Safety procedures (hereinafter referred to as ‘procedures’) (Sections 89 – 135 of the Act) is a process led by the Office, which, in the field of industrial security, serves to verify whether an entrepreneur (hereinafter referred to as a ‘party to the proceedings’) meets the conditions for issuing an entrepreneur’s certificate. Proceedings shall be closed to the public and the personal honour and dignity of all persons concerned by the proceedings shall be safeguarded during the proceedings.

The proceedings take place and the documents are drawn up in the Czech language, unless it is a question of exercising the rights of a national minority member under a special legal regulation. Documents drawn up in a foreign language must be submitted by the party to the proceedings in the original version and at the same time in an officially certified translation into the Czech language.

The Office shall conduct proceedings through officials authorised to do so under the internal rules of the Office. The individual steps in the proceedings shall be taken in writing, unless this is precluded by the nature of the case.

Except in the case of personal acts, a party may be represented by a lawyer or other representative to whom he or she has granted a power of attorney in writing. During the proceedings, the party and his representative shall be entitled to inspect the unclassified part of the security file. An official who participates in the proceedings may be excluded from the proceedings on his own motion or on the basis of an objection of bias raised by a party to the proceedings.

On behalf of the entrepreneur, the actions in the proceedings are carried out by his responsible person (Section 2(e) of the Act).

A party to proceedings may act independently in the proceedings to the extent that it has legal capacity.

Closing date management depending on the type of proceedings, the Office shall terminate the proceedings for the issue of the entrepreneur's certificate within the period of:

  • 6 months for Confidential,
  • 8 months for Secret,
  • 10 months for Top Secret.

The deadline does not run for the time when a state of crisis is declared for the entire territory of the Czech Republic.

The deadline for the termination of proceedings may be reasonably extended by the Director of the Office, but not more than twice and once for a maximum period of time specified for the proceedings of a given degree, in cases where the intelligence service or the police cannot communicate the results of the investigation within the prescribed time limits or a state authority, a legal person or a natural person doing business cannot provide the information required in the proceedings within the prescribed time limit (Section 118 of the Act).

If the entrepreneur gives consent according to Section 108(7) of the Act, the management in question shall be subject to the time limits laid down for the classification level for the acts for which consent has been given.

The procedure is initiated (Section 93 of the Act):

  • the date of delivery of the written application for the issuance of the certificate of the entrepreneur to the Office (hereinafter referred to as the "application") and payment of the administrative fee,
  • on the date of delivery of the written notification to the Office of the initiation of proceedings for the revocation of the validity of the entrepreneur’s certificate to the holder of that entrepreneur’s certificate.

The request may be withdrawn by the party; that right may not be exercised between the date of the decision of the Office and the date on which the appeal proceedings are initiated and the date on which the appeal decision is issued.

If the application does not have the prescribed formalities, the Office will help the party to the proceedings to remedy the formal deficiencies. If the deficiencies cannot be remedied on the spot, the Office shall immediately invite the party to the proceedings in writing to: Deficiencies in the application removed within 30 days (Section 102 of the Act). If it fails to do so, the Office of the Proceedings stops (Section 113 of the Act).

The Office is entitled to require the party to the proceedings to specify the data specified in the application and provide additional data to verify compliance with the conditions for issuing the certificate of entrepreneur (Section 103 of the Act), within 30 days. If the party to the proceedings does not specify the data, the Office may discontinue the proceedings (Section 113 of the Act).

For decisions in proceedings, the Office relies not only on data from the party to the proceedings, but also on information that it requests from the competent authorities of the state, legal entities or natural persons doing business. The examination of the witness, the interview with the party to the proceedings and the appointment of an expert are also important steps that can be taken during the proceedings.

Witness (Section 104 of the Act) can be any natural person who is not a party to the proceedings (except police and intelligence officers involved in the proceedings). A person who would breach the protection of classified information or the obligation of confidentiality (unless released) cannot be questioned. Any refusal to give evidence shall be governed by Section 100 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Failure to appear to give evidence, giving false or incomplete testimony may result in the imposition of a civil fine of up to CZK 50,000 (maximum CZK 100,000 in total). At the request of the Office, a witness may be presented. A record of the deposition is made, which becomes part of the security volume. A witness may also be required to submit written observations on the facts stated by the Office. Claims for lost earnings and travel expenses must be made within 5 days after the testimony.

Interview with the party (Section 105 of the Act) is carried out if it is necessary to clarify certain facts in the course of the proceedings. Repeated failure to appear for the interview without apology shall result in the termination of the proceedings. False or incomplete statements during the interview also have the same effect; the provision of false or incomplete information during the interview (or during the procedure) may also result in non-compliance with the condition of security reliability and the subsequent non-certification of the entrepreneur. A record of the interview shall be drawn up and shall become part of the security file. If, after the report has been drawn up, a party requests a copy of the report, it shall be drawn up free of charge.

