Chapter 5: Czech Republic

(continued)

MAPPING AND EVALUATION OF OPPORTUNITIES

International Decisionmaking

The participation of citizens in preparation of the Czech Government positions toward international processes is not regulated by any procedure and therefore rather limited. The access to information is left to the discretion of responsible governmental officials while officially guaranteed active information of the citizens occurs only when the population is informed about ratification of international conventions by parliament through the Official Collection of National Laws and Government Regulations. Theoretically, there exists a possibility that a decision on whether or not to ratify an international treaty is tackled through national referendum, however no such practice has occurred till now.

TABLE 4: International Decisionmaking
	Initiation of DM (problem/ proposal)	Defining the scope, issues and stakeholders (pre-decision scoping)	Defining the scope of DM (impacts and alternatives)	Evaluation of the alternatives	Selection of the alternative (DM about the selected alternative)	Execution of the selected alternative	Post-decision monitoring & enforcement (feedback/ adjustment)
Phases of Decisionmaking LEVELS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Control of decisionmaking (right to decide)	-	-	-	-	1	-	-
Decisionmaking power is shared (right to joint decisionmaking)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Comments are seriously taken into account (right to be heard)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Adequate notification (right to be informed)	-	-	-	-	-	5	5
Access to information (right to access to information)	4	4	4	4	4	4	5

Preparation and Approval of National Laws and Regulations

National law and rule making is a rather closed process, both on the ministerial and parliamentary level. The practice of NGO notification and their participation in these processes is not regulated by any procedure and therefore largely depends on the discretion of public officials responsible for the preparation of the laws and regulations. In 1992-96 NGO participation at this level of decisionmaking was intentionally decreased to a minimum while this situation considerably improved after 1996. In theory, there is a chance that national law or rule will be passed by national referendum, yet no such practice has occurred to date.

TABLE 5: Preparation and Approval of National Laws and Regulations
	Initiation of DM (problem/ proposal)	Defining the scope, issues and stakeholders (pre-decision scoping)	Defining the scope of DM (impacts and alternatives)	Evaluation of the alternatives	Selection of the alternative (DM about the selected alternative)	Execution of the selected alternative	Post-decision monitoring & enforcement (feedback/ adjustment)
Phases of Decisionmaking LEVELS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Control of decisionmaking (right to decide)	-	-	-	-	1	-	-
Decisionmaking power is shared (right to joint decisionmaking)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Comments are seriously taken into account (right to be heard)	2	2	2	2	2	-	1
Adequate notification (right to be informed)	-	-	-	2	2	5	-
Access to information (right to access to information)	1	1	1	2	3	5	1

Preparation and Approval of National Strategies and Policies

Preparation of official national strategies and programs that are approved by the Czech Government for the fields of transport, energy, water management, waste management, tourism, agriculture are required by the Czech EIA Act (244/92 Sb.) to undergo strategic environmental impact assessment (SEA) and the public participation process related to it. The SEA-related requirements of the EIA Act were openly ignored between 1992-1996 and violated by the Czech Government. The new government constituted in mid-1996 begun to apply the provisions for the first SEAs on transport and energy policies. These SEAs, based on a thorough public participation process, started in December 1997 and are expected to finish in September 1998.

TABLE 6: Preparation and Approval of National Strategies and Policies
	Initiation of DM (problem/ proposal)	Defining the scope, issues and stakeholders (pre-decision scoping)	Defining the scope of DM (impacts and alternatives)	Evaluation of the alternatives	Selection of the alternative (DM about the selected alternative)	Execution of the selected alternative	Post-decision monitoring & enforcement (feedback/ adjustment)
Phases of Decisionmaking LEVELS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Control of decisionmaking (right to decide)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Decisionmaking power is shared (right to joint decisionmaking)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Comments are seriously taken into account (right to be heard)	-	-	-	2	2	1	1
Adequate notification (right to be informed)	-	-	-	2	2	4	-
Access to information (right to access to information)	-	-	-	2	3	4	1

Preparation of Local Rules and Regulations

There is no procedure regulating public participation in drafting local rules. Due to the absence of access to information laws, the access to information and opportunity to provide comments therefore depends only on the discretion of the responsible public official. Theoretically, it is possible to use local MPs to influence these decision processes, but this opportunity is used only marginally. Theoretically, it is also possible to adopt local rules through local referendum but this practice is also not used at all.

TABLE 7: Preparation and Approval of Local Rules and Regulations
	Initiation of DM (problem/ proposal)	Defining the scope, issues and stakeholders (pre-decision scoping)	Defining the scope of DM (impacts and alternatives)	Evaluation of the alternatives	Selection of the alternative (DM about the selected alternative)	Execution of the selected alternative	Post-decision monitoring & enforcement (feedback/ adjustment)
Phases of Decisionmaking LEVELS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Control of decisionmaking (right to decide)	-	-	-	-	1	-	-
Decisionmaking power is shared (right to joint decisionmaking)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Comments are seriously taken into account (right to be heard)	-	-	-	-	2	2	1
Adequate notification (right to be informed)	-	-	-	2	3	4	-
Access to information (right to access to information)	1	1	1	3	3	4	1

Preparation of Local Policies

There is no procedure regulating preparation of local policies. Due to the absence of access to information laws the access to information and opportunity to provide comments therefore depends only on the discretion of the responsible public official. Theoretically, it is possible to use commissions of the executive local councils, local MPs and local referenda to influence these decision processes but these opportunities are used only marginally.

