After the accession of several Central and Eastern European countries to the European Union in 2004, new challenges arose for their highest judicial institutions to define and shape the relationship between the national and European legal order. This paper assesses the first decade of the effort of the Slovak Constitutional Court (SCC) in interpreting the relationship between domestic and EU law via applying the concept of constitutional pluralism which presumes a specific relationship between the legal orders characterized by their heterarchical structure, mutual interaction and cooperation rather than of a hierarchical, monistic structure, governed by clash over dominance. Answering the research question how the SCC has positioned itself vis-à-vis the constitutional monism v. pluralism dilemma can offer an insight on the general relationship between domestic and EU law in Slovakia. By analysing statutory law, selected judgments and reviewing secondary literature, the paper argues that the SCC seems to have chosen the monistic, hierarchical approach to the relationship, having rejected constitutional pluralism. At the same time, this position is not articulated clearly enough due to the veil of secrecy that to some extent still prevails over the SCC’s doctrinal attitudes to EU law. The findings of the paper, which combines conceptual analysis of constitutional pluralism with review of relevant legal provisions and case law, demonstrate the need for a more active and straightforward approach of the SCC when dealing with the challenges of EU law., Max Steuer., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
The issues related to cybersecurity are being amplified by the growing role of the Internet of Things devices in current digital economy. The focus of this contribution is to examine the challenges of IoT environment for the corporate cybersecurity from the legal perspective with regards to the specific role of small and medium enterprises. It provides an introduction into the environment of SMEs and the transformation of their operations through new technologies, followed by highlights of the cybersecurity challenges brought by the IoT. Core part of the contribution is an analysis of the applicable legal frameworks and discussion of the broader picture with regard to this specific perspective on the regulation of corporate cybersecurity., František Kasl., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
The national report for the purpose of the 20th International Congress of Comparative Law Fukuoka 2018 deals with the optional choice of court agreements from the perspective of the Czech law. The report answers the questions if the Czech national legislation allows the parties to conclude the optional choice of court agreements in international cases, what is the character of these clauses and if they are expressly stated in the Czech Private International Law Act. The authors deal also with the asysmmetrical choice of court agreements, expecially their legal effect. in the end of the report, the authors evalueate the efficiency of the national regulation and propose for the necessary modifications., Naděžda Rozehnalová, Silvie Mahdalová, Lucie Zavadilová., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
Administrative courts at the onset of the new century face the challenge of ever-changing legislation. Frequent amendments do solvee some gaps but creat even more gaps which have to be filled by the courts. in the CZech Republic relative ease of judicial review by the courts of first instance and the wide open access to the Supreme Administrative Court mean that many administrative cases are resolved in four instances - two instances of administrative proceedings and additional two instances of judicial proceedings. All these things considered, it is not surprising that neither legal scholarship nor case law defines any general concept of judicial deference (or self-restraint) to the administration. Various areas of public law contain some expressions of judicial deference (most notably the limitation of judicial review of administrative discretion and subsidiarity of judicial review). Nevertheless, both case law and scholarship are far from subsuming these concepts under the common label of "judicial deference to the administration". This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the notion of judicial deference in the Czech Republic as well as some prospects in this field., Zdenek Kühn, Josef Staša., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
The (extraterritorial) application of US antitrust laws can have, for the concerned European companies, serious consequences. This applies to the prosecution of antitrust violations as criminal offenses, resulting to the imposition of prison sentences against competitors responsible for antitrust infringing (including foreigners), on the other hand the specificities of bringing civil claims for damages before US courts, including procedural aspects. This article provides a summary of the extraterritorial application of US antitrust law, with emphasis to the jurisdiction of US courts. A question whether the European Commission has jurisdiction over conduct that occurs outside the EU and the differing approaches of the US and the EU of how to regulate foreign anticompetitive activity will be examined., Rastislav Funta., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
The paper, a substantially shortened version of the national report prepared for the congress of the International Academy of Comparative Law in 2018, analyses processes of formal and informal constitutional amendment in the Czech Republic. After outlining the basic relevant characteristics of the Czech constitutional amendment in the Czech Republic. After outlining the basic relevant characteristics of the Czech constitution (poly-legality, rigidity, etc.), the paper examines procedural issues of formal constitutional amendment and studies further requirements regarding such constitutional changes, esp. the role of Art. 9 of the Consttitution Several varieties of informal constitutional changes are then briefly presented. The paper assesses the current situation regarding processes of both formal and informal constitutional changes, finding the formal requirements prescribed for a constitutional amendment as sufficient for the relative stability of the constitutional system, being neither extremely strict not benevolent. The paper also points out several open questions regarding the practical application of the unamendability provision of Art. 9(2) of the Constitution in relation to potential constitutional amendments adopted through a constitutional referendum. Finally, the paper deals with the issue of how formal constitutional amendments can impact upon informal constitutional changes, using the example of the introduction of the direct election of the President of the Republic in 2012., Miluše Kindlová., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
In this article we present some of the problems connected with the formation of the First Czechoslovak Republic from the legal point of view. Our aim is to point out that the First Czechoslovak Republic could not arise for the Slovaks on the 28th of October, 1918. Our argumentation is firstly based on the historical discussion (descriptive level) which was held in the past, but at the same time we try to formulate conclusions applicable on other similar cases within nowadays discussion (prescriptive level). In the beginning of the article we analyse the thesis according to which the First Czechoslovak Republic was created on the 28th of October, 1918, while trying to come to terms with the arguments that support this legal fiction. Consequently we analyze the thesis that the First Czechoslovak Republic could not be legally created for the Slovaks on the 28th of October, 1918, because at that time the Czechoslovak Republic did not execute its effective power on the Slovak territory. To support this thesis we use also the stable practice of the Supreme Administration Court. At the end of the article, we try to summarize all the previous arguments and draw the attention to the lack of explanatory power of the legal fiction claiming that the Czechoslovak Republic was created on the 28th of October, 1918., Štefan Siskovič, Miriam Laclavíková., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
Old-age pension savings is a system functionally linked to the general pension insurance scheme, which focuses on the capitalization of savings accumulated by the saver in their personal pension account. From the administrative-procedural point of view, the pre-contractual part of the pay-out phase of this system is built on the Central Information Bidding System (CIBS), which is thus an important and systemic element of old-age pension savings. The present contribution analyses the tasks and objectives of this information system in the pay-out phase of pensions and, at the same time, asks the question whether it fulfils the functions of current modern information systems and if it thus assists in securing the constitutional right of a natural person to adequate material security in old age or, on the contrary, if it is only an information system that duplicates the rules and approaches introduced by the legislation providing for the method of the savings in the Slovak pension model (by the individualisation of saving with a low economic guarantee) and especially in the process of concluding a contract on the pension insurance that does not support the implementation of the constitutional law in a serious way., Miloš Lacko., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy