On 1 January 2026, a significant amendment to criminal law regulations implemented by Act No. 270/2025 Coll. will come into effect. These changes mainly concern the Criminal Code, but also the Criminal Procedure Code and ancillary criminal laws, i.e. the Act on Criminal Liability of Legal Entities and the Act on Justiciary in Suits of Youth.

Unless expressly stated otherwise, the references to legal provisions below refer to the wording effective as of 1 January 2026.

1. New types of penalties for natural persons

The first key change is the introduction of two new types of penalties that could previously only be imposed on legal entities, but will now also be possible to impose on natural persons – these are the penalty of prohibition from performing public contracts or participating in public tenders (Section 74c, 74d of the Criminal Code) and the penalty of prohibition from receiving subsidies and grants (Sections 74e and 74f of the Criminal Code).

The court will be able to impose these penalties for a period of one to ten years on offenders who have committed a criminal offence in connection with the conclusion of a public contract or its performance, or with participation in a tender procedure or public competition, or in connection with the submission or processing of applications for any public support or its provision or use. The court will also be able to impose these penalties by means of a penalty order for a period of up to five years (Section 314e(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code).

Failure to comply with these prohibitions will be punished as a criminal offence of obstruction of justice and obstruction of a sentence of banishment under Section 337(1)(g) and (h) of the Criminal Code.

The court may conditionally waive the remainder of these penalties if at least half of them have been served (Section 90 of the Criminal Code). In the case of a conditional waiver, the court shall set a probationary period of one to five years, but not shorter than the remainder of the penalty not yet served. An interest group of citizens may guarantee the rehabilitation of an offender sentenced to such a penalty (Section 6(1)(c) of the Criminal Code).

2. Wider use of financial penalties

There is a broader enforcement of financial penalties as a basic alternative penalty. The court will be able to impose this penalty on the offender for any criminal offence (although in some cases it cannot be imposed as a separate penalty ¹). This change is expected to result in savings for the state, as well as a more significant impact on offenders compared to short-term imprisonment.

At the same time, the upper limit on the number of daily rates of financial penalties, currently set at 730 daily rates, will be abolished, so that the maximum number of daily rates will be equal to the upper limit of the prison sentence set in days. The number of daily rates may not exceed the upper limit of the prison sentence, even if imprisonment is imposed at the same time (previously, this was “twice the number of daily rates”).

If the convicted person fails to pay the financial penalty, it will be converted into a prison sentence, with each unpaid daily rate corresponding to one day of imprisonment (instead of the current two days).

In the case of juvenile offenders, i.e. persons who were between 15 and 18 years of age at the time of committing the offence, the rules on financial penalties will be amended in a similar way to the amendment of financial penalties in the Criminal Code. This means that the court may impose a financial penalty ranging from a minimum of 10 daily rates to a maximum of the number of daily rates corresponding to half the upper limit of the prison sentence that could be imposed on the juvenile. In the event of a conversion of a financial measure into a custodial sentence, each unpaid amount corresponding to two daily rates counts as one day of imprisonment.

3. Changes in the area of conditional release, conditional waiver of the remainder of certain types of sentences and the crediting of detention and punishment

According to Section 88(1) of the Criminal Code, the rules on conditional release from imprisonment are amended so that the court shall conditionally release the convicted person if they have served the specified part of the sentence, has demonstrated improvement through their behaviour and fulfilment of their obligations after the judgment became final and can be expected to lead a law-abiding life in the future, or the court accepts a guarantee that the convicted person will complete their rehabilitation. Conditional release is therefore automatic if the conditions are met. According to the current wording of the relevant provision, the court may release the convicted person on parole […], so the release itself is at the court’s discretion. However, it should be noted that the conclusion regarding the proper behaviour and rehabilitation of the convicted person still depends on the court’s assessment.

Changes have also been made to the calculation of time spent in custody and the sentence pursuant to Section 92 of the Criminal Code. First and foremost, the time spent in custody will now be included in the sentence imposed, not only in the criminal proceedings in which the sentence was imposed, but also in proceedings conducted for another offence, if such proceedings ended with the discontinuation of criminal prosecution, the transfer of the case to another authority or the acquittal of the defendant, and if the time spent in custody has not yet been counted or taken into account.

