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Document 47 - Amendment to the Constitutional Act – Constitution of the Czech Republic

Processed date: 02.12.2025 |Session 10

Summary

The law expands the powers of the Supreme Audit Office, which will now gain constitutional authority to audit the management of Czech Television and Czech Radio. The aim is to enhance the transparency of public service media, which are not connected to state assets and have so far been beyond the audit scope of the Supreme Audit Office.

The change is the result of long-term political and expert consensus and has no financial impact on the state budget or other public budgets. The Supreme Audit Office will continue to issue only audit conclusions without direct authority to enforce corrective measures.

The constitutional amendment will take effect on July 1, 2026.

Topics

obligationscultureadministration

Additional documents

Additional document 1

Chamber of Deputies Print 47/1 Government Opinion on Print 47/0

Processed date: 24.12.2025
The document expresses the Government’s favourable opinion on the Senate’s draft constitutional law amending the Constitution of the Czech Republic. The Government supports the extension of the constitutional powers of the Supreme Audit Office to audit the management of Czech Television and Czech Radio. The aim is to strengthen the transparency of public service media without direct financial impact on public budgets.

Additional document 10

Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee Resolution on Print No. 47/0

Processed date: 12.06.2026

Scope: Section 95; pages 1–4.

This is a resolution of the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee regarding a Senate proposal for a constitutional amendment that extends the audit authority of the Supreme Audit Office to include Czech Television and Czech Radio. The committee proposes a specific order for voting on the amendments during the third reading and recommends rejecting some of them, while it has not taken a position on others. The committee recommends approving the constitutional bill as a whole. The document thus primarily sets out the organizational procedure for the final vote and confirms support for the main constitutional amendment.

Additional document 2

Resolution of the Constitutional Committee on Parliamentary Document No. 47/0

Processed date: 18.03.2026
The Control Committee of the Chamber of Deputies has suspended consideration of the Senate bill amending the Constitution of the Czech Republic, which is related to the expansion of the powers of the Supreme Audit Office. The Committee also set a timetable for further consideration, including deadlines for the submission of amendments and their processing by the SAO. Final consideration in the Committee is scheduled for 29 April 2026.

Additional document 3

Resolution of the VMZ on Print No. 47/0

Processed date: 20.03.2026
The document is a resolution of the Media Affairs Committee on the Senate draft constitutional law that expands the powers of the Supreme Audit Office to include auditing the management of Czech Television and Czech Radio. The committee suspended the general debate and set a timetable for the submission of amendments and their consideration until the end of April 2026. The amendment is intended to increase transparency of public service media without financial impact on the state budget.

Additional document 4

Resolution of the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee on Print No. 47/0

Processed date: 24.03.2026
The resolution of the Constitutional Law Committee suspends the consideration of the Senate’s draft constitutional law that would extend the powers of the Supreme Audit Office to include auditing the management of Czech Television and Czech Radio. The amendment is intended to strengthen the transparency of public media without financial impact on the state budget. The amendment is scheduled to take effect on 1 July 2026.

Additional document 5

Resolution of the SKÚPP on Print No. 47/0

Processed date: 28.04.2026
The Standing Committee on the Constitution of the Czech Republic and Parliamentary Procedures confirms its earlier opinion on the Senate draft constitutional law. It recommends that the Chamber of Deputies consider and approve Print 47 as originally submitted. The amendment therefore does not change anything substantively and supports the extension of the SAO’s audit powers to Czech Television and Czech Radio.

Additional document 6

Resolution of the VMZ on Print 47/0

Processed date: 29.04.2026
The Committee on Media Affairs discussed a Senate bill that extends the powers of the Supreme Audit Office to Czech Television and Czech Radio. The resolution recommends that the Chamber of Deputies approve the proposal. It also instructed the committee chairman to table the resolution and authorised the rapporteur to inform the plenary of the outcome of the debate.

Additional document 7

Resolution of the KV on Print No. 47/0

Processed date: 29.04.2026
The Control Committee recommended that the Chamber of Deputies approve the Senate bill amending the Constitution of the Czech Republic. The amendment extends the constitutional powers of the Supreme Audit Office so that it can audit the management of Czech Television and Czech Radio. The resolution also determines who will submit the proposal to the Speaker of the House and who will report on it to the plenary.

