On 15 March 2006, the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic overrode the President’s veto and thus approved the draft Act on Registered Partnership. This occurred almost eight years after the first comprehensive parliamentary draft Act on Registered Partnership of Persons of the Same Sex was submitted to the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic. On 3 April 2006, this draft Act was published in the Collection of Acts under No. 115/2006 under the title Act on Registered Partnership and on the Amendment of Certain Related Acts. Pursuant to the Act on Registered Partnership, a registered partnership of persons of the same sex entering into partnership is established by their personal, consensual declaration before the competent registry office (matriční úřad). A condition for entering into partnership is that at least one of the persons entering into partnership be a citizen of the Czech Republic; furthermore, both partners must have legal capacity, attain eighteen years of age, and must not be persons mutually related in a direct line or siblings. It must not be a person who has previously entered into marriage or who has previously entered into partnership or into a similar union of persons of the same sex abroad, and whose marriage or partnership or similar union subsists.
The rights and obligations of partners are regulated by the Act such that partners have equal obligations and equal rights in the partnership; if they do not agree on essential matters, the court shall decide upon the application of one of them. A partner is entitled to represent the other partner in his or her ordinary affairs, in particular to accept ordinary performances on his or her behalf, unless a special legal regulation provides otherwise. The conduct of one of the partners in managing ordinary affairs of the partnership binds both partners jointly and severally; this applies to obligations arising during the subsistence of the partnership, even in the event that the partnership was subsequently declared invalid or ceased to exist.
Analogously to the institution of marriage, mutual maintenance obligations of partners are also regulated for registered partnership, including after the dissolution of the partnership cohabitation.
The existence of partnership is not an obstacle to the exercise of parental responsibility of a partner towards his or her child, nor an obstacle to entrusting his or her child to his or her upbringing. If one of the partners cares for a child and both partners live in a common household, the other partner also participates in the upbringing of the child; obligations concerning the protection of the child’s development and upbringing also apply to this partner. However, a subsisting partnership prevents either of the partners from becoming an adopter of a child.
Partnership ceases by the death of one of the partners or by a declaration of one partner as dead and by dissolution of the partnership by court decision. Again, similarly to marriage, the court shall dissolve the partnership either upon the application of one of the partners, if the applicant proves that the partnership relationship no longer factually subsists, or in the event that the other partner joins the application for dissolution of partnership, the court shall not examine whether the partnership relationship no longer factually subsists and shall decide on the dissolution of the partnership. Partnership is recorded in the place for marital status in the partner’s identity card and in other public documents.
Furthermore, the Act regulates amendments to certain related provisions, specifically 18 other legal regulations. These concern in particular the Civil Code, the Criminal Act, the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Family Act, the Code of Civil Procedure, the Labour Code, the Act on Misdemeanours, the Trade Licensing Act, the Act on State Social Support, the Act on Registration of Residents and Birth Numbers, etc.
By way of example, we may cite the most substantial changes in the rights and obligations of registered partners (hereinafter “partner”).
1/ Amendments to the Civil Code
Newly, a partner is classified in the first inheritance group in the case of statutory succession, furthermore is a close person pursuant to the Civil Code, has the right to protection of the partner’s personality after his or her death, and the tenancy of a flat passes to him or her upon the death of his or her partner.
2/ Amendment to the Criminal Act and the Code of Criminal Procedure
A partner is a close person pursuant to the Criminal Act, has the right to challenge a judgment in favour of his or her partner as the accused pursuant to the Code of Criminal Procedure, has the possibility to choose a defence counsel for the partner, the right to refuse to give evidence pursuant to the Code of Criminal Procedure, and newly, criminal prosecution may be initiated only with the consent of the partner if he or she acts as the injured party.
3/ Amendment to the Family Act
Partners may enter into a civil union, may represent their partner in ordinary affairs, partners have a maintenance obligation towards each other, including after dissolution of the union. For partners, a prohibition of entering into a double union applies; partnership has no effect on the exclusion of entrusting a child to foster care and to the upbringing of the partner.
4/ Amendments to Other Acts
Newly regulated is the possibility of a partner to become a responsible representative of the partner or the possibility to continue in the partner’s trade after his or her death pursuant to the Trade Licensing Act. Further numerous changes have occurred in regulations concerning social security relations, for example in the assessment of persons for the grant of state social support benefits, sickness insurance, pension insurance, etc.
The Act on Registered Partnership enters into force on the first day of the third calendar month following the day of its promulgation in the Collection of Acts, that is, on 1 July 2006.
JUDr. Taťána Novotná
This text was translated from Czech to English using an AI translator.