Full text of Act No. 179 / 2009 Coll.
The full text of Act No 215 / 2004 Coll., on the modification of certain public aid relations and amending the Act on the promotion of research and development, as is apparent from the amendments made by Act No 109 / 2009 Coll.
Valid
Declared full text
Text versions:
22.06.2009
179
PRESIDENT OF THE GOVERNMENT
Announces
full text of Act No. 215 / 2004 Coll., on the adaptation of certain public aid relations and amending the Act on Research and Development Support, as shown by the amendments made by Act No. 109 / 2009 Coll.
THE LAW
on the adaptation of certain public aid relations and the amendment of the Law on the promotion of research and development
Parliament has decided on this law of the Czech Republic:
CERTAIN PUBLIC AID RELATIONS
Subject matter
This law regulates, in the light of the directly applicable rules of the European Community1) the exercise of public administration in the field of public aid, the rights and obligations of providers and beneficiaries of public aid vis-à-vis the competent coordinating body of public aid (the "coordinating body '), certain issues of the Czech Republic's synergies with the Commission of the European Communities (the" Commission'), as well as certain other relations with the provision of public aid.
Definition of terms
For the purposes of this Act:
(a) the public aid provider (hereinafter referred to as the "provider") who decides to grant public aid; where public aid is decided by the Government of the Czech Republic, the provider shall be the Ministry or any other central administrative office which submitted a proposal for public aid or a draft public aid programme to the Government of the Czech Republic,
(b) the recipient of the public aid (hereinafter referred to as the beneficiary), the natural or legal person for whom the granting of the public aid has been decided;
(c) by the coordinating body of the Ministry of Agriculture or the Office for the Protection of Competition (hereinafter referred to as "the Office"), which carry out, within their scope, central coordination, advisory, consultation and monitoring activities in the field of public aid;
(d) the date on which the aid is granted on a small scale, the date on which the beneficiary is entitled to the aid.
Scope of public aid
(1) The Office shall exercise the powers of the coordinating body outside the agricultural and fisheries sectors.
(2) The Ministry of Agriculture shall exercise the powers of the coordinating body, other than those referred to in paragraph 3 (d), in the field of public support for agriculture and fisheries.
(3) Coordination body
(a) cooperate with the provider before notifying public support to the Commission;
(b) cooperate with the Commission and the provider during the procedure before the Commission;
(c) keep a register of public aid granted in the Czech Republic and submit an annual report to the Commission;
(d) exercise control (2) over the implementation of final decisions on public aid issued by the Office under the legislation in force before the application of this law;
(e) decide on the imposition of fines under this law;
(f) transmit the notification of public aid to the Commission,
(g) issue opinions on the submission of a provider made before and during the proceedings before the Commission;
h) represents the Czech Republic when discussing and preparing European Community legislation on public aid issues;
(i) is the administrator of the central register of small-scale aid (hereinafter referred to as the "central register"), which is the information system of the public administration under the special legislature3.
Registration of small-scale aid
(1) The central register is a public administration information system containing data on small scale aid granted.
(2) Data from the central register on the total small-scale support received by the beneficiary are accessible to the provider by means of remote access.
(3) The provider is obliged to verify, before granting small-scale aid in the central register, whether the aid is granted
(a) to exceed the limit set by the beneficiary in the directly applicable regulation of the European Communities;
(b) to exceed the limit laid down for agriculture and fisheries for the Czech Republic in the directly applicable regulation of the European Communities.
(4) The provider shall, within 5 working days of the date on which the aid is granted, record in the central register the details of the small-scale aid granted and its beneficiary.
Procedure before the Commission
(1) Providers, in cooperation with the coordinating body, deal with the Commission in proceedings concerning notified public aid, unlawful public aid, misuse of public aid, existing public aid schemes, on-the-spot investigations and in connection with the notification of the decision.
(2) Providers shall request a prior opinion from the coordinating authority on the submission made before and during the proceedings before the Commission.
(3) The coordinating authority shall deliver an opinion no later than 5 working days, in the case of agriculture and fisheries, within 15 working days of receipt of the request. If the coordinating authority does not deliver an opinion within that time limit, its opinion on submission shall be deemed to be positive.
(4) The provider notifies public aid to the Commission in electronic form through the coordinating body. The coordinating authority shall inform the provider without delay of the transmission of the notification to the Commission.
