On January 3, 2018, Act no. 204/2017 Coll. became effective, amending Act no. 256/2004 Coll., on capital market undertakings, as amended, and related legislation. It should be noted, however, that many provisions of the Act had come into effect 30 days after its publication on July 14, 2017.
The amendment brings substantial changes to the Capital Market Undertakings Act. In addition, it repeals Ordinance no. 143/2009 Coll., on the expertise of agents of securities traders, and Ordinance no. 303/2010 Coll., on the rules on investment service provision.
These changes have been driven by the need to incorporate new European capital markets laws into the Czech legal system. This especially concerns Directive 2014/65/EU on markets in financial instruments, Regulation no. 600/2014 on markets in financial instruments, Regulation no. 596/2014 on market abuse, Directive 2014/57/EU on criminal sanctions for market abuse and Implementing Directive 2015/2392 of Regulation no. 596/2014 on reporting actual or potential breaches of the Regulation to relevant authorities.
The amendment attempts to bring Czech laws into line with the European legislation and its goals of increasing investor protection and capital market transparency. At the same time, the changes should make Czech capital markets more attractive and efficient while providing a more stringent regulatory framework for better consumer protection.
We will be monitoring the amendment’s actual effects to assess the success of the new legislation.