NEWS:

Czech Legal Updates 2026 – Quarterly Overview

Q1 – Effective from 1 January 2026

Family Law (Act No. 268/2025 Coll.)

• Simplified divorce proceedings – introduction of “agreed divorce”; removal of the mandatory investigation into the causes of marital breakdown and the six-month separation requirement.
• Consolidation of divorce and custody proceedings into a single court process.
• Abolition of formal custody categories (sole / alternating / joint custody) – courts now determine the scope of each parent’s care individually.
• Explicit statutory prohibition on corporal punishment of children and degrading psychological treatment.
• New option to assign a due maintenance claim to a third party.
• Courts to take into account anticipated future changes in needs and the potential earning capacity of the liable parent when setting maintenance.
• Introduction of provisional decisions (replacing interim measures in child custody matters).

Criminal Law (Major Amendment to the Criminal Code)

• Decriminalisation of cannabis possession: up to 100 g of dry cannabis at home, up to 25 g in public; cultivation of up to 3 plants permitted for adults aged 21 and over.
• New criminal offence: misuse of a person’s likeness (deepfake) to produce or distribute pornography without consent – punishable by up to 5 years imprisonment.
• Expanded use of financial penalties – courts may impose them for almost any criminal offence.
• Statute of limitations for murder extended to 30 years.
• Offence of failing to pay maintenance narrowed – criminal liability only where the entitled person faces immediate deprivation.
• Abolition of aggravated forms of repeat-offence theft – recidivism reclassified as an aggravating circumstance within the basic offence.

Labour Law and Wages

• Minimum wage: CZK 22,400/month (CZK 134.40/hour for a 40-hour week).
• Mandatory employer contributions to retirement savings: at least 4% of gross salary for employees classified in hazardous work category 3 (Act No. 324/2025 Coll.).
• Abolition of tax advantage for salary sacrifice arrangements – benefits provided through wage reduction are now taxed as salary.
• Increased tax exemption limits for employee benefits: leisure/recreation approx. CZK 24,500/year; health-related benefits approx. CZK 49,000/year.
• Second phase of the Labour Code flexi-amendment: revised unemployment benefit rules – higher amounts and extended entitlement periods.
• Unified Monthly Employer Report (JMHZ) – data collection phase launched from 1 January 2026 (preparatory phase; live operation from 1 April 2026).

Tax Law and Business

• Increase in the threshold for a 100% bad-debt provision on minor receivables: from CZK 30,000 to CZK 50,000.
• New tax regime for qualified employee share options (ESOPs) – income from exercising options taxed as other income, exempt from social security and health insurance contributions.
• Removal of the CZK 40 million cap on the exemption of income from the sale of business interests and securities (subject to a holding period of 3–5 years).
• Higher minimum advance payments on social insurance for self-employed persons (OSVČ); flat-rate tax in the first band raised to CZK 9,984/month.

Consumer Law and E-Commerce

• E-shops must allow consumers to withdraw from a contract “in one click” – by the same means used to conclude the contract.
• Prohibition of manipulative online practices (dark patterns) – banned techniques include false urgency, pre-ticked consent boxes and misleading buttons.
• Prohibition of misleading environmental claims (anti-greenwashing) – vague terms such as “eco-friendly” or “sustainable” without substantiation constitute an unfair commercial practice.

Immigration and Administrative Law

• Digitalisation of the residence permit system for foreign nationals – most procedures now conducted online via a Foreigner Account and Czech e-ID.
• Employers must notify the authorities of a foreign worker’s start date at least 1 day in advance.
• Firearms licences replaced by digital firearms authorisations.

Q2 – Effective from 1 April 2026

Labour Law

• JMHZ goes live – first mandatory submissions under the Unified Monthly Employer Report system, replacing approximately 25 separate forms previously submitted to the Czech Social Security Administration (CSSA), the tax authorities and the Labour Office.
• Mandatory electronic reporting of workplace accidents exclusively through the State Labour Inspection Office (SUIP) portal.

Q3 – Effective from 1 July 2026

Labour Law

• JMHZ – full operation of the Unified Monthly Employer Report (final implementation phase).

Criminal Law

• Further provisions of the major Criminal Code amendment enter into force (including preparatory measures for the introduction of the Child Certificate from 1 January 2027).

Q4 – Effective from 20 November 2026

Commercial Law – Consumer Credit (Transposition of CCD2 Directive)

• Amendment to Act No. 257/2016 Coll. on Consumer Credit – transposing EU Directive 2023/2225 (Consumer Credit Directive 2).
• Extension of the scope of the Act to cover interest-free consumer credit.
• Introduction of APR caps for standard consumer loans and total cost caps for small and short-term loans.
• Stricter creditworthiness assessment rules – focus on the consumer’s actual repayment capacity rather than mere procedural failures by the lender.
• Expanded pre-contractual information obligations for creditors.
• Stricter regulation of advertising for consumer credit products.
• Introduction of a forbearance principle – lenders must act with leniency towards borrowers in arrears.

Outlook: Changes Planned from 1 January 2027

• Introduction of the Child Certificate (part of the major 2025 Criminal Code amendment).
• Electoral law: fixed dates for regional, Senate and municipal elections (always the end of the first week of October); Senate constituency boundaries may not be changed more than once every 12 years.

Note:

• JMHZ→ Unified Monthly Employer Report 
• OSVČ→ self-employed persons (OSVČ)
• ČSSZ→ Czech Social Security Administration (CSSA)
• SÚIP→ State Labour Inspection Office (SUIP)
• Flexinovela→ flexi-amendment
• Spotřebitelský úvěr / CCD2 → Consumer Credit Directive 2 (CCD2