In Business News this week: Czech industrial production up by 4.5 percent year-on-year in February; Czech antimonopoly office confirms provider of medical cannabis; lower house passes controversial energy law; CEZ wins arbitration against Romanian firms; and clean-up of former military area in Ralsko completed.
Czech industrial growth up by 4.5 percent year-on-year
Photo: Tomáš Adamec
Czech industrial production in February improved on January’s 2.8 percent growth, rising by 4.5 percent compared to the same period last year, according to figures from the Czech Statistical Office released on Friday. The growth was mainly fuelled by the increased production of cars and electrical equipment. The Czech Republic’s construction sector, meanwhile, expanded by six percent year-on-year in February and experts are predicting that the growth will continue throughout the year.
Czech antimonopoly office confirms provider of medical cannabis
Photo: mawen-masaze.cz (Masáže Mawen)
The Czech Office for the Protection of Competition has refused to cancel the results of a public tender for a license to grow medical cannabis. The winner of the public tender, Elkplast Slušovice, claims it can provide a gram of cannabis for 68 crowns. One of the unsuccessful bidders, Velvana, has filed a complaint against the results, arguing that it is impossible to sell cannabis at this price. The State Institute for Drug Control can only sign a contract with the winning firm when the administrative procedure is completed. Cannabis can only be acquired using an electronic prescription and is provided to people suffering from multiple sclerosis, chronic pain and other ailments. Czech pharmacies started to sell the drug, which is now legally imported from the Netherlands, in mid-November.
Lower house passes controversial energy law
Photo: European Commission
The lower house of the Czech Parliament on Friday passed a controversial new energy law. The bill was pushed through by a slim majority. Most coalition deputies voted in favour of the new legislation, while the MPs of the opposition Dawn Party, which was the biggest critic of the law, voted against. The draft law will, among other things, cushion the burden on industrial users for supporting renewable power. The national energy regulator, ERÚ, which has strongly opposed the new bill, has warned that that it could trigger a massive drain on public and state resources. A controversial proposal, which would allow the division of existing solar power plants into several smaller ones, was not passed by the lower house.
CEZ wins arbitration against Romanian firms
Photo: Filip Jandourek
The International Court of Arbitration in Paris has rejected the vast majority of claims by the Romanian companies Electrica and Energie against the Czech power company ČEZ. This is the third time ČEZ has managed to win an arbitration hearing. The Romanian firms had sought compensation of more than 81 million euros for the alleged failure of ČEZ to meet their obligations arising from privatization agreements from the years 2005 and 2009, under which the Czech power giant privatized the Romanian distribution company Electrica Oltenia.
Clean-up of former military area in Ralsko completed
Ralsko, photo: archive of Radio Prague
The clean-up of the environmental damage in the former Soviet Army military training ground in Ralsko, north Bohemia, has been completed. The operation, funded by the Czech Republic and the EU, started in 1993 and has cost nearly half a billion Czech crowns. The area of 250 square kilometres, which also includes the nearby Hradčany airport, was used by the Soviet Army between the years 1968 and 1991 and was left heavily polluted, mainly by aviation fuel, oil and petrol. The region of Liberec is hoping to boost tourism in the area.
