Full text of Act No 345 / 2008 Coll.
Full text of Act No. 340 / 2006 Coll., on the Activities of Occupational Pensions Institutions from the Member States of the European Union in the Czech Republic and amending Act No. 48 / 1997 Coll., on Public Health Insurance and on the Amendment and Addition of Certain Related Acts, as amended, as reflected by the amendments made by Act No. 248 / 2008 Coll.
Valid
Declared full text
Text versions:
12.09.2008
345
PRESIDENT OF THE GOVERNMENT
Announces
full text of Act No. 340 / 2006 Coll., on the Activities of Occupational Pensions Institutions from the Member States of the European Union in the Czech Republic and amending Act No. 48 / 1997 Coll., on Public Health Insurance and on the Amendment and Addition of Certain Related Acts, as amended, as shown by the amendments made by Act No. 248 / 2008 Coll.
THE LAW
on the activities of institutions for occupational retirement provision from Member States of the European Union or from other States which are parties to the Agreement on the European Economic Area in the Czech Republic
Parliament has decided on this law of the Czech Republic:
ACTIVITIES OF THE INSTITUTIONS OF EMPLOYMENT PENSION INSURANCE FROM MEMBER STATES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION OR OTHER STATES WHICH ARE CONTRACTING PARTIES TO THE AGREEMENT ON THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AREA, ON THE TERRITORY OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC
Subject matter
(1) This Act implements the relevant European CommunityRegulation (1) and regulates the conditions for the pursuit of occupational pension insurance by occupational pension institutions authorised to do so in a Member State of the European Union other than the Czech Republic or another State which is a Contracting Party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area in the territory of the Czech Republic and the supervision of the activities of such institutions in the territory of the Czech Republic.
(2) This Act shall not apply to sickness insurance, pension insurance, accident insurance, public health insurance, supplementary pension insurance with a State contribution and life insurance under special legislation.
Definition of terms
This law means:
(a) the institution of the institution of occupational retirement provision, irrespective of its legal form, which is:
1. operated on the principle of fund management,
2. set up separately from any contributor or sectoral association of contributors for the purpose of providing pension benefits in connection with the employment of natural persons under an agreement or contract agreed individually or collectively between the employer or, where appropriate, several employers, and an employee or, where appropriate, several employees or their respective representatives, or agreed with self-employed persons, and carries out activities directly resulting therefrom; and
3. Authorised in the home Member State under its legislation,
(b) a Member State of the European Union or another Member State which is a Contracting Party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area,
(c) by the home Member State, a Member State other than the Czech Republic in which the institution has its head office or, if it does not have its head office, its head office;
(d) by the competent authority of a Member State which, under the legislation of that State, oversees the activities of institutions and other activities in occupational retirement provision;
(e) a contributor to a legal person or an undertaking natural person who, as an employer, pays contributions to an institution for occupational retirement provision for the benefit of its employees or for his benefit if the employer is a self-employed person;
(f) by a participant, a natural person whose employer is the contributor and whose employment entitles him or she to receive pension benefits in accordance with the institution's pension plan or, where applicable, a self-employed person, if the contributor and the contributor so entitle him or her to receive pension benefits,
(g) by the beneficiary, a natural person receiving pension benefits;
(h) the pension plan contract, agreement, trust document or other rules of the institution establishing which pension benefits are granted from occupational pension insurance and under what conditions;
(i) pension benefits of benefits paid from occupational pension insurance, subject to the conditions laid down in the pension plan.
Competent authority in the Czech Republic
(1) The competent authority in the Czech Republic is the Czech National Bank.
(2) The Czech National Bank is cooperating with the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in the exercise of its competence under this Act on matters falling within its competence.
Information obligations of the Czech National Bank
Czech National Bank
(a) communicate to the competent authority of the home Member State within 2 months of the date on which it received information on the intention of the institution to pursue occupational pension insurance in the Czech Republic, including the main characteristics of the pension plan, and the designation of a specific contributor
1. requirements of the legislation of the Czech Republic relating to occupational pension insurance,
2. information on investment limits applicable to the activities of the institution in the Czech Republic;
3. the scope of the information that the institution is required to provide to participants and recipients in the Czech Republic,
(b) inform the competent authorities of other Member States of significant changes to the legislation of the Czech Republic relating to occupational pension insurance;
(c) inform the competent authority of the home Member State that the institution has infringed the obligation laid down in the legislation of the Czech Republic relating to the pursuit of occupational pension insurance;
(d) cooperate with the competent authorities of other Member States and the Commission of the European Communities in the field of occupational pension insurance and provide them with information concerning the conduct of institutions in the Czech Republic;
(e) maintain a list of institutions that operate pension schemes in the Czech Republic and the competent authorities of the Member States that have authorised such institutions in the home Member State; the list is publicly available in a way that allows remote access.
