Sbírka zákonů a mezinárodních smluv Collection of Laws and International Treaties
Published by: Ministerstvo vnitra České republiky, odbor strategického rozvoje a koordinace veřejné správy (Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic, Department for Strategic Development and Co-ordination of Public Administration)
Náměstí Hrdinů 1634/3 — 140 21 Prague 4
P.O. BOX 155
Czech Republic
Tel. +420 974816644
E-mail: esel@mv.gov.cz
Website: https://www.e-sbirka.cz
Official journal / legal gazette
Since 1 January 2024, the Collection of Laws and the Collection of International Treaties, in accordance with Act No. 222/2016 Coll., on the Collection of Laws and International Treaties, were replaced by the Collection of Laws and International Treaties published in the Electronic Collection of Laws and International Treaties system (e-Collection, https://www.e-sbirka.cz/). In the e-Collection, you can find newly promulgated acts of the Collection of Laws and International Treaties as well as copies of the sections of the Collection of Laws and International Treaties promulgated until 31 December 2024 (e.g. in the Chronological Register section).
First edition
Sbírka zákonů České republiky, Ročník 1993, Částka 1, rozeslána dne 28. 12. 1992
(Collection of laws of the Czech Republic, Year 1993, Issue 1, published on 28 December 1992)
First online edition
1 January 2000
Paper edition
As mentioned above, the paper edition of the Collection will no longer be published (as of 1 January 2024).
Online edition
Collection of Laws and International Treaties: https://www.e-sbirka.cz Available texts
Legislative texts since 1918 Access and price Free
Laws approved by the Parliament of the Czech Republic (e.g. Civil Code, Tax Act, etc.)
Constitutional laws including amendments to the Constitution of the Czech Republic or the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms
Government regulations
Decrees of ministries and other central administrative bodies
Findings of the Constitutional Court which repeal a legal regulation or part thereof
International treaties which have been ratified by the Parliament and are binding on the Czech Republic
Decisions of the President of the Republic if provided for by law (e.g. on the announcement of elections)
Corrections of errors in already promulgated regulations
Official notices specified in any law
Certain court decisions and notifications of central state authorities if provided for by special laws
The collection is issued in numbered items and each set is closed by the end of the calendar year.
Legal basis
The publication of legislation is based on Article 52(1) and (2) of the Constitution, which requires an act to be published to come into force.
A specific law constitutes the legal basis for the publication of the Sbírka zákonů a mezinárodních smluv (Act No. 222/2016 Coll., on the Collection of Laws and International Treaties, as amended, in connection with Act No 2/1969 on the establishment of ministries and other central authorities of state administration of the Czech Republic, as amended).
Legally binding
Electronic version (e-Sbírka) system publishes legally binding version of the Collection.
Financing
State budget
Other gazettes
Apart from the mentioned legal gazette, there are also the following main ‘official gazettes’ containing official notices and other legal announcements:
Sbírka právních předpisů územně samosprávných celků a některých správních úřadů (Collection of legal regulations of territorial self-governing units and certain administrative authorities, https://sbirkapp.gov.cz)
Internet access to legislation of municipalities on web sites of particular municipalities (central system for publishing legislation of municipalities is being prepared by the Ministry of the Interior).
Collection of Acts and Collection of International Treaties: https://www.e-sbirka.cz See also point 1.1
Functionalities
Publication of legal and other texts (see point 1.2), searching in the database of structured texts of promulgated and time-based versions of legal regulations (subject and chronological index, currently promulgated legal regulations, repealed legal regulations, EU law), dictionaries (CzechVOC, EuroVOC), downloading texts
Format description
PDF
Authenticity
No special measures of security are used apart from standard system security measures ("https" access).
Archiving
The Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic is responsible for archiving. The legal basis for archiving electronic editions of legislation is contained in Act No. 222/2016 Coll., on the Collection of Laws and International Treaties.
Ministerstvo vnitra České republiky, Odbor strategického rozvoje a koordinace veřejné správy
(Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic, Department for Strategic Development and Co-ordination of Public Administration of the Ministry of the Interior) For contact details, please refer to point 1.1
Form and nature
Part of the Ministry of the Interior
Basic tasks
Pre-press: yes
Printing: no
Dissemination/distribution: no
Legal gazette online: yes
Legislation database: yes
Consolidation: yes
Other services offered
Information on published issues of the Sbírka zákonů a mezinárodních smluv including the texts on web site of the ministry.
Same systems used for primary and secondary legislation
An integrated system called e-Legislativa (e-Legislation) is currently being prepared, to include processing drafts in XML format and consolidated versions (project e-Sbírka/e-Collection). The use of this system for drafting, workflow and signing the legislation will be mandatory probably since 1 January 2027 (Act No 222/2016).
Workflow
At the moment, there is no integrated electronic workflow system. Transmission is carried out mainly electronically. An integrated seamless electronic workflow system with mandatory use integrating systems of several institution (Office of Government, Chamber of Deputies, Senate) is being prepared as a part of the e-Legislativa project. The use of this system for workflow will be mandatory probably since 1 January 2027 (Act No 222/2016).
Publishing
The Department for Strategic Development and Co-ordination of Public Administration in the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic ensures proofreading and editing in cooperation with a representative of the government body which proposed the bill.
According to Article 12(9) of Act 222/2016, the legislation must be published immediately. The time needed for publication depends, however, on the volume of legislation. The time may vary from 1 to 30 days, which is the statutory deadline for publishing. From a technical point of view, the minimum period is around 24 hours.
Since 1 January 2020, the legislation is generally allowed to come into force only on 1 January or 1 July based on time of submission to promulgation. As an exception, legislation is allowed to come into force on other dates only in case of emergent legislation.
Starting on 1 January 2024, single collection has been published in electronic system e-Sbírka in legally binding electronic version.
The system of publication of legally binding electronic editions of acts in consolidated legally binding form, called e-Sbírka (e-Collection), is fully operational as from 1 January 2024 and contains a free-of-charge online database with the consolidated versions of both valid and derogated acts that have been published since 4 May 1945, and of all acts in force.
