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The abolition of an electronic cash register system in January last year meant the loss of a key mechanism for targeting tax evasion, Czechia’s Supreme Audit Office said on Monday. In the case of value added tax, the system, which was connected to a central database, chiefly helped to detect entities that did not register as taxpayers even though they exceeded the legal limit for mandatory registration, the state agency said.

The electronic record of sales system was introduced in 2016 but was suspended in spring 2020 during the Covid crisis and later became de facto voluntary. It was formally ended at the start of last year.

The Czech government has discussed a new strategy aimed at making better use of wood harvested in the country, Czech Television reported on Sunday. Under the plan, wood produced in Czechia would be increasingly processed directly in the country and the rules for constructing wooden buildings would be simplified.

Environmentalists complain that at present wood harvested in Czechia is often exported in a raw state. Greenpeace activists told Czech TV that they had tracked wood by GPS and found that even valuable varieties often ended up being used in an inadequate manner.

The minister of agriculture, Marek Výborný, said his officials were planning a marketing drive presenting wood as the material of the future.

Kateřina Siniaková has won the women’s double at tennis’s Wimbledon for the ninth doubles Grand Slam title of her career. The Czech and her partner Taylor Townsend, seeded fourth overcame the Canadian-New Zealand pairing of Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe, the second seeds, 7-6 7-6 in Saturday night’s final.

The win came just hours after Barbora Krejčíková, a former long-time doubles partner of Siniaková’s, won her first Wimbledon women’s singles for her career second major title.

The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs says that humanitarian benefits for Ukrainian refugees in Czechia should be increased from August. This will involve a rise in housing allowances and comes in response to the discontinuation of free emergency accommodation from September. Officials said ministers would choose between two plans drafted by Ministry of Labour officials.

Some refugees aid organisations say the proposed housing benefit increases are insufficient and will lead to a deterioration in living conditions for Ukrainian refugees.