Goods - Czech Republic

Updated 02/2011

Legal requirements

The area of selling goods is regulated under the following laws:

Trade Licensing Act
Act on Consumer Protection
Act on Value Added Tax
Commercial Code

The Czech Office for Standards, Metrology and Testing is responsible for technical harmonisation, metrology and testing.

Office for Standards, Metrology and Testing

Apart from the Office for Standards, Metrology and Testing, the following organisations are also authorised to perform product conformity assessments in the Czech Republic: the Czech Metrology Institute and the Czech Accreditation Institute.

Restrictions

The Act on Consumer Protection lays down certain business conditions that are significant for consumer protection when selling goods or products and providing services.

Act on Consumer Protection

The Act on General Product Safety ensures that products placed on the market or into circulation are safe for consumers from a health and safety perspective.

Act on General Product Safety

Magnetic toys or toys containing magnetic parts must fulfil the technical requirements for toys and must be labelled with information on possible risks.

Labelling magnetic toys

Food sector

The Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority is the state monitoring body especially for the health, quality and proper labelling of foodstuffs.

Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority
Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority - application of legal regulations

Non-food sector

The Czech Trade Inspection Authority carries out the inspection and monitoring of legal and natural persons who:

sell or supply products and goods on the internal market;
provide services or pursue other similar activities on the internal market;
provide consumer credit or;
operate market places (market-halls).
Czech Trade Inspection Authority

Excise duties

Excise duties are levied on spirits, beer, wine and intermediate products and mineral oils (formerly referred to as hydrocarbon fuels and lubricants) and tobacco products.

Excise duties
Act on Excise Duties

Trade licensing requirements

The general requirements for obtaining a trade licence are:

a minimum age of 18 years;
legal capacity;
good character.

The special conditions for operating a trade include the professional or other competences required under the Trade Licensing Act or other laws. It mainly involves evidence of training/education or evidence of practical experience in the relevant field.

For skilled trades these special conditions are defined in Sections 21 and 22 of the Trade Licensing Act, for restricted trades in Annex No 2 and for concession trades in Annex No 3 to this Act.

Detailed information on the procedures are set out on the BusinessInfo.cz portal. All of the information necessary for doing business in the Czech Republic is also provided at the Single Points of Contact (SPC).

Address list of Single Points of Contact in the Czech Republic
BusinessInfo.cz - the official portal for business and exports
Trade Licensing Act

Appealing against trade barriers

In case of restrictions on the movement of a product on the Czech market it is possible to approach the contact point for products at the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic.

Contact point for products

Administrative procedures

Permits and licences

The competent body for issuing import licences in the Czech Republic is the Licensing Authority of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic.

Licensing Authority of the Ministry of Industry and Trade

Importers in the Czech Republic may submit one application for an import licence for each category of products and for each country of origin. Import licences (authorisations) are issued free of charge within 5 working days of receiving an application for an import licence together with the originals of the other documents required.

The details of applications for import licences are set out under Council Regulation No 3030/93. The application forms are published on the website of the licensing body.

Import and export of goods subject to prohibitions and restrictions

The following websites provide information on measures applying to imports of steel, technical and clothing products.

Measures for importing steel products
Measures for importing textile and clothing products

International VAT number

The verification of VAT numbers of persons registered in other EU Member States is carried out by the Czech Tax Administration.

Czech Tax Administration

Applications for the assignment of an EORI number for contacts with customs authorities in other EU Member States may be filled in on the website of the Czech Customs Adminisration

Czech Customs Administration

Invoice requirements

Invoices are not currently regulated as documents under any legislation. It therefore possible for an invoice or the particulars thereof to be viewed as a tax document within the meaning of the Act on Value Added Tax or an accounting document from the perspective of the Act on Accounting.

It arises from the aforementioned Acts that an invoice must include the following particulars:

name and address of the issuer;
name (or company name) and address of the recipient;
date of issue and date payable;
taxable date, for invoices of persons registered for VAT;
reference number.
Act on Value Added Tax
Act on Accounting

Submitting statistics

When collecting data for Intrastat it is possible to use an Intrastat CZ report in paper form or an electronic method of transmission via the website of the Customs Administration of the Czech Republic.

Intrastat

The basic information, Eurostat legal regulations and practical instructions relating mainly to the methods for Intrastat statistics are available on the website of the Czech Statistical Office.

Czech Statistical Office

Suspending tariffs or obtaining new tariff quotas

The system of autonomous tariff suspensions and tariff quotas in the EU and the submission of applications by Czech business entities are also within the remit of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic.

Ministry of Industry and Trade

Shipping certain goods

The conditions for tax exemptions in the import of goods are set out in Section 71 of the Act on Value Added Tax. More detailed information is available on the website of the Czech Tax Administration

Act on Value Added Tax

Information on reporting the shipping of hazardous materials is available on the website of the Ministry of Transport of the Czech Republic.

International transport document

The EUR1 Certificate serves as documentary proof of origin for goods in foreign trade with EU countries. It is used for consignments above a certain legally-specified value (currently EUR 6,000).

For smaller consignments it is replaced by a sworn declaration, or a declaration on the invoice. The EUR1 certificate is confirmed by the customs authority in the country of export. More detailed information is available on the website of the Czech Customs Administration.

Czech Customs Administration

Information on Euro-licences and cabotage is available on the website of the Ministry of Transport of the Czech Republic.

Cabotage and Euro-licences

Disputes

In case of dispute the parties may turn to the Court of Adjudication of the Chamber of Commerce of the Czech Republic and Chamber of Agriculture of the Czech Republic:

Court of Adjudication

Resources

The following governmental and non-governmental institutions and web portals offer further information and useful services related to the sale of goods and exports.