Statement on the judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court

The Office for Standards, Metrology and Testing (ÚNMZ) is not currently authorized to provide any standards free of charge.

The judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court is a so-called appeal decision annulling the judgment of the Municipal Court in Prague No. 11A3/2014-32 and referring the case (request for the provision of technical standards pursuant to Act No. 106/1999 Coll., on Free Access to Information) back to the Municipal Court in Prague for further consideration.

Pursuant to Section 110(2)(a) of the Code of Administrative Court Procedure (Act No. 150/2002 Coll.) the Supreme Administrative Court has the power to annul the contested decision of the administrative authority at the same time as it annuls the judgment of the court of first instance; the Supreme Administrative Court did not use this power in its judgment No. 1 As 162/2014 and, on the contrary, in paragraph 53 it gave the following instruction to the Municipal Court in Prague:

"... The Municipal Court will therefore have to determine in further proceedings whether there are other grounds for refusing the complainant's request for the provision of the requested information in the form of the full text of the technical standards in the construction sector. To that end, it should also give both parties to the proceedings the opportunity to comment on that issue. If it finds that there is no other ground for refusing the complainant's request for information, it will have to annul the defendant's decision on appeal and the Office's decision to refuse the request and, at the same time, order the Office to provide the requested information."

Only after the completion of these new proceedings, in which the Municipal Court in Prague is bound by the decision of the Supreme Administrative Court on points of law, will it be clear how to proceed in the whole case. In the meantime, the ÚNMZ will proceed in accordance with its current practice, i.e. in accordance with Act No. 22/1997 Coll., on Technical Requirements for Products and its implementing regulations, in particular the Reimbursement Decree 442/2016 Coll.