Penalties for violations of the entrepreneur’s obligations in relation to a responsible representative

Offences

In Section 11, the Trade Licensing Act imposes obligations on the entrepreneur in relation to a responsible representative, and any violation of such an obligation is an offence within the meaning of the Act. The Trade Licensing Act sets a maximum fine for committing these offences:

Under Section 62(4)(6) of the Trade Licensing Act, a fine of up to CZK 100 000 may be imposed on an entrepreneur who commits an offence by:

• Failing to submit the appointment of a responsible representative for a permitted trade to the trade licensing office for approval, or failing to notify the trade licensing office of the termination of their appointment, in violation of Section 11(7) of the Trade Licensing Act
• Failing to appoint a new responsible representative pursuant to Section 11(8) of the Trade Licensing Act on the grounds that the previous responsible representative’s appointment has terminated or the previous responsible representative does not meet the conditions and the trade has not been temporarily interrupted.

Under Section 62(4)(c) of the Trade Licensing Act, a fine of up to CZK 50 000 may be imposed on an entrepreneur who commits an offence by:

• Failing to notify the trade licensing authority of the appointment of a responsible representative for a notifiable trade or the termination of their appointment pursuant to Section 11(5) of the Trade Licensing Act

Violations of other statutory obligations

If the responsible representative appointed by the entrepreneur does not meet the conditions for carrying on a trade or if the entrepreneur does not have an appointed responsible representative, although this is required by law, the trade licensing office will open proceedings in accordance with Section 49(4) of the Trade Licensing Act to suspend the trade pursuant to Section 58(3) of the Trade Licensing Act. If, in the course of the proceedings, the fulfilment of the conditions laid down by law is not proven, the trade licensing office will suspend the trade by its decision pursuant to Section 58(3) of the Trade Licensing Act. In the decision, the trade licensing office will set the period over which the trade cannot be carried on; this period must not be longer than 1 year. Unless the reasons that had led to the suspension are eliminated within the specified time limit, the trade licensing office will again decide to suspend the trade or terminate the entrepreneur’s trade authorisation, depending on the circumstances of the case.