The National Security Authority has prepared a draft law that responds to the current epidemiological situation in the Czech Republic, which also negatively affects the area of security proceedings, especially in the case of repeated applications for certificates or documents. Given that entities cooperating with the NSA in this procedure are currently often not able to comply with the obligation to provide information relevant to the security procedure within the set deadlines, the NSA cannot then take a timely decision on the repeated request submitted by the certificate or document holder and thus there is a discontinuity of access to classified information.

The amendment to the Act, approved by the Government on 16 November 2020, guarantees that a party who submitted a repeated application at the time when the state of war or state of state of emergency or state of danger for the entire territory of the Czech Republic was declared, or if those states were declared during the proceedings on that application, and its application has not been decided on until the expiry of its current certificate, will continue to have access to classified information until a decision on the repeated application is issued, but for no longer than 12 months after the expiry of the current certificate. The same arrangements shall apply to the performance of sensitive activities and access to classified information classified at the level reserved for the holder of the document. The proposed amendment is also introduced in the transitional provisions for those persons who have submitted a repeated application for a certificate or document before the entry into force of this Act and have not expired the validity period of the certificate or document before the entry into force of the Act.

At the same time, the amendment to the Act stipulates that for the entire territory of the Czech Republic, the declared state of emergency or state of threat or declared state of war, the time limits referred to in Section 117 of Act No 412/2005 on the protection of classified information and security capability, do not run.