Communities Have Power to Increase Fees for Communal Waste Disposal

Local fees do represent an important category of municipal income. An Amendment to the Act No. 565/1990 Col, regulating local fees categories and procedural rules of their administration, will enable cities and municipalities to increase their fees for communal waste gathering, collection, transport, separation, use and disposal.

As per the justification report, in this respect, legal regulation of the fees has not been changed since 2002; this also means that, in the said period of time, their maximum level was not valorized. Since then, however, total municipal costs related to waste treatment and disposal grew by 81.5%.

In addition to the increase of the fee ceiling from CZK 500 to CZK 1000, also the group of person to which the fee is applicable has been enlarged. As per the new version, the fee is applicable in the respective municipality as well to foreigners and asylum-seekers having received a residence permit longer than 90 days.

The Act, published in the Collection of laws under the No. 174/2012 Col, came into effect as of July 1st, 2012. The obligation to pay fees for the calendar year 2012 and previous calendar years, however, are still governed by the previously existing legislation in force.