Additional document 8

Resolution of the Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs on Print No. 47/0

Processed date: 30.04.2026
The Constitutional Law Committee discussed the Senate draft constitutional law amending the Constitution of the Czech Republic and recommended its approval to the Chamber of Deputies. The resolution is a procedural step in the legislative process and confirms the committee’s support for the expansion of the Supreme Audit Office’s audit powers. The Committee also instructed the Chair to submit the resolution to the President of the Chamber and the Rapporteur to inform the plenary of the outcome of the discussion.

Additional document 9

Amendments and other proposals to Print No. 47/0

Processed date: 14.05.2026
The amendments expand and refine the constitutional powers of the Supreme Audit Office over the management of the state, other public funds and selected legal entities. The proposals differ in the scope of the entities audited: from a broader version including entities established by law or predominantly controlled by the state to a narrower version for entities with exclusive state ownership. Other proposals change the scope of laws requiring the approval of both chambers, introduce the possibility of auditing even past performance and shorten the effective date to 15 days after promulgation.

Proposals

We do not know whether the listed proposals were approved or declined.

Proposal 1041

47 - 1041 - Samuel Volpe

The amendment significantly expands the constitutional scope of the Supreme Audit Office in a more general way: instead of auditing only Czech Television and Czech Radio, the SAO will now be able to audit other public funds and legal entities established by law or controlled or predominantly financed by the state. At the same time, the wording is changed from controlling the management of “state property” to a broader control of the management of “the state”. It is also added that the SAO Act will be one of the laws that must be approved by both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

Proposal 1046

47 - 1046 - Marek Benda

The amendment adds to Article 40 of the Constitution a law on legal entities providing public service in the field of radio and television broadcasting. The new law would therefore have to be approved by both chambers of Parliament, not just the Chamber of Deputies. The aim is to strengthen stability, legitimacy and broader political consensus in regulating the status of Czech Television and Czech Radio.

Proposal 1049

47 - 1049 - Radek Vondráček

The amendment extends the constitutional scope of the Supreme Audit Office beyond the control of Czech Television and Czech Radio to the possibility of auditing the management of international organisations of which the Czech Republic is a member. The SAO would only be able to carry out this control if the law provides for it and the rules of the organisation or international obligations allow it. The proposal is intended to strengthen the transparency of public funds at the international level, without giving the SAO sanctioning powers.

Proposal 1071

47 - 1071 - Samuel Volpe

The amendment extends and clarifies the constitutional competence of the Supreme Audit Office. It changes the definition of control from the management of state property to the management of the state as a whole and newly allows for the control of other public funds, recipients of public money and legal entities established by law or wholly owned by the state. At the same time, the originally narrow focus on Czech Television and Czech Radio is abandoned and replaced by a more general rule. The new SAO Act is also to require the approval of both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

Proposal 1082

47 - 1082 - Karel Dvořák

The amendment expands the range of laws that must be approved by both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The new stricter regime is to apply also to the Constitutional Court Act and the Supreme Audit Office Act, while the existing text of Article 40 is merely reworded in a clear letter. The aim is to strengthen the stability and independence of the constitutional institutions and to make it more difficult for them to be weakened by a normal majority in the Chamber.

Proposal 1089

47 - 1089 - Marek Benda

The amendment adds to Article 40 of the Constitution so that laws establishing Czech Television and Czech Radio are subject to approval by both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. This strengthens stability and broader political consensus when changing the legal status of public service media. It builds on the main proposal, which constitutionally strengthens oversight of the management of these institutions.

Proposal 627

47 - 627 - Tomio Okamura

The amendment modifies the wording of the constitutional amendment that extends the audit powers of the Supreme Audit Office to public media. It clarifies that the establishment of these media by law is not an obligation of the State, but only an option to avoid the interpretation of their constitutional irrevocability. It also explicitly states that the SAO may audit the management of these institutions even for the period before the amendment came into force. At the same time, it proposes that the law should enter into force on the fifteenth day after its promulgation instead of a fixed later date.

Laws affected by this document

1/1993

Ústava České republiky