CZECH REPUBLIC Law and Practice Contributed by: Daniela Kozáková, ŠIROKÝ ZRZAVECKÝ, attorneys-at-law
1. Art Law Framework 1.1 Relevant Authorities and Legislation In the Czech legal system, there is no explicit defini - tion of art law, which is generally understood to be a collection of legal rules and regulations covered by various legal acts, decrees and norms governing the creation and use of artworks, their acquisition, the art market, its ecosystem and its various participants. These legal regulations are covered by legislation from various areas of the law such as intellectual property law (including copyright), civil law (contracts) and administrative law (cultural heritage regulation, etc), among others. The Czech legal system also has no specific definition of “art”, which often makes it necessary to investigate “art” or “artwork” within a particular legislation. • Copyright – copyright is included in Act No 121/2000 Coll., on copyright, rights related to copyright and amendments to certain acts (the “Copyright Act”), according to which the subject of copyright is a “literary or other artistic work and scientific work that is a unique result of the author’s creative activity and is expressed in any objectively perceivable form, including electronic form, per - manently or temporarily, regardless of its scope, purpose or significance” (Section 2 (1)). It can take various visual forms, including painting or sculp - ture, architectural or other work. The Copyright Act also governs types of work, who the author can be, creation of authorship (copyright), content and regulation of the rights to authorship and copyright, the collective administration of certain rights, and offences that may be committed by breach of the Act. • Contracts – Act No 89/2012 Coll., as amended (the “Civil Code”), regulates the rules for various types of contracts, among others purchase contracts, lease contracts and consignment contracts. The Civil Code also regulates the general rights and obligations of licence agreements for art works protected by copyright. It also contains the defini - tions of “work” for the purposes of the work con - tract which are not just “works of art”, but, in this sense, “the production of a certain thing, if it does
not fall under the purchase contract, and also the maintenance, repair or modification of the thing, or activity with a different result” (Section 2587 of the Civil Code). • Cultural heritage and export rules – Act No 71/1994 Coll., on the sale and export of objects of cultural value, governs rules for the export of movable objects of cultural value if one wishes to sell art - work. In addition, the Act No 362/2022 Coll., on the entry and import of certain cultural property into the customs territory of the EU adopts EU Regula - tion 2019/880 on the Entry and Import of Cultural Goods, into the Czech legal system. The protection of cultural monuments is established by Act No 20/1987 Coll., applicable to state monument care, as amended. Disputes arising from contracts regarding artworks are resolved by Czech general courts, although arbitration proceedings are an alternative, with the most signifi - cant arbitration court being the Court of Arbitration at the Chamber of Commerce of the Czech Republic and the Agrarian Chamber of the Czech Republic. This court is mostly used for arbitration clauses in com - mercial contracts between two Czech parties. Consumer disputes may first be submitted for out- of-court settlement to the Czech Trade Inspection. According to Section 419 of the Civil Code, “a con - sumer is any person who, outside the scope of his business activity or independent performance of his profession, concludes a contract with an entrepreneur or deals with him in any other way”. Submission of a proposal and subsequent participation in an out- of-court settlement is free of charge, and the related costs are assumed separately by each party. The Ministry of Culture (see Section 8 of Act No 2/1969 Coll., on the establishment of ministries and other central bodies of the state administration of the Czech Republic) is the central government body for art, cultural and educational activities, cultural monu - ments, the implementation of copyright law, and pro - duction and trade in the field of culture. The Monu - ment Inspectorate is a specialised inspection body within the Ministry of Culture that controls compliance with the State Monument Act and its implementing
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