Symbols of Territorial Self-Governing Units in the Czech Republic

Symbols of Territorial Self-Governing Units in the Czech Republic Presented by: Dr. Frumarová Date: 4 September 2023 Territorial Self- Governing Units In The Czech Republic - One of the most important communities in the Czech Republic are the territorial selfgoverning units - A territorial community of citizens who have the right to self-government - A democratic form of care for the citizens' own affairs, independent and under state supervision. - The right to territorial self-government is a constitutionally guaranteed right - The basic territorial self-governing units are municipalities and the higher territorial self-governing units are regions - Chapter Seven in the Constitution of the Czech Republic is devoted to territorial selfgovernment. The Constitution is supplemented by three basic acts: the Act on Municipalities, the Act on Regions and the Act on the Capital City of Prague. - To take comprehensive care of the development of their territory and the needs of their citizens - Relatively independent communities of citizens, which primarily pursue the interests of this community and its members, their fulfilment and development, within a certain territorial district - Corporations built on the membership principle - Act in legal relations in their name and bear the responsibility resulting from these relations, - They manage their matters independently = state authorities and authorities of regions can undermine the independent competence only if the protection of laws requires so, and only in the manner stipulated by the law Territorial Self-Governing Units In The Czech Republic - Self-governing territorial units can possess their own property and that they manage it according to their own budget - Municipalities and regions are independently managed in particular by the board of representatives as well as by other their own authorities - Judicial protection of the right to self-government is also guaranteed - Judicial protection is provided by the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic - If a municipality or region assumes that the right to self-government has been breached by the state, it can file the so-called municipal constitutional complaint with the Constitutional Court. - the communities of citizens are characterized, like the state, by certain elements, resp. attributes that characterize and define the relevant territorial self-governing unit both internally (in relation to its members) and externally (in relation to other units and other entities). - These attributes undoubtedly include the symbols of territorial self-governing units - The symbols strengthen the citizen's relationship with their municipality or region and express their affiliation with the territorial self-governing unit, its members and its interests - Similarly to the state symbols, the symbols of territorial self-governing units fulfil the role of identification, representation and integration Symbols Of The Self-Governing Territorial Units - The basic symbols of the territorial self-governing units (municipalities and regions) are the coat of arms and the flag - The issue of the coat of arms and the flag is regulated by the Act on Municipalities, the Act on Regions and the Act on the Capital City of Prague. - The Constitution of the Czech Republic does not deal with this issue - The Act on Municipalities stipulates that municipalities may have the coat of arms and flag of the municipality (Section 34a). - The coat of arms and the flag are awarded at the request of a municipality. - It is important to emphasize that this is a right, not an obligation of the municipality/region to have a coat of arms and a flag. - This construction should be considered appropriate, as the issue of the symbols of the municipality falls exclusively within its self-governing competence - In this respect, it is a difference compared to the regulation of the state symbols of the Czech Republic (in relation to the state, there is no free consideration of whether and which state symbols it will have or will not have) - Both of these symbols are granted at the request of the municipality by the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies (i.e. the Speaker of one of the chambers of the Parliament of the Czech Republic) - An important power of the legislative power in relation to territorial self-government - The legal regulation in relation to the coat of arms and the flag of the regions and the capital city of Prague is constructed in exactly the same way - Regarding the form and appearance of the flag and the coat of arms of the municipality (or the region), the legislation does not lay down any rules in this regard. - However, one of the committees of the Chamber of Deputies, namely the Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Youth and Sports, oversees compliance with the rules of heraldry and vexillology during the process of approving the flag and the coat of arms. This committee gives its recommendation to the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies to award the symbol - Applications, granted coats of arms and flags are kept in the Register of Municipal Symbols (REKOS). - At present, all 14 regions and their flags and emblems are registered here, as well as 5465 municipalities (5428 flags, 5245 coats of arms). As of January 2022, there were a total of 6,258 municipalities in the Czech Republic. - The basic rules for creating the coat of arms of a municipality (or the region) include that: • The new symbol must not be the same as the existing coat of arms of the municipality in the Czech Republic and must not be identical with the state coat of arms or the coat of arms of the region • The character should be as simple as possible and should contain as few figures as possible • The coat of arms may not include company logos, trademarks, etc. • Realistic depictions of specific buildings or natural formations are not permitted as the content of the coat of arms of the municipality, such figures must be heraldically stylized • Depictions of saints or real characters are approved only in very exceptional cases • - Texts or separate letters are not used in the municipality coat of arms For Flags: • The ratio of its width to length must be the same as for the state flag (2:3) • The new flag must not be interchangeable with the already existing flags of the municipalities of the Czech Republic, state flags and generally known regional flags of the self-governing units of the existing states • The flag of the municipality should be simple, distinctive, unmistakable and in line with the principle of flight • The colors of the newly created flag must be based on the same colors as the coat of arms of the municipality - Another significant difference between the state symbols and the symbols of territorial self-governing communities lies in the impossibility of changing the form (appearance) of the symbol - The state symbols and their depictions are strictly regulated by law and cannot be changed • X on the other hand, the coat of arms and the flag of a municipality or a region can be changed - Another question is whether, in addition to the coat of arms and the flag, local governments can have other symbols? - The law does not address this issue at all - The symbols belong to the independent competence of the territorial self-governing units, is not comprehensively and exhaustively regulated by law to allow the municipality or region to use "other municipal (regional) symbols", these can be, for example, the colors of the municipality, the seal of the municipality, its logo, the jingle and more. Protection Of The Symbols Of The Self- Governing Territorial Units - There is no constitutional protection at the level of constitutional law - In exceptional cases, we could consider the possibility of a territorial self-governing unit to file a constitutional complaint against the illegal intervention of the state in the constitutionally guaranteed right to self-government. - The complaint is submitted to the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic. - This remedy would be hypothetically usable in a situation where the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies would unreasonably refuse to give a coat of arms or a flag to the self- governing unit and thus interfere with its right to self-government - The Act on Municipalities, the Act on Regions and the Act on the Capital City of Prague provide a certain protection for the symbols of self-governing communities by regulating the use of these symbols, however, this is a very general and at the same time brief regulation. - The coat of arms can be used without restriction by the concrete territorial selfgoverning unit and also by entities that are established by the unit, other entities may always use the coat of arms of the municipality or region with its consent. There is no legal claim to consent. - On the contrary, the use of the flag is unrestricted for other entities, i.e. the consent of the municipality or the region is not required - The other communal symbols and their use are not regulated by law at all therefore, they can be used again in free mode, without the possibility of restrictions by the municipality (the region). - Legal regulation of the use of symbols of municipalities and regions can be considered a means of administrative protection. - Another important means of administrative protection of the municipal symbols is given in the form of a liability for the administrative offense. - The Act on Certain Misdemeanors, which regulates misdemeanors in the area of general internal administration, is crucial - The administrative offense is committed by a person who damages, or abuses or grossly disparages a symbol protected by law other than the state symbol of the Czech Republic. And it is the symbols of territorial self- governing units that can be considered as these "other" symbols. - A typical administrative penalty that can be imposed for these offenses is a fine, a fine of up to CZK 3,000 can be imposed for the above-mentioned offense - Regarding the protection from the point of view of criminal law, - It can be stated that the Czech legislation does not contain specific criminal offenses that would relate directly to the protection of the municipal symbols. - We could nevertheless consider the fulfilment of some common types of crimes, such as property crimes (if the damage to the symbol exceeds 10,000 CZK and other formal and material features of a particular crime were met) or a crime of disorderly conduct. - Finally, it is necessary to analyses the possible private law protection of symbols of municipalities and regions. • - Whether these symbols are protected under copyright law These symbols can potentially fulfils the characteristics of a "copyright work" within the meaning of copyright law, with all the legal consequences that follow. - In this respect, however, § 3 of the Copyright Act, which regulates exceptions to protection under this Act, is essential. This provision provides for exhaustive copyright exclusions for certain subjects for which there is a public interest in their free distribution and public access to them. These are therefore exceptions justified by the public interest. Conclusion - Czech law reflects the existence, significance, as well as the need to protect the state, national and community symbols - The most important place is occupied by the state symbols of the Czech Republic - But the symbols of the most important communities in the Czech Republic are also protected by Czech law, at least at a basic level - These are mainly symbols of the territorial self-governing units, national minorities and religious communities - Czech law seeks to comprehensively support the development of these communities and help realize the various rights of their members. These rights undoubtedly include the right to use community symbols. - The main role in terms of their protection is played by administrative protection again (typically, it is the responsibility for offenses and the possibility of defense under the Anti-Discrimination Act)