Permanent residence of citizens living abroad and local fees

The complainant, a Czech citizen, left the country in 1987. In 1995, when he returned to the Czech Republic to obtain a passport, the municipal authority issued to him a certificate of citizenship, where it stated Australia as his place of residence (while knowing the exact address). But it did not cancel his permanent address in the Czech Republic in the population records, although when a certificate is issued to citizens living permanently abroad, their residence in the Czech Republic is considered temporary. It then used the same records in administration of the local fees for municipal waste. The complainant learned about the problem at a time when he received Czech old-age pension because the municipal authority had attached the pension (i.e. seized it as a debt collection measure) with a view to collecting the outstanding fee.

The Ombudsman found that if an authority issues a certificate containing a certain piece of information, it has to ensure that this information is reflected in the relevant records so that their contents are not at variance with the issued certificate.

The municipal authority remedied the situation forthwith after the inquiry was initiated. It retroactively cancelled the complainant’s permanent residence, discontinued the attachment procedure and corrected the balance of the account maintained with regard to the complainant’s duty to pay the local fee.