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Although it may seem rather surprising, the 2018 amendment to the Advocacy Act, in an effort to expand access to free legal aid for persons whose income and financial circumstances justify it, also unthinkingly prevented applicants who are willing to pay for the legal services in question from applying for the appointment of an attorney by the Czech Bar Association (CBA).

It is very likely that we will see major changes in road traffic in the near future. These changes will include, in particular, the ability to drive a car from the age of 17 and the points system.

One of the most important amendments that came into force at the beginning of this year is undoubtedly the amendment to the Copyright Act, which significantly improves the position of authors and ensures better protection of their works in the digital space. Aa a part of the implementation of several directives of the European Parliament and the Council, the liability of online content sharing service providers and information society service providers has been tightened. The amendment also includes new types of statutory licences, mainly related to digital content.

As a result of the legislative changes adopted in connection with the digitization of procedures of public authorities, from 1 January 2023 data boxes will be mandatorily established for entrepreneurial natural persons (so-called sole traders or self-employed persons) and all legal persons who are registered in the statutory register and do not have a data box yet.

Pre-contractual liability is a very specific type of liability in contemporary civil law, based on a general duty to act honestly, even when negotiating a contract. There are currently two conditions for the arise of a duty to pay damages.

The new Civil Code which came in force since 2014 has significantly expanded the number of informal legal negotiations. With some statutory exceptions, it is up to the contracting parties to decide whether to conclude, for example, an oral contract instead of a written contract. Since the choice of any form of legal negotiation also applies to a contract for a future contract, there is some uncertainty as to whether the principle of formless legal negotiations also applies to situations where the law requires a special form for a subsequent implementation contract, in this case a written form for the transfer of the right of ownership of immovable property.

In a recent ruling, the Constitutional Court clearly stated the obligation of the general courts to take into account the views of children approaching adulthood when deciding on their lives and, if certain conditions are met, to consider those views as a fundamental guide in seeking the best interests of the child.

In the next few days, a law that newly introduces discounts on employer-paid social insurance as part of the so-called family package will be published in the Collection of Laws. The government package aims to help families in the context of the energy crisis and rising inflation.

Everything appears so far that we should see sweeping changes to consumer law affecting everyone by the end of this year. After all, with few exceptions, we are all consumers when it comes to the everyday purchase of consumer goods or personal effects.

For a long time, we may have been used to travel allowance rates being announced on a regular basis with effect from 1 January, whether or not there has been a change in rates. These rates then generally remained unchanged throughout the calendar year. However, the situation has changed in the last two years, and to date there have already been two changes to the travel allowance rates for 2022.