CZECH REPUBLIC Law and Practice Contributed by: Daniela Kozáková, ŠIROKÝ ZRZAVECKÝ, attorneys-at-law
they are located in free zones (there is one freeport near Prague). These are the most typical examples. However, the range of those subject to obligations is fairly exten - sive, and must be reviewed on a case-by-case basis (eg, the obliged persons are also persons authorised to trade in second-hand goods or to mediate such trades or to accept items as collateral or trading in pre - cious metals or precious stones pursuant to Appendix 1 of the Act in transactions worth EUR10,000 or more). A simplified regime applies on the tasks specified relating to (a) above (Section 28 of Act No 253/2008 Coll.), as these persons are obliged only to: • perform client identification; • refuse to execute a transaction under the condi - tions specified in the Act; • inform the Financial Analytical Office of this fact; • carry out due diligence on the client; • store information as requested in the Act; • report suspicious transactions; • provide information to the Financial Analytical Office if asked; and • respect confidentiality obligations. Obliged persons must perform know-your-custom - er checks on clients upon conclusion of long-term business relationships or where transactions have involved cultural monuments or objects of cultural value exceeding EUR1,000. Cultural treasures can be understood to mean impor - tant documents of historical development, way of life and environment from the earliest times to the present, with manifestations of the creative abilities and work of people from various fields of human activity, show - ing their revolutionary, historical, artistic, scientific and technical values and directly related to important per - sonalities and historical events, and may be declared by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic as cultural treasures. 7. Collections 7.1 Legal Status of Collections
In addition, archival materials which are of exceptional importance for general, national or regional history, for science, technology or cultural history, or due to their uniqueness or originality, or which have any other exceptional properties, and are of exceptional impor - tance to society, and that are stored in a collection or cultural and scientific institution (museums, galleries, memorials, institutes of the Academy of Sciences and universities) or with one owner, may be declared to be archival cultural heritage. The government of the Czech Republic can declare these to be cultural treas - ures. The Ministry of the Interior keeps a register of all archival materials declared to be cultural treasures. 8. Photography 8.1 When Are Photographs Protected as Art? Photography can be considered an artwork subject to copyright protection if it fulfils the criteria specified in the Copyright Act: • it is an artistic work that is the unique result of its author’s creative activity; and • it is expressed in any objectively perceivable form, including electronic form, “permanently or tempo - rarily, regardless of its scope, purpose or signifi - cance” (Section 2 (1) of Act No 121/2000 Coll.). Photographs that are sufficiently creative/unique will fulfil this definition. In addition, a further provision grants protection to “… photographs and creations, expressed in a process similar to photography, which are original in the sense that they are the author’s own intellectual creation”, as these are also considered protected work by the Copyright Act (Section 2 (2) of Act No 121/2000 Coll.). 8.2 Legal Protection for Different Types of Photographs Photographs protected by copyright can be split into two main groups: • artistic photographs that are primarily professional photographs (artistic photographs, portraits, pho - tographs of nature, styling, etc) – where the result must be unique; and
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