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Constitutional act no. 300/2000 Coll.

Constitutional act no. 300/2000 Coll. may be called a “security amendment” of the Constitution. Its main objective was to introduce constitutional changes required by the recent accession of the Czech Republic to NATO which took place on 12 March 1999. With the accession, the Czech Republic accepted some obligations stemming from the North Atlantic Treaty; in this respect, there may arise the need to send the armed forces of the Czech Republic outside the territory of the Czech Republic or – on the other hand – to consent with stationing of foreign armed forces within the territory of the Czech Republic (cf. art. 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty).

Before the amendment, all such decision had to be made by the Parliament (cf. art. 39 para. 3 and 43 para. 2 of the original wording of the Constitution) even in situations concerning natural disasters or attack against one of the NATO’s member states. This regulation was considered deficient, because the parliamentary proceedings are quite time-consuming. Furthermore, the Parliament had to decide even on the smaller-scale operations (such as sending a military field hospital abroad). 

This basic model of decision-making (i. e. the parliamentary model) was not abandoned, but a new and more flexible procedure was added. Under the new procedure, the Government can make some short-term decisions.

The Government may decide to send the armed forces of the Czech Republic outside the territory of the Czech Republic and to allow the stationing of foreign armed forces in the Czech Republic for a period not exceeding 60 days (but only if one of the substantive conditions under art. 43 para. 4 of the Constitution is met). Decisions concerning transit of foreign armed forces or participation at international military exercises are not limited by any substantive conditions. Problems of interpretation may arise as to what constitutes a “transit” and what qualifies as “stationing”.

The balance between the need for flexible decision-making and the parliamentary control is safeguarded by art. 43 para. 6 of the Constitution; the Parliament must be notified of the aforementioned governmental decisions and even if only one of the chambers disagrees with such a decision, it is annulled.