Prague, July 12 (CTK) – The Czech Chamber of Deputies supported in the first reading lifting the ban on deliveries to the Iranian nuclear plant in Bushehr enacted in 2000, proposed by the Communists (KSCM), on Tuesday.
It is already the third bill to this effect proposed by the KSCM. The previous two were rejected in the lower house.
The same proposal was presented by the government in June, but it has not yet been debated.
The Chamber of Deputies may enact the latest legislation in autumn.
The law on Bushehr was passed in 2000 in reaction to the plans of the Czech ZVVZ Milevsko firm to supply ventilation equipment for the plant. The deal was then criticised by Britain and the United States suspecting Iran of abusing civilian programmes to cover up its nuclear projects.
The legislation banned Czech manufacturers from exporting goods and providing services, documentation and information in connection with the Bushehr plant.
The Communists argue that the legislation is now outdated because the plant has been finished and no Czech companies can materialise any possible deliveries now.
“The law that cannot regulate any social relations has no importance and it only burdens the Czech legal order. Hence the need to cancel the law as redundant,” the drafters of the bill say in their report.
“The situation has considerably changed since last April,” KSCM leader Vojtech Filip said.
Last April, powers reached an agreement with Iran. On the basis of it, they concluded a pact on its nuclear programme last July.
Its observance is supervised by the International Agency for Atomic Energy. It said in its report from February that Iran was meeting its commitments arising from the agreement.
The government says in the draft that the international community has lifted its sanctions against Iran in the nuclear sphere, due to which the threat of harming the Czech Republic’s interest is over. This is why the government has proposed that the legislation be revoked.