TABLE 8: Preparation of Local Policies
	Initiation of DM (problem/ proposal)	Defining the scope, issues and stakeholders (pre-decision scoping)	Defining the scope of DM (impacts and alternatives)	Evaluation of the alternatives	Selection of the alternative (DM about the selected alternative)	Execution of the selected alternative	Post-decision monitoring & enforcement (feedback/ adjustment)
Phases of Decisionmaking LEVELS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Control of decisionmaking (right to decide)	-	-	-	-	1	-	-
Decisionmaking power is shared (right to joint decisionmaking)	-	-	-	-	-	1	-
Comments are seriously taken into account (right to be heard)	-	-	-	1	1	1	1
Adequate notification (right to be informed)	-	-	1	1	1	4	-
Access to information (right to access to information)	1	1	1	2	2	4	1

Preparation and Approval of Territorial Plans (Spatial/Local Land-Use Plans)

The land-use planning in the Czech Republic is a very elaborate procedure with traditionally strong roots. It provides a number of opportunities for public participation that guarantees proper access to documents and opportunity to have comments seriously considered. The procedure begins with public participation in formulation of Terms of Reference for elaboration of land-use plan, it continues with public review of alternatives and public review of final proposed alternative. The actual approval of the land-use plan by the local municipal council also provides a platform for public to raise its comments. In addition to this procedure, regional land-use plans are also subject to strategic environmental assessment and its special public participation procedures. Overall, land-use planning is being increasingly practiced in quite open manner and public participation at this decision process is only limited by fact that ordinary citizens are ready to raise their voice when concrete development intervention is at stake, but are less eager to participate in the formulation of general local development plans.

TABLE 9: Preparation and Approval of Territorial Plans (Spatial/Local Land-Use Plans)
	Initiation of DM (problem/ proposal)	Defining the scope, issues and stakeholders (pre-decision scoping)	Defining the scope of DM (impacts and alternatives)	Evaluation of the alternatives	Selection of the alternative (DM about the selected alternative)	Execution of the selected alternative	Post-decision monitoring & enforcement (feedback/ adjustment)
Phases of Decisionmaking LEVELS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Control of decisionmaking (right to decide)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Decisionmaking power is shared (right to joint decisionmaking)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Comments are seriously taken into account (right to be heard)	1	3	3	5	5	-	3
Adequate notification (right to be informed)	1	4	4	4	5	5	4
Access to information (right to access to information)	5	5	5	5	5	5	5

EIA

The Czech EIA Procedure (244/92 Coll.) is marked by an absence of analysis, generally insufficient public notification about accessibility of EIA-related documents and a lack of opportunity to appeal against poorly prepared EIA Documentation, EIA Opinion and EIA Standpoint. One of the major strengths of the EIA procedure is the fact that it gives the NGOs that participated in the review of the EIA Documentation the position of a party in the siting/permitting process that follows after the EIA process (see the post-EIA monitoring and enforcement).

TABLE 10: Environmental Impact Assessment
	Initiation of DM (problem/ proposal)	Defining the scope, issues and stakeholders (pre-decision scoping)	Defining the scope of DM (impacts and alternatives)	Evaluation of the alternatives	Selection of the alternative (DM about the selected alternative)	Execution of the selected alternative	Post-decision monitoring & enforcement (feedback/ adjustment)
Phases of Decisionmaking LEVELS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Control of decisionmaking (right to decide)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Decisionmaking power is shared (right to joint decisionmaking)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Comments are seriously taken into account (right to be heard)	1	-	-	1	1	-	3
Adequate notification (right to be informed)	1	-	-	3	1	3	-
Access to information (right to access to information)	1	-	-	3	1	3	1

Siting and Permitting

Siting and permitting are procedures that are governed by the Building Act and Administrative Procedures Act. These acts do not generally allow participation of non-affected parties in the decisionmaking process. However, local NGOs dealing with nature conservation issues can, through provisions of the Nature Protection and Landscape Conservation Act, obtain an opportunity to become informed about all siting/permitting processes that affect the interest of nature conservation (even cutting trees, etc.) and become party in these procedures. These, along with the siting/permitting following the EIA processes, are the only means of NGO participation in siting/permitting and are being used quite often.

TABLE 11: Siting and Permitting
	Initiation of DM (problem/ proposal)	Defining the scope, issues and stakeholders (pre-decision scoping)	Defining the scope of DM (impacts and alternatives)	Evaluation of the alternatives	Selection of the alternative (DM about the selected alternative)	Execution of the selected alternative	Post-decision monitoring & enforcement (feedback/ adjustment)
Phases of Decisionmaking LEVELS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Control of decisionmaking (right to decide)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Decisionmaking power is shared (right to joint decisionmaking)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Comments are seriously taken into account (right to be heard)	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
Adequate notification (right to be informed)	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
Access to information (right to access to information)	3	3	3	3	3	3	3

Management of Environmental Funds

There is no public participation in management of the State Environmental Fund which is the major funding agency of the environmental infrastructure in the Czech Republic. The lack of transparency and accountability of the SEF was often criticized, yet there has been no systematic effort to open up and reform this institution.

TABLE 12: Management of Environmental Funds
	Initiation of DM (problem/ proposal)	Defining the scope, issues and stakeholders (pre-decision scoping)	Defining the scope of DM (impacts and alternatives)	Evaluation of the alternatives	Selection of the alternative (DM about the selected alternative)	Execution of the selected alternative	Post-decision monitoring & enforcement (feedback/ adjustment)
Phases of Decisionmaking LEVELS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Control of decisionmaking (right to decide)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Decisionmaking power is shared (right to joint decisionmaking)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Comments are seriously taken into account (right to be heard)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Adequate notification (right to be informed)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Access to information (right to access to information)	-	-	-	-	1	1	1

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