As part of the security procedure, I communicate with the Office via a data box, is there any recommendation as to what should be included in the data message in the ‘Case’ field? 

The Office recommends that when communicating through the information system of data boxes (Office ID - h93aayw) in the field of security procedure for issuing the Facility Security Clearance in the data message in the field "Case’ – ‘Safety management’. In the case of an application for the issue of an Facility Security Clearance in the data message, in the field ‘Case" state "Application for the issue of a Facility Security Clearance’.

If you are responding to document of the Office (request, communication, notification, decision...), also indicate the reference number by which the document was marked (e.g. 11000/2024-NBÚ/21,...). It is also recommended to enter the reference number in the field ‘Case’ (e.g. ‘Security procedure ref.11000/2024-NBÚ/21...’).

 Our company needs to obtain a facility security clearance. What steps should be taken?

An application for the issue of an Facility Security Clearance may be submitted in person at the Office's filing office, by post or in electronic form, by delivery to the Office's data box, to the Office's electronic address using a recognised electronic signature, or through an online service using the means of a qualified electronic identification system. The application shall include:

  1. application form;
  2. the completed questionnaire of the entrepreneur in electronic form,
  3. security documentation of the entrepreneur,
  4. original documents or certified copies thereof necessary to verify compliance with the conditions under Section 16 of the Act – the scope and form of the documents are laid down in the Industrial Security Decree; and
  5. a declaration of non-disclosure of the materially and locally competent tax administrator and other persons involved in tax administration pursuant to Section 52(2) of the Tax Code, to the full extent of the data for the purpose of conducting security proceedings.

For more information, see Protecting classified information – Industrial security – How to Apply for an Facility Security Clearance.

Does an application for an Facility Security Clearance have to be delivered to the Office in person?

It is not necessary, the application can be submitted in person at the filing office of the Office by sending it in the form of postal mail or in electronic form, namely

  • delivery to the data box of the Office,
  • to the Office's electronic address using a recognised electronic signature, or
  • through an online service using the means of a qualified electronic identification scheme (NBÚ portal).

Can a person who is not a member of the statutory body be the responsible person?

He can't. The amendment to the Act, implemented by Act No 267/2024 amending the Act, amended the provisions of Section 2(e)(13) of the Act. According to the wording effective from 1.1.2025, the responsible person in the case of an entrepreneur under Section 15, who is a legal person, may be a natural person who is:

  • its individual statutory body, or
  • where a legal person has several individual statutory bodies or the statutory body of that legal person is a collective body, a member of the statutory body who is a natural person and is designated to act in matters governed by this Act.

The responsible person of the entrepreneur in our company is a person outside the statutory body. Does this affect the validity of the Facility Security Clearance after the amendment of the Act?

Yes, this fact will affect the validity of the Facility Security Clearance if the entrepreneur does not reflect the amendment of the Act within 12 months from the date of entry into force of Act No 267/2024 amending the Act.

Paragraph 6. Article II Transitional provisions of Act No 267/2024 Coll., which entered into force in this part on 1.1.2025, stipulate that an entrepreneur who holds an Facility Security Clearance issued before the date of entry into force of this Act ceases to meet the condition for issuing an Facility Security Clearance pursuant to Section 16(1)(d) of the Act after a period of 12 months from the date of entry into force of this Act, if the responsible person designated pursuant to Section 2(e)(13) of the Act, in the version in force before the date of entry into force of this Act, is not

  • a) its individual statutory body, or
  • a member of its collective statutory body.

We hold a valid Facility Security Clearance issued before 31.12.2024. What is the validity of this clearance?

Point 4 of Article II Transitional provisions of Act No 267/2024 amending the Act as regards the period of validity of clearance issued before the date of entry into force of the amendment to the Act (until 31.12.2024) provides that the personnel security clearance, the Facility Security Clearance and proof of security capacity of a natural person issued before the date of entry into force of this Act shall remain valid for the period of validity specified therein.

The law introduces new provisions on the economic instability of the entrepreneur, which are associated with duration. Since when does this time count?

The period is set for the new provisions of the Act in Section 17(1)(d) and Section 17(2)(e) and (f) of the Act. Point 7 of Article II Transitional provisions of Act No 267/2024 amending Act No 412/2005 on the protection of classified information and on security capacity, as amended, provides that, in the case of an entrepreneur holding an Facility Security Clearance issued before the date of entry into force of this Act (until 31 December 2024), the period relevant for assessing compliance with the conditions referred to in Section 17(1)(d) and in Section 17(2)(e) and (f) of Act No 412/2005, as applicable from the date of entry into force of this Act, starts to run.

If we submit the first application for an Facility Security Clearance and do not pay the administrative fee, will proceedings be initiated on the entrepreneur's application?

The amendment to the Act introduced by Act No 267/2024 Coll., the payment of the administrative fee is one of the conditions for initiating security proceedings on an application by an entrepreneur for the issue of an Facility Security Clearance referred to in Section 93(1), point (b), of the Act. If the administrative fee is not paid, then it is not a submission that meets the conditions for initiating the procedure and the security procedure will not be initiated.

Does the fee obligation change in relation to repeated applications from the entrepreneur?

If an entrepreneur submits an application for the issue of an Facility Security Clearance that meets the conditions for submitting an application under Section 96(3) and (4) of the Act, then even after the amendment of the Act, the submission of such an application is not subject to a fee obligation.

As part of the application for the issue of a Facility Security Clearance, some documented documents may not be older than 60 days from the date of issue. At what date is this calculated?

The 60-day period is calculated from the date of issue of the document to the date of submission of the application for the issue of the Facility Security Clearance (if they are part of the application), or from the date of issue of the document to the date of sending these documents to the Office (if they are sent additionally, for example, as a supplement to the completeness of the application for the issue of the Facility Security Clearance, but also as evidence of the notified change).

