Research of repletion of the collection of documents of the Trade Register

Out of his own initiative, the Public Defender has performed an inquiry in order to ascertain the status of repletion of the collection of documents of the Trade Register. He was interested to what extent do entrepreneurs comply with the their obligation to publish the results of their economic activities (by delivering annual statements to the collection of documents of the Trade Register) and to what extent do registration courts, or the State court administration authorities, contribute to a higher repletion rate of the collection. Within the research he had discovered a low rate of repletion of the collection of documents of the Trade Register  – 28%, which means that more than two thirds of annual statements were not published by entrepreneurs. He further discovered that the verification of repletion of the collection of documents is not conducted in a corresponding manner, systematically and out of own initiative by registration courts (with the exception of the Regional Court in Hradec Králové). Registration courts are not furnished with effective legal tools or with corresponding staff or material.

The task of registration courts is to monitor the correctness of the recorded data and the completeness of the collection of documents and that even without a motion (impulse) to conduct steps needed to ensure the repletion of the collection of documents in the Trade Register. For this purpose state authorities should provide optimal condition for the registration courts to conduct concordance reviews of the data recorded in the Trade Register and of the repletion rate of the of the collection of documents of the Trade Register while monitoring the observance of this task. 

The Minister of Justice explained the criticized conditions by insufficient personnel conditions at individual courts, where the strained budget of the Ministry of Justice prevents improvement in this respect. He however promised to adjust the information system of the Trade Register and to initiate corresponding legislative measures that would lead to higher repletion rate of the collection of documents and that after consulting the issue with the chairpersons of registry courts. They have fully supported the result of the research. A change in tax regulations could be considered (annual statement alone would not be a mandatory part of tax returns, but a statement on its recording in the collection of documents would have to be provided; failure to do so would be deemed as failure to observe tax obligations).