Commission Report (2002): Czech Republic

• Progress since the last Regular Report
• Overall assessment
• Conclusion

Chapter 13: Social policy and employment

Progress since the last Regular Report

The Czech Republic has continued to make very good progress in the area of social policy and employment.

Regarding labour law, an amendment to the employment act strengthened compulsory support for the employment of the severely disabled handicapped in sheltered workshops and improved the conditions of disabled citizens' employment and the stability of organisations employing them. An act on the working hours of employees with irregular working hours in transport applied the acquis related to this category of workers.

As regards equal treatment for women and men, in October 2001 the Government approved the creation of the Council for Equal Opportunities for Men and Women, which met for the first time in April 2002. The Council is an inter-ministerial consultative and advisory body with a mandate to promote European gender equality policy. In addition, since January 2002, each Ministry has created a permanent position for an official charged exclusively with the agenda of equal opportunities for men and women. An amendment to the Employment Act, approved by Parliament in April 2002, further refines the definition of direct and indirect discrimination in access to employment. It will also empower the labour offices to implement various affirmative measures in order to eliminate or at least decrease inequalities on the labour market.

Regarding health and safety at work, several government orders implementing the acquis have been adopted on the basis of the amended Labour Code. A government order adopted in September 2001 fully transposed the Directive concerning the minimum safety and health requirements for the use of work equipment by workers, and will enter into force in January 2003. The Directive on the minimum health and safety requirements for the use by workers of personal protective equipment at the workplace has been transposed and entered into force in January 2002. The Directive on the minimum requirements for the provision of safety and health signs at work was fully transposed and will enter into force in January 2003.

Regarding social dialogue, the social partners have decided not to conclude a long-term social stability pact for the moment. The tripartite social dialogue at national level continues to work well.

As regards public health, amendments to the Act on Addictive Substances added new substances, introduced stricter controls and increased the penalty for breaching the Act. An amendment to the Atomic Act aligned regulations for the protection of physicians and patients from ionising irradiation. The amendment implies stricter requirements for medical instruments, devices and personnel using ionising irradiation, in particular diagnostic X-ray machines and workplace equipment, as well as regular equipment controls. An amendment to the Health Care Act harmonised the processing of personal data related to the provision of health care, put electronic documentation on an equal footing to paper documentation and redefined the function and operation of the national health information system. An amendment to the Act on Public Health Protection reforming the Public Health Service has been adopted. The reform aims to streamline the management of the Service at the central, regional and local levels. Also, there has been useful progress on improving the health status of the population.

In terms of Employment Policy, the Joint Assessment of Employment Policy Priorities (JAP) was signed in May 2000. As part of the monitoring process of the Employment Policy Review, a second progress report on the implementation of the priorities identified in the JAP was submitted to the Commission by Czech Republic in June 2002. This report presents an important step in assessing the extent to which Czech Republic is progressing towards its objectives of labour market reform and adaptation of its employment system in order to prepare for future participation in the European Employment Strategy after accession. The situation on the labour market has not evolved significantly, and the high and growing long-term unemployment is becoming an increasing problem. Unemployment remains between 8% and 9% with strong regional disparities. The overall unemployment rate was 8% in 2001 with 6.7% for men and 9.6% for women. The National Action Plan for Employment (NEAP) for 2002 was adopted in March. Support for employment, business activities and helping companies and employees to adjust to changes are the main pillars of the plan. It includes measures aimed at combating long term unemployment and emerging skill shortages, reducing unemployment of the disabled and other groups experiencing difficulties on the labour market, including the Roma.

In relation to preparations for future European Social Fund (ESF) programmes, the Ministry of Finance was chosen as Paying Authority for all the Structural Funds including the ESF. However, the Ministry of Finance will delegate part of its tasks to the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, which will also act as Managing Authority for the Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development and for the EQUAL Community initiative programme.

As a follow-up to the Gothenburg European Council, where the EU invited the candidate countries to translate the EU objectives into their national policies, the Commission and the Czech Republic have initiated a joint co-operation exercise to prepare for future participation in the EU social inclusion process after accession. This exercise consists in joint identification of the social exclusion challenges and relevant policy responses. The Czech Statistical Office co-operates with Eurostat to produce data on poverty and social exclusion. Preliminary figures suggest that overall income disparities seem to be relatively low, as is the poverty rate after social transfers (8%). In this context, and in line with its strong commitment to developing social policy, the Government is reviewing its efforts in a number of policy areas to better fight poverty and social exclusion.

As regards other areas of social protection, the Government has adopted a national programme, devised to prepare the Czech Republic for an increasing number of elderly citizens and focusing on the social impact of an ageing population. An amendment to the social insurance act allowed those who provide all-day care to their disabled children to earn additional money without losing the right to social allowance.

In the field of anti-discrimination, an amendment to the Employment Act of May 2002 introduces the possibility to take positive measures to reinforce the integration of certain disadvantaged groups in the labour market.

