Prague/Brussels, Oct 22 (CTK) – The Czech Finance Ministry Thursday acknowledged the fact that the European Commission decided to turn to the Court of Justice since the Czech Republic did not transpose the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD) in its law, and said this should occur by the end of the year.
The ministry said the respective bills are being discussed by the lower house of Czech parliament.
“Their second reading took place and they will be submitted in the final third reading soon,” the ministry stated, adding that it expects the bills to be passed by the end of 2015 and take effect as of January 1, 2016.
The bills still need to be passed by the upper house of parliament and signed into law by President Milos Zeman.
The BRRD is one of the measures that the EU has taken in reaction to the recent financial crisis to make the banking system safer and healthier.
The EC notified 11 member countries that they did not incorporate the BRRD in their legislation by December 31, 2014. As six of them – the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Sweden – still failed to do so, the EC decided to turn to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). These countries will minimally have to pay a daily fine until they meet their duty.
The BRRD orders banks to prepare plans for remedial processes to overcome a crisis, including the establishment of a national crisis fund, to which the banks would regularly contribute.
The Czech National Bank (CNB) will have the powers to deal with the crisis and decided on the possible appropriate steps.
