Just a few moments ago the Government of the Czech Republic has presented the latest information, especially in relation to the support of the self-employed persons and freelancers and the ANTIVIRUS program, which we bring to you in brief:

The government approved a one-off support for self-employed persons and freelancers in the amount of CZK 25,000. The main condition for this support is a decrease in turnover of the first quarter 2020 compared to the previous quarter by more than 10%.

However, this measure is subject to approval by the Parliament and the signing of the President of the Czech Republic. The Chamber of Representatives will discuss this point on 7th April 2020.

We will inform you about further details in the upcoming days.

The Government has also approved further details of the “ANTIVIRUS” programme, the employment protection and support programme. The programme only applies to employers who comply with the Labour Code and their employees weren’t dismissed. Another condition is that the employer pays the mandatory contributions (payment for health and social security) for its employees.

It was also approved today that an application criterion is the closure or restriction of operations based on emergency measures or quarantine orders for employees – employers receive a contribution of up to a maximum of CZK 39,000.

This program also applies to employers who had to limit their activities due to related economic difficulties due to the spread of the coronavirus – employers receive a contribution of up to a maximum of CZK 29,000.

We will inform you about further details in the upcoming days.

Also, the government approved a package of “judicial” measures. The final form of those are not known yet, they also require the consent of Parliament and the President. This should also be discussed by the Chamber of Representatives on 7th April. However, this is what we know so far:

• Waiver of missed time limits, will be assessed individually, only for reasons related to measures in civil, insolvency, execution, administrative and criminal proceedings, time limits for enforcement, in proceedings before the Constitutional Court and the Ministry of Justice;
• Insolvency – deferral of the debtor’s obligation to file an insolvency petition, up to 6 months after the end of the extraordinary measures; creditor insolvency petitions filed before 31 August 2020 shall not be taken into account;

Executive bodies of legal entities will be able to make decisions by distance or per rollam, even if not envisaged by the articles of association.