Art. 1(1).
The Act applies to the application, regulation and control of prices of products, performances, works and services (hereinafter referred to as “goods”) intended for the domestic market, including prices of imported goods and prices of goods intended for export.
Art. 2.
(1) A price shall be agreed for the goods defined by name, quantitative unit, quality and delivery or other conditions included in the agreement between the parties, or by the numerical code of a relevant uniform classification, if a certain Act(1) so stipulates (hereinafter referred to as “determined terms”). According to the determined terms, the price may include, fully or partly, acquisition costs, processing costs and costs related to circulation of the goods, profit, relevant tax(2) and customs duty(3).
(2) A price agreement is an agreement on the amount of the price or the method by which the price will be formed provided that this method sufficiently determines the price. A price agreement is also entered when the buyer pays the price in the amount required by the seller immediately prior to or after taking delivery of the goods.
(3) The seller or the buyer shall not abuse their more advantageous economic position to gain a disproportionate material benefit.
(4) A more advantageous economic position under Subsection (3) has a seller or buyer who negotiates prices on the market without being exposed to substantial price competition. The economic position of the seller or buyer is assessed in particular by the volume of the goods sold or purchased, market share, economic and financial strength, legal or other barriers to market entry and the degree of horizontal and vertical interconnection with other persons on the market.
(5) Disproportionate material benefit is obtained
(a) by the seller if he sells the goods at a price
1. that includes unjustified costs or unreasonable profit gained by applying a higher than usual selling price by abusing his more advantageous market position,
2. that is higher than the maximum or fixed officially-set price, or
3. that is higher than would be consistent with the rules of price regulation,
(b) by the buyer if he purchases the goods at a price
1. significantly below justified costs or lower than what is the usual price by abusing his more advantageous market position,
2. that is lower than the minimum or fixed officially-set price.
(6) The usual price for the purposes of this Act is the price of identical goods or, in terms of the use of comparable or mutually substitutable goods, the price freely negotiated between sellers and buyers who are independent of each other in economic, financial (capital) and personnel terms and operate on the market that is not threatened by the effects of restrictions on competition. If the usual price on the market cannot be established, the price to define the abuse of a more advantageous economic position is determined by calculating economically justified costs and a reasonable profit.
(7) For the purposes of this Act
(a) the economically justified costs mean the cost of acquiring the appropriate quantity of direct material, labour and other personnel costs, technologically necessary other direct and indirect costs and circulation costs; the assessment of economically justified costs is based on the long-term usual level of these costs in similar economic activities, considering the specific characteristics of the goods in question.
(b) a reasonable profit means the profit associated with the production and sale of the goods in question corresponding to the usual profit achieved on a long-term basis through comparable economic activities and ensuring reasonable return of the used capital within a reasonable period of time.
(8) The provisions of Subsections (3) and (4) shall also apply to the price of the commercial or intermediary performance, even if it is not separately agreed.
(1) Decree of the Central Commission of the Peoples’ Control and Statistics No. 71/1965 Sb., on Introduction and Use of Uniform Classification of Industrial Branches and Products and Uniform Classification of Products in Agriculture and Forestry.
Decree of the Federal Statistical Office No. 114/1972 Sb., on Introduction and Use of Uniform Classification of Performances.
Decree of the Federal Statistical Office No. 124/1980 Sb., on Uniform Classification of Building Structures and Construction Works.
Decree of the Federal Statistical Office No. 117/1981 Sb., on Introduction and Use of Uniform Classification of Industrial Plants Works.
(2) Act No. 73/1952 Sb., as amended by Act No. 107/1990 Sb.
(3) Order of the Government of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic No. 228/1988 Sb., issuing the Customs Tariff for Commercial Goods.
Art. 16.
(1) A natural person, a legal entity or a natural person-entrepreneur as a seller commits an administrative offence by
(a) offering, agreeing or asking for a price in an amount not in accordance with the officially-set price pursuant to Section 5(1),
(b) failing to comply with the officially-set selling price pursuant to Section 5(1),
(c) failing to comply with the substantive conditions, rules, or procedures for determining the official prices, changes thereto and the manner of their negotiation, application and settlement, as laid down by the pricing authorities pursuant to Section 5(5),
(d) agreeing or asking for a price the amount or the calculation of which does not comply with the conditions of the substantive price controls pursuant to Section 6(1),
(e) failing to comply with the selling price that is in accordance with the conditions of the substantive price controls pursuant to Section 6(1),
(f) failing to comply with the price moratorium pursuant to Section 9(1),
(g) failing to keep or retain records of prices pursuant to Section 11,
(h) breaching any of the obligations set out in Section 13(2) to (11) when price marking of goods; or
(i) failing to provide price information pursuant to Section 13a.
(2) A natural person, a legal entity or a natural person-entrepreneur as a seller or as a buyer commits an administrative offence by
(a) failing to comply with determined conditions agreed pursuant to Section 2(1) when selling or buying goods,
(b) abusing their economic position in breach of Section 2(3), or
(c) failing to provide free of charge information or documentation pursuant to Section 12(1) to the pricing authority, or by providing false information.
(3) A legal entity or a natural person-entrepreneur as a buyer commits an administrative offence by
(a) purchasing goods at a price that is not in accordance with the officially-set price pursuant to Section 5(1), or
(b) purchasing goods from the funds provided from the state budget at a price higher than the price regulated pursuant to Section 5 or 6.
(4) The administrative infraction is punishable by a fine of
(a) up to CZK 1,000,000 in the case of an administrative offence pursuant to Subsection (1)(g) to (i), Subsection (3)(b) or Subsection (2)(a) or (c),
(b) up to one to five times the amount of a quantifiable disproportionate material benefit, ascertained for the relevant period, but no longer than 3 years; or up to CZK 1,000,000 where the amount of the disproportionate material benefit is less than CZK 1,000,000 in the case of an administrative offence pursuant to Subsection (1)(a) to (f), Subsection (3)(a) or Subsection (2)(b),
(c) up to CZK 10,000,000, if the disproportionate material benefit cannot be quantified, or if such a benefit did not arise, in the case of an administrative offence pursuant to Subsection (1)(a) to (f), Subsection (3)(a) or Subsection (2)(b).
