CZECH REPUBLIC Trends and Developments Contributed by: Daniela Kozáková and Pavel Široký, ŠIROKÝ ZRZAVECKÝ, attorneys-at-law
Students at high schools or universities are excluded from the scholarship, as well as artists who work more than 20 hours a week in an employment relationship. Statistics as of the end of 2025 (source: the Ministry of Culture, 14 January 2026) show that interest in acquir - ing artist status during the first months of its exist - ence has been rather low. A total of 412 applications has been submitted: 365 artists have already received certificates of entry into the registry; 37 applications have been rejected so far. According to the Ministry of Culture, 64% of the artists are authors of artworks, 28% are performance artists and only 8% are from artistic technical professions. Amendment as to expert opinions For decades there was dissatisfaction with the work of experts in several cases when giving expert opin - ions on artworks, necessitating stricter regulation of their activities. Brand new Act No 254/2019 Coll., on Experts, Expert Offices and Expert Institutes was enacted and became effective on 1 January 2021. The Act established significant changes to the functioning of experts and their activities, including: • conditions for giving expert opinions; • the obligation to conclude insurance with a mini - mum limit of at least CZK1 million for individuals and CZK5 million for expert institutes and offices; • administrative and evidence obligations; and • high sanctions for breach of obligations. Given these changes, many experts ceased to provide their expert services. This caused many problems not only in the private sphere but also in public institutions and courts for which expert opinions are essential. Thus, the new amendment of Act No 254/2019 Coll., on Experts, Expert Offices and Expert Institutes came into effect as of 1 January 2026, with the intention of overcoming constraints caused by the previous 2021 amendment, as follows. • The mandatory professional indemnity insurance introduced by the 2021 amendment has been cancelled for experts who are natural persons, whereas obligatory insurance remains valid for expert companies. Experience had shown that the conditions for insurance were unclear and, thus,
the cost of such insurance was quite high. For those experts providing opinions only occasion - ally, this constituted an undue burden, leading to a significant number of resignations. • The time periods for evidence of the expert opinion in the database were too short, which turned out to be unrealistic; therefore, they were significantly prolonged to 30 days from the former five days (in case of evidence of the opinion) and 90 days (as regards information relating to expert fees). • Experts registered in the list of experts before 2021 will not need to prolong their authorisation, as this will no longer be time limited. The 2025 amend - ment also prolonged the deadline to 31 December 2028 for expert companies to obtain new licences, as the former deadlines were short. Implementation of EU Regulation No 2019/880 Effective from December 2022, the Act No 362/2022 Coll., on the Entry and Import of Certain Cultural Property into the Customs Territory of the EU adopts EU Regulation 2019/880 on the Entry and Import of Cultural Goods, into the Czech legal system. The Act requires those who import or participate in the entry of a cultural property from the country of origin into the customs territory of the EU to present to the customs office a permit for the export of the cultural property issued by the authority of the country of origin or a certificate from the authority of the country of origin stating that there is no obligation to have an export permit for the cultural property in question, and oth - er documents proving that the export of the cultural property was carried out in accordance with the leg - islation of the country of origin. If the customs office has reasonable grounds to sus - pect that the import rules have been violated or has reasonable knowledge of its origin, handling in accord - ance with the rules of change of origin or the authen - ticity or validity of the submitted documentation, it may detain the item. However, it must immediately notify the Ministry of Culture, which will preliminarily assess the justification for such detention within five working days and inform the customs office whether the detention should continue to exist, in which case the item is handed over to the Ministry. The item will be stored professionally at a professional institution designated by the Ministry, applying the rules for their
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