What information does the Czech public register offer?

The public register records statutory information concerning legal persons governed by private law. General rules governing public registers are set out in Section 120 of Act No 89/2012, the Civil Code. More detailed rules governing the public register kept by the courts are set out in Act No 304/2013 on public registers of legal and natural persons. Part of the public register is a document registry (where statutory documents are stored, e.g. articles of association, statutes, financial statements, etc.).

The public register is kept by the registration court. The public register is administered by the Ministry of Justice.

The following entities are entered in the public register:

• Associations
• Trade unions
• International trade unions
• Employers’ organisations
• International employers’ organisations
• Branch associations
• Branch trade union organisations
• Branch international trade union organisations
• Branch employers’ organisations
• Branch international employers’ organisations
• Sole traders — entered in the commercial register
• Public trading companies (partnerships)
• Limited partnerships
• Limited liability companies
• Joint stock companies
• Cooperatives
• State enterprises
• Spin-off enterprises
• Public-benefit associations
• Foundations
• Endowments
• Institutes
• State-funded organisations
• Associations of unit owners
• European Economic Interest Groupings
• Establishments owned by foreign persons
• European Cooperative Societies
• European companies

The information entered in the public register is set out in Act No 304/2013 on public registers of legal and natural persons. The basic information to be entered is principally: name or business name, registered office, activity or business, legal form, identification number, name and address or business name and registered office of the person who is the statutory body.

Is access to the Czech public register free of charge?

The public register is kept in electronic format. It is available to the public free of charge via the web portal and/or directly on the public register search page. The public register is accessible to all. Anyone may consult it and make copies or take extracts from it.

How to search the Czech public register

The Czech public register has an advanced online information search application. The register can be searched by entity name or by identification number.

How reliable are the documents in the register?

Disclosure of the documents

The registration court posts public register entries, amendments and deletions, and the deposition of documents, including those in electronic format, as soon as possible after entry. Data entered in the public register and documents deposited in the document registry are posted in a manner permitting remote access. The registration court posts the data in question and makes it possible to obtain an officially certified electronic copy. This document is signed electronically using a qualified system certificate from the relevant registration court and is available free of charge on the Ministry of Justice website (Ministerstva spravedlnosti ČR). On request, the registration court issues a certified true partial or full copy of the entry or of the documents deposited in the document registry or a certificate confirming that an item of data is not in the public register, unless the applicant specifically requests a non-certified copy. The registration court issues only hard copies of particulars entered in the public register and documents deposited in the document registry before 1 January 1997, unless records of these facts or documents are already kept in electronic form.

Reliance on documents and data

The person to whom an entry relates does not have the right to object that the entry does not correspond to reality against a person acting legally and in good faith on the basis of the entry.

Where the publication of data and document content is required by law, a registered person can rely on that data or document content in their dealings with third parties only from the date of original publication, unless it can be shown that it was previously known to the third party. However, the registered person may not rely on such data and document content in the case of actions conducted before the sixteenth day following publication, if the third party demonstrates that it could not have known about them.

Third parties may always rely on unpublished data and document content unless non-publication renders them null and void.

Non-compliance of registered information

If the content of the entry in the public register is contrary to a mandatory provision of the Act and if there is no other possibility of obtaining redress, the registration court invites the registered person to obtain redress. In the case of a legal person, where redress is not obtained within the prescribed period the court may of its own motion issue a decision to liquidate, if such an action is in the interests of protecting third parties.

If there is a discrepancy between the wording of an entry in the public register in Czech and a foreign language or of documents stored in the registry in Czech and a voluntarily deposited translation of those documents into a foreign language under Section 74(1) of the Act on public registers of legal and natural persons, the wording of the document published or deposited in the registry in a foreign language may not be relied upon in respect of third parties. A third party may rely on the wording of a document published or deposited in the registry in a foreign language, unless the registered person proves that the third party was aware of the wording of the content of the entry or document deposited in Czech.

Translation of the Public Registers Act

The Ministry of Justice has drawn up an unofficial English translation of Act No 304/2013 on public registers of legal and natural persons and on the registration of trusts, in the version in force from 1 January 2018. The translation is only for information purposes; only the Czech text published in the Collection of Legislative Acts is authentic. Available here.