Legal time limits

These are legal time limits for Trade Licensing (District) Office in the proceedings of issuing the Certificate of Trade Authorisation and in the proceeding of imposing a fine.

Trade authorisation constitutes a right of a natural person or a legal person to pursue trade. This right is being constituted in proceedings carried on by organ of the state administration which is in this case the Trade Licensing Office and therefore there are legal obligations which shall be followed by this organ. The primary act that governs the proceedings in which the rights, the legitimate interests and the duties of the citizens and organizations regarding the public administration are decided is Act No. 71/1967 Coll. on Administrative Proceedings (Administrative Code) as amended. Pursuant to Article 71 of the Act No. 455/1991 Coll. on Trade Licensing (Trade Licensing Act) proceedings in the matters regulated by this Act shall by governed by The Administrative Procedure Code, unless specific provisions of this Act stipulate otherwise. There are some differences in the proceedings of issuing the trade authorisation are quite significant and they are as follows:

• The Trade Licensing Office shall issue a Certificate of Trade Authorisation for notifiable trades such as crafts, unregulated and regulated trades not later than within 3 working days of the date of receipt of a trade notification and the extract from the criminal records. All requisites for Trade Notification are explicitly stipulated in Article 45, 45a and 46 of the Trade Licensing Act. Only a submission that contains all the requisites shall be deemed as the notification. If the Trade Licensing Office ascertains that the notification does not contain all the requisites, then the Office shall demand from the entrepreneur concerned to remedy defects of such notification. An appropriate term of not less than 15 days shall be stipulated to do that. The Trades Licensing Office may extend this term at the entrepreneur’s request, if there are serious grounds for it, even repeatedly. When entrepreneur remedy all defects, the submission becomes notification with all the legal consequences and the Trade Licensing Office has 3 days to issue Certificate of Trade Authorisation.

• The second difference between proceedings of the Trade Licensing Office and proceedings governed by the Administrative Procedure Code is the right and obligation of the Trade Licensing Office to suspend proceedings if entrepreneur fails to remedy detected defects of his notification within specified time limit. In case of an appeal against suspension of proceeding, respective Articles of the Administrative Procedure Code apply. It stipulates 15 day time limit to appeal against suspension of proceedings.

• The Administrative Procedure Code sets out 30 days time limits for proceedings in simple matters, in case of more complicated matters it is 60 days and in case of very complicated matters it can be prolonged to even longer time. Even though the Trade Licensing Act does not explicitly regulate this, these time limits can not be followed in proceeding when Trade Licensing Office decides that the trade authorisation has not become effective due to entrepreneur’s failure to remedy detected defects. The Trade Licensing Office shall issue such decision within 3 working days time limit due to the fact that this would be the time limit for issuing Certificate of Trade Authorisation.

• Time limits for proceedings of imposing a fine are different as well. Trade Licensing Office may initiate proceedings leading to the imposition of a fine pursuant to provisions of Articles 63 to 65 only within one year of the day on which the appropriate Trades Licensing Officelearnt that a legal person or a natural person had pursued unauthorised trade, however, not later than five years of the time when the said breach occurred. In the case of continuing unauthorised trading, at latest five years of the moment when such unauthorised trading still continued. In case of breach of other Articles of Trade Licensing Act proceedings leading to imposition of fine may be initiated only within one year of the day on which the appropriate Trade Licensing Office learnt it, however not later than three years of the time when such breach still continued. In case of failure to meet the imposed duty in a time limit set by the Trade Licensing Office, it can act not later than three years of the time when the time limit expired.