Activities of the institution in the Czech Republic
(1) An institution may carry on business in the Czech Republic if:
(a) it has been authorised by the competent authority of the home Member State to conduct occupational retirement provision; and
(b) The Czech National Bank has informed the competent authority of the home Member State in accordance with § 4 (a) or the deadline under § 4 (a) has expired.
(2) The institution referred to in paragraph 1 shall carry out its activities on the territory of the Czech Republic in accordance with the permit granted for the activity, the legislation of the home Member State and the legislation of the Czech Republic relating to occupational pension insurance.
(3) The institution referred to in paragraph 1 may only carry out occupational pension insurance on the territory of the Czech Republic.
Pension plans
(1) The participation of employees in occupational pension insurance and contributors in the Czech Republic is voluntary.
(2) Pension plans of institutions providing occupational pension insurance in the Czech Republic must always be amended
(a) the provision of pension benefits at least in the event of reaching a specified age and death; the age determined shall not exceed 63 years;
(b) forms of payment of pension benefits; one form of payment of pension benefits must be a life pension,
(c) the possibility of transferring pension entitlements from the pension plan to another institution in the event of termination of a participant's employment with the contributor, if the participant so requests; the pension rights of the participant may be reduced in the event of such transfer only by the expenditure relating to such transfer, the types of such expenditure being included in the pension plan,
(d) reimbursement of contributions paid by a participant where:
1. contributions have also been paid by the participant and the participant has not been entitled to pension benefits; or
2. the participant and the contributor agree to such repayment under the conditions laid down in the pension plan.
Information to be provided to participants and beneficiaries
(1) Information transmitted by the institution to participants and recipients in the Czech Republic must be provided at least to the extent appropriate to the information requirement laid down by the institutions in the home Member State.
(2) An institution is required to ensure that each participant is adequately informed when participating in occupational retirement provision, in particular the rights and obligations of all parties involved in the pension scheme and the financial, technical and other risks associated with the pension scheme. In addition, the institution shall inform the participants and beneficiaries in writing of any change in the pension plan where the change relates directly to the participant or beneficiary within 2 months.
(3) The institution is required to provide participants with data on:
(a) the institution, companies to which certain functions of the institution have been transferred and the financial position of the institution;
(b) the current financial amount of the rights acquired by each participant.
(4) At the request of a participant, an institution shall provide it with detailed and relevant information on:
(a) the amount of any pension benefits;
(b) the amount of pension benefits in the event of termination of employment;
(c) arrangements for the transferability of pension rights to another institution in the event of termination of employment with the contributor;
(d) the investment risk where the participant is involved, information on the choice of possible investment options and on the actual investment portfolio describing the risks and costs associated with the investment.
(5) The institution is required to:
(a) send them the annual accounts and the annual report relating to the relevant pension plan;
(b) inform them of the statement on the institution's investment policy policies; This obligation shall be deemed to be fulfilled if such a declaration is made available at least at the head office of the contributor. A contributor may submit a request to the participants and beneficiaries on their behalf.
(6) On retirement or when other pension benefits become due, the institution shall provide each beneficiary in writing with the necessary information on the pension benefits payable and the possibilities for payment.
Supervision of the Czech National Bank
(1) The activities of the institution in the Czech Republic are subject to supervision by the Czech National Bank of compliance with the obligations laid down by the legislation relating to occupational pension insurance. To this end, the Czech National Bank is entitled to require the institution to submit documents and to provide information and explanations relating to the operation of occupational pension schemes, in particular to sound financial statements, annual reports and statements on the principles of investment policy.
(2) After prior notification to the Czech National Bank, the competent authority of the home Member State shall be entitled to carry out an on-the-spot check with the institution which carries out its activities in the Czech Republic.
(3) If the competent authority of the home Member State of the institution that carries out its activities on the territory of the Czech Republic requests the Czech National Bank to cooperate in the supervision of the institution, the Czech National Bank shall comply with the request.