The responsible person shall ensure that natural persons who have access to classified information are trained once a year. Who will train the responsible person?

The responsible person is obliged to ensure the training of natural persons, not to carry it out itself. The responsible person will not train himself/herself, but he/she is obliged to provide training for himself/herself.

How can the administrative fee be paid?

Methods and forms of payment of the administrative fee:

  1. at the Office's filing office prior to the personal submission of the application for the issue of the Facility Security Clearance, by means of a payment terminal or in cash,
  2. by wire transfer to the Office's account: 19-105881/0710 held at the Czech National Bank, as a variable symbol must be indicated the entrepreneur's ID number, in the message to the entrepreneur's recipient it states that it is an administrative fee and the ID of its data box: ‘administrative fee, ISD: xxxxxx’, the payment being credited to the Office’s account. (Since there may be a delay of several days between the submission of the payment order and its crediting to the Office's account, it is necessary to wait with the submission of the application for the issue of the Facility Security Clearance only after receiving the data message from the Office, which contains the confirmation of payment of the fee and is sent immediately after the payment is credited to the Office's account.)

 If I hold an Confidential Facility Security Clearance for the sole purpose of ‘introducing myself to classified information’ (access pursuant to Section 20(1)(b) of the Act) and I am creating or being provided with restricted classified information, can I make a declaration by the Entrepreneur?

Yes, in this case, the entrepreneur can hold a Facility Security Clearance and make a declaration of the entrepreneur. However, if the entrepreneur holds a Facility Security Clearance for access to classified information in full (access according to Section 20(1)(a) of the Act), the entrepreneur does not need to make the declaration of the entrepreneur.

According to the law, the Office carries out security procedures and therefore verifies the ability of the entrepreneur to ensure the protection of classified information in the field of physical security up to the level of Confidential. Therefore, do not send a physical security project to a secure area of the Restricted category to the Office. In relation to the above, however, we would like to point out that the entrepreneur is obliged, pursuant to Section 68(c) of the Act, to immediately notify the Office in writing of the establishment or cancellation of a secured area of the restricted category (according to Section 9 of the Industrial Security Decree, the entrepreneur shall provide the address and description of the dislocation of this secured area and information on the determination of the category and class of the secured area pursuant to Section 25 of the Act).

On what date will I, as the holder of a Facility Security Clearance, send the regular annual notification of changes pursuant to Section 68(d) of the Act?

Regular annual reporting of changes according to Section 68(d) of the Act the holder of the Facility Security Clearance is obliged to send to the Office always on the date that coincides with the date of issue of the Facility Security Clearance. If the entrepreneur holds more than one Facility Security Clearance, he notifies changes to the data in only one copy. It shall indicate in the entrepreneur’s ‘change questionnaire’ all the classification levels and forms of access contained in those clearances. The notification of changes to the data in this case shall be submitted by the entrepreneur to the Office on the day on which the date of issue of the Facility Security Clearance, which was issued earlier to the entrepreneur, falls.

If the entrepreneur is issued with a ‘replacement’ clearance because he has reported to the Office the theft, loss or damage of the ‘originally issued’ Facility Security Clearance, the date of issue of the ‘originally issued’ Facility Security Clearance shall continue to be regarded as the date of issue of the Facility Security Clearance.

How to correctly fill in point (i) of the entrepreneur’s questionnaire (Section 97(i) of the Act) – foreign business partners?

When filling in the data in point (i) of the entrepreneur's questionnaire (Section 97(i) of the Act) – foreign business partners, with the exception of business partners from the Member States of the European Union, with a total financial volume of transactions exceeding CZK 2 000 000 in the last five years, the entrepreneur proceeds as follows:

  1. In the application under Section 96(1) of the Act the entrepreneur ascertains whether in the last 5 years he has concluded business with a foreign partner, whose total annual the volume exceeded CZK 2 million in at least one of the five monitored years. If yes, the data to be filled in is the entrepreneur's questionnaire; under the heading ‘volume of transactions’, indicate the amount of all transactions with that partner over the entire period of 5 years.
    Examples:
    A) 2020 – 500 000, 2021 – 2 million, 2022 – 200 000, 2023 – 300 000, 2024 – 1 million = does not report, because in none of the last five years has the total annual volume exceeded CZK 2 million;
    B) 2020 – 600,000, 2021 – 2,1 million, 2022 – 300,000, 2023 – 1.7 million, 2024 – 500,000 = reports, because in 2021 the total annual volume exceeded CZK 2 million and in the item volume of trades will indicate the amount of 5,2 million, that is, the sum of all trades in 5 years
  2. In the notification of changes according to Section 68(d) of the Act the entrepreneur ascertains whether, from the date of issue of the clearance, if it is the first notification of changes under Section 68(d) of the Act, or since the date of the last report of changes in accordance with Section 68(d) of the Act concluded business with a foreign partner, the total volume of which in this period exceeded CZK 2 million, if so, is the data filled in the entrepreneur's questionnaire. It shall indicate under ‘trade volume’ the amount of all trades with that partner for that period.
  3. In the application under Section 96(3) of the Act the entrepreneur ascertains whether, from the date of the last report of changes under Section 68(d) of the Act (exceptionally from the date of issue of the clearance, if it will be according to the Section 96(3) of the Act request prior to the first notification of changes) concluded business with a foreign partner, the total volume of which in this period exceeded CZK 2 million, if so, is the data filled in the entrepreneur's questionnaire. It shall indicate under ‘trade volume’ the amount of all trades with that partner for that period.

What must the security documentation of the entrepreneur contain?

More information on the content of the entrepreneur's security documentation can be found here.