President Ivan Gašparovič vetoed and returned to parliament a much criticised amendment to the law on area planning and construction permits. He recommended that parliament does not approve the revision as a whole. The amendment would have enabled developers to choose which version of the local master plan - if more than one had been valid during an application process – their plans should conform to.
At the same time, the president signed an amendment to the public procurement law which bans the application of references as evaluation criteria in bids for public tenders. He also signed a revision to the law on protection and use of agricultural land. As a result, it will not be necessary to get the approval of owners or administrators of forest land in order to change the function of their land to allow highway construction. However, substitution or reimbursement for restriction of ownership rights must be provided. SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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