(4) If the Czech National Bank finds that an institution operating in the territory of the Czech Republic has infringed the legislation relating to occupational pension insurance, it shall inform the competent authority of the home Member State of the institution without undue delay and shall require that institution to remedy the deficiencies identified by the Czech National Bank within the time limit set by the Czech National Bank.
(5) If the institutions do not remedy the deficiencies referred to in paragraph 4, the Czech National Bank will ask the competent authority of the home Member State to take the necessary measures without delay to remedy the deficiencies identified.
(6) If the measures taken by the competent supervisory authority of the home Member State do not lead to the resolution of the identified deficiencies in the institution's activities or if no action has been taken, the Czech National Bank may, after informing the competent authority of the home Member State and depending on the nature of the infringement and its gravity:
(a) prohibit the free disposal of assets held by an institution held by a depositary of a collective investment fund established in the territory of the Czech Republic or another entity established in the territory of the Czech Republic which carries out a similar activity as the depositary; or
(b) prohibit or restrict the activities of an institution within the territory of the Czech Republic; information on the prohibition or restriction of the activities of the Czech National Bank shall be included in the list referred to in Article 4 (e).
Order fine
(1) An institution which makes it impossible or seriously difficult to exercise supervision by the Czech National Bank by not providing it with the required synergies pursuant to § 8 (1) may impose an order fine of up to CZK 500,000.
(2) Order fines may be imposed within 6 months of the date on which the infringement took place.
(3) When determining the amount of the order of order, the Czech National Bank shall ensure that it is not disproportionately disproportionate to the seriousness of the consequences and the importance of the subject matter of the proceedings; The fine may also be repeated. The sum of fines imposed may not exceed CZK 2 000 000 for the same person.
(4) A party to an order fine proceedings shall be the person to whom the order fine is to be imposed. The first action in the proceedings concerning the imposition of an order fine shall be the decision. An appeal against a decision imposing a fine shall always have suspensory effect.
(5) The Czech National Bank can forgive or reduce the ordered fine by a new decision. In so doing, the administrative authority shall take into account in particular how the person to whom the order fined has been imposed fulfils its procedural obligations during the course of the proceedings.
(6) Order fine is collected by the Czech National Bank and enforced by the competent customs office. The income from fines imposed under this law is the income of the state budget.
Administrative offences of legal persons
(1) A depositary of a collective investment fund or other body which freely treats the assets of an institution which is established in the Czech Republic and thereby carries out a similar activity as a depositary shall commit an administrative offence by treating the assets of the institution which it holds in breach of Article 8 (6) (a).
(2) An institution commits an administrative offence by:
(a) infringes the obligation under Article 7; or
(b) in breach of Article 8 (5), it shall not remedy the deficiencies identified.
(3) For an administrative offence referred to in paragraph 1 or paragraph 2 (b), a fine of up to CZK 2 000 000 shall be imposed and for an administrative offence of up to CZK 1 000 000 as referred to in paragraph 2 (a).
(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 for an administrative offence, 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 the legal person for the administrative offence shall cease if the Czech National Bank 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 are discussed by the Czech National Bank.
(5) Fines for administrative offences under this law are collected by the Czech National Bank and enforced by the competent customs office. The income from fines imposed under this law is the income of the state budget.
This provision amended another law.
Efficacy
This Act shall take effect on the day of its publication.
* * *
Act No. 248 / 2008 Coll., amending Act No. 340 / 2006 Coll., on the Activities of Occupational Pensions Institutions from the Member States of the European Union in the Czech Republic and amending Act No. 48 / 1997 Coll., on Public Health Insurance and amending and supplementing certain related laws, as amended, took effect on the date of its publication (4 July 2008).
Prime Minister:
Ing. Topolánek v. r.
1) Directive 2003 / 41 / EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 June 2003 on the activities and supervision of institutions for occupational retirement provision.
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Regulation Information
| Citation | Full text of Act No. 345 / 2008 Coll., Act No. 340 / 2006 Coll., on the Activities of Occupational Pension Insurance Institutions from the Member States of the European Union in the Czech Republic and amending Act No. 48 / 1997 Coll., on Public Health Insurance and on the Amendment and Addition of Certain Related Acts, as amended, as shown by the amendments made by Act No. 248 / 2008 Coll. |
|---|---|
| Regulation Type | Declared full text |
| Author | - |
| Collection | Code of Laws |
| Date of Promulgation | 12.09.2008 |
|---|---|
| Effective from | - |
| Effective until | - |
| Status | Valid |
The regulation text is for informational purposes only.
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