A Summary of Investment Incentives after EU Accession

Date: 20.4.2004 Place: Ministry of Industry & Trade, Politických vězňů 20, Praha 1 Objective: To present the amendment to the Act on Investment Incentives, effective 1.5. 2004, and related programmes and directives.

The seminar was divided into two parts. In the first part, representatives from the Ministry of Industry & Trade (the Ministry) and CzechInvest presented the following topics: Amendment to the Act on Investment Incentives, Framework Programme to Support Business Support Services and Technology Centres, Programme to Support Enterprise in Regions with Unemployment Higher than 14%, Operational Programmes to Support Industry and Enterprise, etc. The second part of the seminar was a discussion.

The seminar was chaired by Mr. Boris Halata from the Ministry who made an opening speech including information on the creation of the Business Environment Development Council and its activities. Over 80 people were in attendance, mostly representatives of Czech and foreign companies, consultants, ambassadors, etc.

After the opening speech Mr. Martin Kavka from the Ministry presented the Amendment to the Act on Investment Incentives, effective after Czech accession to the EU. Among other things, the Amendment reduces the limit of minimum investment needed to receive investment incentives and introduces 10-year tax relief for expansion projects. The Amendment passes the authority to set the intensity and amount of state aid from the Anti-Monopoly Office to the Ministry. Mr. Kavka then presented the proposed Government Order by which the permissible intensity of state aid in regions of cohesion of the Czech Republic will be set.

Following Mr. Kavka was Ms. Jarmila Horská from CzechInvest, who spoke about the proposed Government Order on Financial Aid to Create New Jobs and Train Employees. This new Order should reduce the amount of job-creation grants in all regions of the ČR, except for regions with the highest unemployment.

Next, Ms. Edita Potyszová (CzechInvest) took the floor and presented the Framework Programme to Support Business Support Services and Technology Centres, followed by Ms. Jana Bašeová, director of the investment incentives department at CzechInvest. Ms. Bašeová presented the new, forthcoming Programme to Support Enterprise in Regions with Unemployment Higher than 14%.

The first part of the seminar concluded with a presentation by Mr. Kamil Opletal of CzechInvest, who gave a talk on the Operational Programmes for drawing on the EU’s Structural Funds.

After a short break the seminar continued with a discussion on individual topics. The greatest interest was shown in the Operational Programmes to Support Industry and Enterprise.