In terms of administrative capacity, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs is the central state administration responsible for the issues addressed under this chapter except public health. The Ministry has a staff of about 560 people. It is a stable and competent administration, well advanced in the area of EC-related issues. Its policies in all areas of responsibility are based on long-term strategies. It needs to focus on implementation and enforcement of new legislation and testing of newly created administrative structures. Human resources policy requires particular attention due to the high average age of employees. Supervision of occupational health and safety and working conditions is the responsibility of the Czech Occupational Safety Office (COSO), which has a staff of nearly 450 and reports to the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. Activities of COSO are to undergo changes further to recent legislative developments, which aim to ensure alignment with EC standards and policies in labour inspection. The Ministry of Health is responsible for health-related issues, in particular public health, epidemiology, health insurance, pharmacology and drug control. It has a staff of over 300 people.

Overall assessment

As regards labour law, all the relevant acquis has been fully transposed except in the area of protection of young people at work, where further alignment is necessary. The administrative capacity and co-operation of the institutions in charge of labour inspections need further strengthening. The Czech Republic will have to transpose the new acquis related to the involvement of workers in the European Company and to information and consultation of workers.

As regards equal treatment for women and men, Czech legislation has been largely aligned with the acquis. The co-ordination of equal opportunity issues and equal treatment for men and women is a competence of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. Institutional and administrative structures for implementing and enforcing the acquis require further strengthening.

In the field of health and safety at work, a substantial amount of work has been completed, even if a new Act on Labour Inspection remains to be adopted. Additionally, several items remain to be adopted as secondary legislation. Enforcement bodies, in particular labour inspectorates, need further strengthening. An increase in inspections of small and medium-sized enterprises should be a priority. Changes in the inspection protocol arrangements are also required in order to attain the objectives foreseen for the enforcement structures. The current practice of occupational safety inspection largely corresponds to that in the EU, except that the process of supervision and enforcement is still not completed. The occupational health agenda performed separately by the public health services should be better co-ordinated with labour inspection. Legal inconsistencies remain in the surveillance of technical equipment by the Institute of Technical Inspection. co-operation between social partners in health and safety at work should be enhanced, in particular in small and medium-sized enterprises.

As regards social dialogue, additional attention should be paid to further improvement of the system of extending collective agreements and to links between different levels of social dialogue. Bipartite social dialogue needs to be reinforced, especially at sectoral and enterprise levels, including in new private enterprises. At tripartite level, although social partners are already actively involved in the preparations for accession, their ability to participate in the implementation of the relevant acquis should be strengthened.

In the area of public health, a few gaps remain in terms of harmonisation of legislation. To this end a new act on protection against damage caused by tobacco products, alcohol and addictive drugs needs to be adopted.

Enforcement of legislation concerning tobacco control should be improved. The national system for epidemiological surveillance and control should be adapted to link to the Community Network of surveillance and control of communicable diseases. The Public Health Service section of the Health Ministry should be significantly strengthened. The surveillance, prevention and control of communicable disease in the Czech Republic is regulated by the Act on Public Health Protection and amendments to related Acts.

Regarding employment, the Joint Assessment of the Employment Policy Priorities (JAP) represents an important step in the preparations for accession. Progress in the implementation of these policies is assessed regularly and it is important to ensure effective monitoring of the phasing-in of the priorities and commitments contained in the JAP. It is important to continue the reform to increase the incentives for participation in the labour market, to modernise the education system, including vocational training system life-long learning policies, to respond to the demand of the labour market, and to continue the efforts to make the public employment service more effective. Special measures have to be taken in regions affected by industrial restructuring where employment problems are particularly serious.

The administrative capacity of the structures for European Social Fund (ESF) management and implementation are being strengthened to be ready for an efficient use of the ESF. It is also important that the contents of future ESF interventions are embedded in the European Employment Strategy and the fight against social exclusion.

A national integrated strategy to promote social inclusion, taking into account the EU objectives, needs to be developed. As poverty and social exclusion are multidimensional by nature, it is important to promote an integrated approach mobilising various governmental bodies and all relevant stakeholders in the process. It is also crucial to continue the development of social statistics systems on poverty and social exclusion in line with the EU commonly agreed indicators on social inclusion. As regards social protection, a political consensus on the future direction of the pension reform has not yet been reached, even though the need for fundamental changes has been understood.

Further efforts are needed to ensure alignment with the acquis on anti-discrimination. Legislation transposing the anti-discrimination acquis still needs to be introduced and implemented and the Equality Body required by the acquis has to be established.

Conclusion

In its 1997 Opinion, the Commission concluded that provided the Czech Republic pursued its efforts, both in terms of adoption and of application of the EC acquis, it was likely to be able to take on the obligations of EC membership in the social area in the medium term. Issues requiring attention included the health system, tobacco legislation, long-term unemployment and social security and welfare.

Since the Opinion, the Czech Republic has made substantial and steady progress in the areas of labour law, health and safety at work and social protection. A particular effort was made in the area of employment policy and as regards equal treatment for women and men. Overall a high level of alignment has been achieved. Administrative capacity is satisfactory but should be further strengthened and implementation should be stepped up.

Negotiations on this chapter have been provisionally closed. The Czech Republic has not requested any transitional arrangements. The Czech Republic is generally meeting the commitments it made in the accession negotiations in this field.

In order to complete preparations for membership, the Czech Republic`s efforts should now focus on completing transposition in the fields of labour law, tobacco and anti-discrimination, and effectively implementing the acquis, especially in the areas of public health and health and safety at work.

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