At the end of January 2023, a draft law amending Act No. 72/2000 Coll., on investment incentives, as amended (“Act on Investment Incentives”), was published.
The main reason for this amendment is the need to change the process of providing investment incentives, specifically the obligation of the Ministry of Industry and Trade to submit each investment incentive application to the Government for discussion and approval.
Previously, from 2019, the government had to approve all applications, which made the entire process of allocating investment incentives lengthy and unpredictable. This created a great degree of uncertainty and led to a disproportionate burden for investment incentives applicants.
The draft amendment to the Act on Investment Incentives introduces a one-stage decision-making process, as is the case with decisions on subsidies according to budget rules. The government will only continue to be responsible for approving applications for strategic investment incentives. This will not only increase the transparency of the decision-making process regarding the granting of investment incentives to applicants, but it will also significantly shorten the length of the entire approval process.
Another significant change should be an increase in the requirements for so-called "higher added value" and the extension of the conditions for higher added value to all regions of the Czech Republic.
The amendment also proposes the introduction of more favorable conditions for subsidies or investment incentives which are part of important projects of common European interest, as well as production projects that will contribute to achieving energy independence and climate neutrality.
The Czech government had intended to discuss the amendment to the Act on Investment Incentives on 1 March 2023, but unfortunately this point was excluded from the meeting and postponed.***