Global Trade Alert

On 1 May 2015, the Czech Republic introduced amendments to its act on investment incentives.
With the new provisions, higher subsidies were made available for strategic investments in the form of "cash grant for the acquisition of long-term tangible and intangible assets (...) up to 10 percent of total eligible costs (...) but to a maximum of CZK 1,500,000,000 CZK '61.49 million USD' in the case of a strategic investment project in the area of manufacture and a maximum of CZK 500,000,000 'ca. 20.5 million USD' in the case of a strategic investment project in the area of technology centres". These shall be defined as:"

1. an investment project in areas of manufacturing approved by the Government, where the amount of eligible costs is at least CZK 500,000,000 'ca. 20.5 million USD', of which at least CZK 250,000,000 is spent on the acquisition of machinery for manufacturing purposes and at least 500 new jobs are created,
2. an investment project in the area of technology centres approved by the Government, where the amount of eligible costs is at least CZK 200,000,000 'ca. 8.2 million USD', of which at least CZK 100,000,000 is spent on the acquisition of machinery and at least 100 new jobs are created".

Also, the new revisions allowed for an exemption from tax on immovable property in concessional industrial zones for a period of up to 5 years.
 
The GTA includes state guarantees and other financial incentives that are likely to affect the restructuring and performance of firms facing international competition, whether from imports, in export markets, and from foreign subsidiaries.
The list of affected trading partners is based on the 2012 FDI flows data from UNCTAD.