Czech Republic: new TV and radio fees approved

Czech Republic

Companies in the Czech Republic could have to pay large amounts of money in radio users' fees for receiving TV and radio broadcasts using computers with a sound card and internet access.

For the time being, the fee will not be collected for internet access to radio and TV broadcasts. In a joint statement, a panel of experts drawn mainly from Czech Radio and Czech Television announced that it was unable to decide whether a fee is payable. Following rapid developments in media convergence, it has become difficult to apply existing legal categories of radio and television receiver to the latest telecoms technology and further analysis is required before the law can be clarified in relation to current and future developments.

Law: 348/2005 Coll. effective from September 13, 2005

For more information on this issue, please contact Jaroslav Tajbr at [email protected] or on +420 221 098 864.