supplement to the instrument of incorporation. The State contribution organisation shall cease to exist on the date laid down in the decision on its division or merger or, where appropriate, on the date set out in the decision on its merger, if another State contribution organisation is the legal successor.

(4) The Ministry may decide to abolish a State contribution organisation set up under paragraph 1. At the same time, it will decide how to settle the rights and obligations exercised by the state contribution organisation, including the jurisdiction to manage the property of the Czech Republic, and cancel the charter. If they do not decide, the rights and obligations of the cancelled state contribution organisation shall be transferred to the Ministry. The State contribution organisation shall cease to exist on the date specified in the decision to revoke it.

(5) The establishment, division, merger, merger or cancellation of a State contribution organisation decided on in accordance with paragraphs 1 to 4 shall be notified by the Ministry in the Central Journal of the Czech Republic within 30 days of the date on which that fact occurred. The notification shall include the designation of the contractor of the State Contributor Organisation, its name, registered office, person identification number and date, month and year of origin, division, merger, merger or termination.

§ 15

Diplomatic and consular rank

(1) A diplomatic or consular rank is granted or granted to state staff and to staff in foreign service.

(2) Diplomatic evaluations are:

(a) attaché;

(b) the III. Secretary,

(c) the II. Secretary,

(d) the First Secretary,

(e) the Embassy Council,

(f) a radar envoy,

(g) the Ambassador.

(3) The consulate values are:

(a) consular agent for attaché,

(b) the Vice-Consul for the III and II Secretaries,

(c) a consul for the First Secretary and the Embassy Council;

(d) the consul-general for the councilandambassadors.

(4) Diplomatic staff may be awarded diplomatic rank depending on:

(a) completion of an educational programme aimed at the performance of foreign service;

(b) the period of foreign service;

(c) the period of foreign service at the post of service of the representative;

(d) the number of missions abroad.

(5) Where a national staff member is required to receive a second written warning for a guilty breach of his or her obligations under the legislation relating to the performance of his or her duties, of his or her professional and other internal rules and of his or her orders for service within a period of 12 months, the diplomatic rank granted to him shall be withdrawn and his or her diplomatic rank shall be granted a degree lower. For the purposes of the re-award of the diplomatic rank withdrawn, the periods of foreign service referred to in paragraph 4 shall be regarded as having been renewed on the date of withdrawal. If, in accordance with the final decision of the written warning, the diplomatic rank taken in accordance with the first sentence is illegal, the period for which the diplomatic rank has been withdrawn as a result of the unlawful written notice shall again be recognised until the period of foreign service.

(6) Diplomatic or administrative staff may be granted diplomatic or consular status for the performance of their duties abroad according to the nature of the post or post in which they are assigned. Diplomatic staff at the post of a representative may also be awarded diplomatic status in the performance of their duties at headquarters.

(7) Diplomatic and consular degrees are granted, conferred and withdrawn by the State Secretary of the Ministry.

(8) The Ministry shall determine by decree the diplomatic and consular rank, the more detailed conditions under which they are awarded or lent, and the procedure for their granting or lending.

HLAVA V

PERFORMANCE OF CONSULAR SERVICES

Díl 1

Performance of consular activities

§ 16

Consultative activities

(1) To the extent defined by this law, other laws, international treaties which bind the Czech Republic (4), and in accordance with the law of the beneficiary State in particular:

(a) consular protection;

(b) verification activity;

(c) activities of a notarial nature,

(d) the matrix agency8),

(e) the State Civil Agenda (9);

(f) the travel document10),

Citation	Act No. 150 / 2017 Coll., on Foreign Service and on the amendment of certain laws (Foreign Service Act)
Regulation Type	-
Author	-
Collection	Code of Laws

Date of Promulgation	22.05.2017
Effective from	01.07.2017
Effective until	-
Status	Valid

Act No. 150 / 2017 Coll.

Foreign Service Act (Foreign Service Act)

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