Provision of documents and other information concerning public aid
(1) The provider must submit to the coordinating authority:
(a) by 30 April of the calendar year, information on public aid granted outside the agricultural and fisheries sector in the preceding calendar year and on ongoing public aid programmes outside the agriculture and fisheries sector; the details of compliance with this obligation are laid down in the implementing legislation,
(b) within 10 days of the date on which it was lodged, copies or copies of all submissions made in the proceedings referred to in Article 4 and copies or copies of all submissions and decisions made in the proceedings referred to in Article 4 which have been served on it within 10 days of their receipt;
(c) any other documents requested by the coordinating authority and any other information relating to public support or public support programmes within a time limit set by the coordinating authority. The time limit shall be set by the coordinating authority, having regard to the extent and availability of the requested information and documents.
(2) The beneficiary shall submit all documents and other information relating to the public aid to the coordinating authority, at its written request, within a specified period; to identify the recipient - the natural person, the coordinating authority shall be entitled to require only the communication of the recipient's name and surname, date of birth and address of the place of permanent residence. When setting the deadline, the coordinating authority referred to in paragraph 1 (c) shall proceed mutatis mutandis.
(3) The documents and other information referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 shall be submitted to the coordinating authority by the provider and the recipient in full and true.
(4) All documents and other information relating to the notification of public aid and the procedure referred to in Article 4 must also be submitted by the provider to the coordinating authority at its request in electronic form.
Commission investigations
(1) Where the Commission carries out on-the-spot investigations in the Czech Republic, providers and beneficiaries are required to provide the coordinating body, the Commission and the persons entrusted with the necessary synergies.
(2) The coordinating body may impose an order-by-order fine of up to CZK 100 000 to the provider or recipient who fails to comply with the obligation under paragraph 1. Order fines may also be imposed repeatedly. The total of such ordered fines may not exceed CZK 1 000 000.
Recovery procedure
(1) Where the Commission decides to recover or to recover the public aid on a provisional basis, the beneficiary is obliged to repay the public aid granted to the provider or, where appropriate, his legal successor, including the interest fixed by the Commission.
(2) The provider shall, without undue delay, take all necessary measures to ensure that the obligation referred to in paragraph 1 is fulfilled. To this end, the recipient provider shall without delay call for the recovery of the public aid referred to in paragraph 1; in the absence of a recovery period or an interim recovery of the public aid from the Commission's decision, the provider shall at the same time set a time limit in the invitation. After the time limit for the recovery or interim recovery of public aid has expired, the provider shall decide whether to withdraw the aid from the beneficiary under special legislature4), or, failing this, to bring an action against the beneficiary in court.
(3) Where the beneficiary is subject to supervision or supervision under a special legislative provision (5), the provider shall immediately inform the authority carrying out supervision or supervision of the obligation to repay the public aid.
Transfers
(1) A natural person, as a beneficiary, commits an infringement by not submitting to the coordinating authority a document or other information relating to the public aid referred to in Article 5 (2) or (3).
(2) A fine of up to 300 000 CZK may be imposed for the offence referred to in paragraph 1.
Administrative offences against legal persons and business natural persons
(1) A natural person who is a legal or legal person as a beneficiary shall commit an administrative offence by failing to submit to the coordinating authority a document or other information relating to public aid pursuant to Article 5 (2) or (3).
(2) A legal person or an undertaking natural person commits an administrative offence as a provider by:
(a) the data referred to in Article 3a (4) shall not be entered in the central register;
(b) not submit to the coordinating authority a document or other information relating to public aid pursuant to Article 5 (1), (3) or (4); or
(c) shall not take all the necessary measures pursuant to Article 7 (2).
(3) A fine shall be imposed for the administrative offence:
(a) up to CZK 100,000 if it is an administrative offence as referred to in paragraph 2 (a);
(b) up to 300 000 CZK if it is an administrative offence referred to in paragraph 1 and paragraph 2 (b),
(c) up to CZK 1 000 000, if it is an administrative offence under paragraph 2 (c).
Common provisions on administrative offences
(1) The legal person shall not be liable for an administrative offence if he proves that he has made every effort to prevent an infringement.
(2) In determining the amount of the fine to a legal person, account shall be taken of the seriousness of the administrative offence, in particular the manner in which it was committed and the consequences thereof and the circumstances in which it was committed.
(3) The liability of a legal person for an administrative offence shall cease if the coordinating authority has not initiated proceedings on him within 1 year of the date on which he became aware of it, but no later than 3 years after the date on which he was committed.
(4) Administrative offences under this law shall be dealt with at first instance by the coordinating body.