If an expert opinion is required for the expert assessment of the facts relevant to the decision, the Office shall appoint an expert (Section 106 of the Act). The costs of such an expert opinion shall be borne by the Office.

Proceedings are bound by time limits. In certain cases, there may be stay of proceedings (Section 112 of the Act). It shall not run for the duration of the interruption. The Office shall stay the proceedings by order if:

  • other proceedings are under way to resolve an issue relevant to the decision;
  • the party to the proceedings has been invited by the Office to remedy the deficiencies in the application or to supplement other information requested by the Office, or if he has been summoned for an interview;
  • the party to the proceedings has been invited by the Office to designate a person responsible within a specified period;
  • it is not possible to hear a witness whose testimony is important for the complete and accurate determination of the actual state of the case to the extent necessary for the decision;
  • a party to the proceedings requests a stay for reasons preventing him from participating in the proceedings, for a maximum period of 60 days; a party to the proceedings on the request may request that the proceedings be stayed no more than twice;
  • The Office issued an order on the appointment of an expert for the preparation of an expert opinion.

The proceedings shall be suspended on the date of transmission of the order suspending the proceedings to the holder of the postal licence or special postal licence, on the date of personal receipt of such a order by the party to the proceedings, if served by the Office, or by delivery to the data box of the party to the proceedings.

The Office shall inform the party of the stay of proceedings by means of an order. The Office shall resume the proceedings as soon as the obstacles for which the proceedings have been suspended have ceased to exist or, as the case may be, as soon as the time limit for which the party requested the suspension of the proceedings has expired. The party shall be informed of this in writing, with the exception of the continuation of the procedure by means of an interview.

Proceedings may be terminated by the Office by means of a resolution (Section 113 of the Act), if:

  • the party has withdrawn its application;
  • the party fails to remedy the deficiencies in the application within the prescribed time limit;
  • the party does not return to the interview without apology;
  • the party to the proceedings does not consent to the performance of acts in the proceedings for a higher degree than that applied for (Section 108(7) of the Act),
  • the party to the proceedings has not designated a person responsible within the prescribed time limit;
  • a party to the proceedings gives false or incomplete testimony or does not provide any other necessary assistance and it is not possible to decide on the basis of the state of the case;
  • the party has been dissolved or has ceased to exist;
  • the reason or subject-matter of the proceedings for revocation of the validity of the entrepreneur’s certificate has ceased to exist.

To ensure the purpose and course of the proceedings serve other institutes, which are summons, presentation and civil fine (Sections 114-116 of the Act). The Office shall summon in writing a person whose personal participation in the hearing of the case is necessary. A witness who fails to appear without a proper apology or without serious reasons for a reinstatement of the summons and without whose personal participation the proceedings cannot be conducted may, at his expense, be brought before the Police of the Czech Republic, in the case of a soldier in active service by the Military Police, and in the case of a member of the security corps by the competent security corps. The Office may impose a civil fine of up to CZK 50,000 on a person who, without serious reasons, fails to appear at a written request to the Office, submits an incorrect or incomplete witness statement or refuses to give a witness statement for no reason, or up to CZK 500,000 on an authority of the State, a legal entity or a natural person engaged in business, if he does not provide the information requested by the Office free of charge upon request. The fine can be imposed repeatedly, the total amount of fines may not exceed CZK 100,000 or CZK 1,000,000.

Decisions and other documents shall be served by the Office itself, by delivery to the data box of the party to the proceedings or through the holder of a postal licence or a special postal licence. Where a party has a representative, documents shall be served only on the representative. If the addressee refuses to accept the consignment or does not accept it because he did not know about its storage, although he is staying at the place of service, there is a legal fiction of service (Section 120(2) and (3) of the Act) and the document is deemed to have been served:

  1. the date of refusal to accept the document by the addressee, or
  2. the date on which 10 days have elapsed since the deposit of the take charge notice - if the addressee has not been found at the place which he or she has designated as the place for service of documents, the servicer shall notify him or her in an appropriate manner of where the document is stored and where it can be collected; if, in such a case, the document is not collected within 10 days of its deposit, it shall be deemed to have been served on the last day of that period, even if the addressee has not learned of its deposit.

The Office shall also set up an official notice board, which shall be accessible to the public at all times. The content of the official notice board is also published on the Office’s website: here.

The Office may deliver by public decree in cases where it is not possible to deliver otherwise. Service by public decree shall be effected by posting the document, or the notification of the possibility of taking over the document, on the official notice board of the Office and marking the date of posting on the document. On the fifteenth day following the date of posting, the document shall be deemed to have been served if the obligation to publish has also been fulfilled within that period.