Commission Report (2002): Czech Republic

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

Chapter 17: Science and research

Progress since the last Regular Report

Since the last Regular Report, further progress has been achieved. The main development in this field concerns the Act on State Support to Research and Technological Development, which was adopted in March and entered into force in July 2002. The Act provides for the allocation of public funds to research and development, outlines the rights and duties of private and legal entities dealing with research and development, establishes an evaluation system, and lays down the tasks and obligations of the relevant Government bodies.

During 2002, the Czech Republic continued to be associated with the Fifth EC Framework Programme and with the Fifth Euratom Framework Programme. The National Information Network (NINET), which is financially supported by the Government, continued to develop successfully.

The Czech Republic has expressed interest in being associated with the Sixth Framework Programme. In Spring 2002, expressions of interest were submitted to the National Contact Organisation, fully in line with the Commission invitation.

Over the current year, the part of the gross domestic expenditure on Research and Development coming from the state budget has remained relatively low (0.54% of gross domestic expenditure), despite the Government`s decision of 2000 to reach the level of 0.7% of GDP in 2002.

Overall assessment

The framework for co-operation in the field of science and technology (including National Contact Points) is well established. The research-related administrative capacity and infrastructure of the Czech Republic need, however, to be further improved. Despite the legislative progress, the financial support for science, research and development remains relatively low.

Conclusion

In its 1997 Opinion, the Commission concluded that no major problems were expected in this field and that accession would be of mutual benefit.

Since the Opinion, the Czech Republic has made progress in this area. By the recent adoption of the Act on State Support for Research and Technological Development, the Czech Republic has harmonised the conditions for state support for research and technological development with those within the EU. Overall, the framework for co-operation is well established although administrative capacity needs to be strengthened.

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

In order to complete preparations for membership, the Czech Republic's efforts now need to focus on increasing the gross domestic expenditure on research and technological development, and on encouraging enterprises to commit higher expenditures to research. This will contribute to the further development of the sector and to the effective integration of the Czech Republic into the European Research Area, as well as to its successful association with the relevant Community programmes.

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