President Klaus signs new Civic Code

Prague, Feb 20 (CTK) - Czech President Vaclav Klaus signed yesterday a new Civic Code, that is to take effect in 2014 and that adjusts family and inheritance law, among others, his spokesman Radim Ochvat has announced.

Klaus also signed a bill on business corporations that together with the Civic Code newly adjust privat law.

The new Civic Code will replace legislation from the 1960 that has been only amended since then.

The new Civic Code places greater emphasis on personal rights than on property relations, and it leaves more space for agreement between the parties to a dispute.

Critics say the code is too extensive and that it uses an archaic language.

The new Civic Code makes it possible, for instance, to adopt an adult person.

The legislation strengthens the protection of the economically weaker person in a married couple in case the partners reach agreement on separate property.

The definition of the family, matrimony and divorce has been more or less preserved.

It took a team of experts about ten years to draft the new code.

The Justice Ministry says the new code means departure from communist law and that it comes closer to modern European law.

"It is a historic moment. A process of passing a law that is the second most important law of the country after the constitution and that will influence citizens' everyday life has been completed," Justice Minister Jiri Pospisil (Civic Democrats, ODS) said.

The opposition says the code abolishes established principles to which people are used and that it will bring uncertainty into legal relations and that people will more depend on lawyers.

The opposition Social Democrats (CSSD) attempted to push through an adjournment of the new code taking effect until 2016 in the Senate where it has a majority.

However, the Senate eventually did not support the adjournment and did not approve any resolution on the code.

Pospisil said the new law on business corporations is in fact a new Commercial Code. It adjusts corporate law, for instance, the structure of firms, firms' bodies as well as their functioning.

The law tightens the liability of members of firms' statutory bodies. Members and former members of the bodies should be liable for the firm's obligations with their property in case of bankruptcy that they caused by their bad decision-making.

Businesspeople are not to be obliged to deposit 200,000 crowns when establishing (limited liability) s.r.o. firms like now.

The new law, however, does not remove the problem of bearer shares. The government claims that anonymous shares that critics say open the way to corruption in public procurement will be dealt with in a bill on joint-stock companies that is being prepared.

($1=18.997 crowns)