(5) The provisions of the Liability and Punishment Act apply to liability for acts which have taken place in the course of or directly related to the business of a natural person (6).
(6) Fines are collected and enforced by the coordinating body.
Authorisation provisions
(1) The coordinating authority shall establish by implementing legislation the form and content of the compliance with the providers' information obligations under Article 5 (1) (a).
(2) The Authority, by implementing legislation, lays down the content and scope of the data which the small scale aid provider is obliged to record in the central register outside the agricultural and fisheries sector and the procedure for recording them.
(3) The Ministry of Agriculture shall lay down by implementing legislation the content and scope of the data which the provider of small-scale aid in the field of agriculture and fisheries is required to record in the central register and the procedure for recording them.
Transitional provisions
(1) Proceedings initiated before the date of entry into force of this Act shall be completed in accordance with existing legislation.
(2) Repayment of public aid granted before the date of entry into force of this Act shall be carried out in accordance with Act No. 215 / 2004 Coll., on the modification of certain public aid relations and on the amendment of the Law on the promotion of research and development, Act No. 252 / 1997 Coll., on Agriculture, and Act No. 218 / 2000 Coll., on the Budgetary Rules and on the amendment of certain related laws (budgetary rules), as effective from the date of entry into force of the Act.
Repeal
The following shall be deleted:
1. Act No. 59 / 2000 Coll., on Public Aid.
2. Decree No. 435 / 2000 Coll., laying down the details of the information obligation on public aid granted.
This provision is amended by another law.
EFFECTIVE
This Law shall take effect on 1 May 2004.
* * *
Act No. 109 / 2009 Coll., amending Act No. 215 / 2004 Coll., on the adaptation of certain relations in the field of public aid and amending the Act on the promotion of research and development, Act No. 252 / 1997 Coll., on agriculture, as amended, and Act No. 218 / 2000 Coll., on budgetary rules and on the amendment of certain related laws (budgetary rules), became effective on the first day of the second calendar month following its publication (1 June 2009), with the exception of the provisions of Article I (3) (i), (4), as regards Sections 3a (1), (2) and (4), and Article IV, which take effect on 1 January 2010, and the provisions of Article 1 January 2010. I, point 4, as regards Article 3a (3), which shall take effect on 1 January 2012.
Prime Minister:
Ing. Fischer, CSc.
1) Council Regulation (EC) No 659 / 1999 of 22 March 1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Article 93 of the EC Treaty. Commission Regulation (EC) No 794 / 2004 of 21 April 2004 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 659 / 1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Article 93 of the EC Treaty. Commission Regulation (EC) No 1998 / 2006 of 15 December 2006 on the application of Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty to de minimis aid. Commission Regulation (EC) No 875 / 2007 of 24 July 2007 on the application of Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty to de minimis aid in the fisheries sector and amending Regulation (EC) No 1860 / 2004. Commission Regulation (EC) No 1535 / 2007 of 20 December 2007 on the application of Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty to de minimis aid in the production sector of agricultural products.
2) Act No. 552 / 1991 Coll., on State Control, as amended.
3) Act No. 365 / 2000 Coll., on Information Systems of Public Administration and on the amendment of certain other laws, as amended.
4) For example, Act No. 218 / 2000 Coll., on budgetary rules and amending related laws (budgetary rules), as amended, Act No. 250 / 2000 Coll., on budgetary rules of territorial budgets, as amended.
5) For example, Act No. 21 / 1992 Coll., on Banks, as amended, Act No. 363 / 1999 Coll., on Insurance, and on the Amendment to Certain Related Acts (Insurance Act), as amended, Act No. 87 / 1995 Coll., on Savings and Credit Cooperatives, and on Certain Measures related thereto, and on Addition to the Czech National Council Act No. 586 / 1992 Coll., on Income Taxes, as amended.
6) Paragraph 2 (2) of the Commercial Code, as amended by Act No. 85 / 2004 Coll.
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Regulation Information
| Citation | The full text of Act No. 179 / 2009 Coll., Act No. 215 / 2004 Coll., on the adaptation of certain public aid relations and on the amendment of the Act on the promotion of research and development, as follows from the amendments made by Act No. 109 / 2009 Coll. |
|---|---|
| Regulation Type | Declared full text |
| Author | - |
| Collection | Code of Laws |
| Date of Promulgation | 22.06.2009 |
|---|---|
| Effective from | - |
| Effective until | - |
| Status | Valid |
The regulation text is for informational purposes only.
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