A constitutional act, with respect to the laws of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

, is an act which can change the

Constitution of the Czech Republic The Constitution of the Czech Republic () is the supreme law of the Czech Republic. The current constitution was adopted by the Czech National Council on 16 December 1992. It entered into force on 1 January 1993, replacing the 1960 Constitu ...

, provisions of the

Charter of Fundamental Rights and Basic Freedoms The Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms (, ) is a document enacted in 1991 by the Czechoslovak Federative Republic and currently continued as part of the constitutional systems of both the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic. Differences ...

, the conditions under which the citizenry may exercise state power directly, or the exterior or interior

frontier A frontier is a political and geographical term referring to areas near or beyond a boundary. Australia The term "frontier" was frequently used in colonial Australia in the meaning of country that borders the unknown or uncivilised, th ...

s of the

territory A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, belonging or connected to a particular country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually a geographic area which has not been granted the powers of self-government, ...

of the

.Constitution of the Czech Republic, Art. 9Constitution of the Czech Republic, Art. 11Constitution of the Czech Republic, Art. 2Constitution of the Czech Republic, Art. 112Constitution of the Czech Republic, Art. 100 Passage of such an act can only be accomplished through the agreement of 3/5 of all Deputies and Senators present at the time the proposed act is laid before each house of

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

.Constitution of the Czech Republic, Art. 39 It is the only type of legislation which does not require the

signature A signature (; from , "to sign") is a depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. Signatures are often, but not always, Handwriting, handwritt ...

of the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

to become law.Constitution of the Czech Republic, Art. 50 Furthermore, it is the only type of legislation which the President cannot

veto A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action. In the most typical case, a president (government title), president or monarch vetoes a bill (law), bill to stop it from becoming statutory law, law. In many countries, veto powe ...

.Constitution of the Czech Republic, Art. 62 A number of constitutional acts were required for the Czech government to function in its first year of existence. However, those had no lasting impact upon the constitution itself, and may, in hindsight, be regarded as "votes which required 3/5 majorities". For instance, the Provisional Senate of 1992 was "constituted in a manner defined by a Constitutional Act",Constitution of the Czech Republic, Art. 106 but that act is not binding upon the Senate today.

Specific acts

, only six constitutional acts have been passed which have truly changed the nature of the constitution. They have mostly been the result of implications in the original wording of the constitution that Parliament should pass constitutional acts on various subjects.

Number 347/1997

Article 100 of the constitution provided that "higher self-governing regions may be created or dissolved only by a constitutional act". Parliament thus moved on 3 December 1997 to create 14 such regions. This required the act to rewrite Article 99 and repeal Article 103 of the constitution, so as to set the regions as being of higher authority than

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

. Given the administrative burden of complying with the act, however, it did not come into effect until 1 January 2000.

Number 110/1998

On 22 April 1998, Parliament opted to pass a constitutional act that was not directly implied or obliged by language in the constitution. The "Constitutional Act on the Security of the Czech Republic" defined the ways in which the Republic would respond to imminent threat. It defined the obligations the constituent parts of the Republic, and even its citizenry, had towards national defense. It allowed for compulsory military service to be instituted by further

statute A statute is a law or formal written enactment of a legislature. Statutes typically declare, command or prohibit something. Statutes are distinguished from court law and unwritten law (also known as common law) in that they are the expressed wil ...

, required regional governments to offer material aid to the national defense, and defined the response to a non-military

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state before, during, o ...

, such as an ecological or industrial

disaster A disaster is an event that causes serious harm to people, buildings, economies, or the environment, and the affected community cannot handle it alone. '' Natural disasters'' like avalanches, floods, earthquakes, and wildfires are caused by na ...

. It also set up a State Security Council, headed by the Prime Minister. Furthermore, it required, during times of imminent military threat or war, that legislative debate be shortened to just 72 hours from the time of a bill's introduction, and that the president's

power be temporarily suspended. Finally, it allowed for up to a six-month extension of electoral terms during the time of a declared state of emergency.

Number 300/2000

Number 395/2001

Number 448/2001

On November 27 2001, Parliament changed article 98 of the constitution where the role of the

Czech National Bank The Czech National Bank, (, ČNB) is the central bank and financial market supervisor in the Czech Republic, headquartered in Prague. It is a member of the European System of Central Banks. It was established on from the division of the State ...

is defined. Its role changed from taking care of stability of the currency to taking care of price stability. This change came into effect on January 1 2002.

Number 515/2002

On 14 November 2002, Parliament undertook to define the nature of a public

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

on the Czech Republic's accession to the European Union. Such an act was implied in Article 10a of the original wording of the constitution, which says that the Republic may surrender a part of its powers under international treaty "unless a constitutional act provides that such ratification requires the approval obtained in a referendum." Since the constitution later specifically required the president to "call a referendum on the Czech Republic's accession to the European Union", Parliament exercised its right under Article 10 to not only formalize that there would be such a referendum, but to define the terms under which it would be held.

Number 319/2009

On 11 September 2009 Parliament decided to add possibility of dissolving of chamber of deputies by President after 3/5 of all Deputies decided to dissolve the Chamber of Deputies before the term of election. This was done after constitutional court decided in number 318/2009 that constitutional act 195/2009 that shortened the 5th term of Chamber of Deputies was unconstitutional.

Number 71/2012

On 8 February 2012, Parliament changed the way of the election of the President from election by deputies and senators to election by popular vote. Together with that change in article 54 came changes to articles 56 where the election process was defined, 58, 59, 62, 63, 65, 66 and 87.

Number 98/2013

Reduction of legal immunity of deputies and senators defined in articles 27 and 86.

References

{{reflist Constitution of the Czech Republic