The above rule on counting shall not apply if the acquittal or discontinuation of criminal proceedings occurred solely because the offender is not criminally responsible, has been pardoned or is covered by an amnesty, the victim’s consent to criminal proceedings has not been given or has been withdrawn, if criminal proceedings were conditionally discontinued or a settlement was approved, or if criminal proceedings were discontinued due to ineffectiveness.

According to the new Section 92(5) of the Criminal Code, the deduction or consideration shall not be made if the offender has been awarded compensation for lost profits or adequate satisfaction for non-pecuniary damage caused by unlawful detention or punishment ² , or if more than twenty years have elapsed since the detention or punishment was served.

4. New elements of offences and changes to the elements of offences

The elements of selected criminal offences now include increased protection of various minorities, particularly against violent crimes, in the form of special motives (for example, committing a crime against another person on the grounds of their race, nationality, age, gender, sexual orientation, political beliefs, religion or actual or perceived membership of another group of persons).

A new addition is the criminal offence of identity theft for the production and distribution of pornography under Section 191a of the Criminal Code, consisting in the production, import, offering, sale or other measures involving pornographic works that depict or otherwise exploit a person whom the perpetrator knows has not consented to such depiction or exploitation. This is a punishment for any non-consensual pornography, especially so-called deepfake pornography.

One of the most common criminal offences, i.e. negligence of mandatory support under Section 196 of the Criminal Code, will undergo a significant change. In future, it will only be punishable if the perpetrator exposes the entitled person to danger, whereas until now, any failure to fulfil mandatory support was punishable in principle. The reason for this change is the argument that when a criminal complaint was filed for this offence, it was not primarily to punish the perpetrator, but to obtain maintenance payments, which is considered contrary to the concept of criminal law as a last resort for the protection of rights. The explanatory memorandum thus emphasises that support can be obtained by other legal means, in particular by civil action or by paying substitute support for the child.

Changes have also been made to the concept of “repeated theft” or “recidivist theft”, i.e. an act consisting in someone appropriating another person’s property by taking possession of it and having been convicted or punished for such an act in the last three years. Under the current provision contained in Section 205(2) of the Criminal Code, such an offender will be punished by imprisonment for six months to three years. From 1 January 2026, the described alternative form of theft will be punished more leniently, in that the court will be able to impose a prison sentence of up to two years on the offender. The stricter punishment for recidivism will also be removed from the provisions on fraud and its specific variants, embezzlement and the practice of unfair games and wagers.

Significant changes are also taking place in the area of drug-related crimes. First of all, the new definition of the offence in Section 285 of the Criminal Code is referred to as the unauthorised cultivation of plants or fungi containing narcotic or psychotropic substances and other handling thereof for personal use. This provision (finally) specifies the permissible quantity of such plants or fungi, whereas the previous provision used the vague term “small quantity”.

For personal use, it will be possible to cultivate, harvest or process a maximum of 5 plants of the cannabis genus, unless the cannabis plant contains no more than 1 % THC. Similarly, it will be possible to store cannabis or other narcotic or psychotropic substances obtained by processing cannabis plants containing more than 1 % THC in a total quantity of up to 200 g in one’s home or up to 50 g outside one’s home for personal use.

It should be noted that processing is understood to mean only technically undemanding processes such as drying, crushing or the production of ointments. Therefore, it does not have to be whole unprocessed cannabis. On the contrary, various physical or chemical processes leading to the concentration of the active substance are classified as production and fulfil the characteristics of the criminal offence described below and punishable more severely under Section 283 of the Criminal Code.

The scope of the offence will also be extended to include the unauthorised production and other handling of narcotic or psychotropic substances, plants or fungi containing them, or poisons under Section 283 of the Criminal Code, in that it will now be a criminal offence for (i) anyone who unlawfully cultivates, harvests, collects or processes a plant or fungus containing a narcotic or psychotropic substance for another person.

A new offence is the unauthorised production and other handling of cannabis under Section 283a, which punishes acts consisting in the production, import, export, transit, offering, brokering, sale or other handling of cannabis or a preparation containing a narcotic or psychotropic substance obtained from cannabis. This is a special, less severe (privileged) alternative to the criminal offence described in the previous paragraph.

The Criminal Code also extends the implementation of international sanctions, i.e. orders, prohibitions or restrictions, e.g. to maintain international peace and security or to combat terrorism. In this area, the punishable acts are being tightened and expanded. A key change is that violations of international sanctions committed not only intentionally (Section 410 of the Criminal Code) but also negligently (Section 410a of the Criminal Code) are now punishable. The court will also be able to impose a penalty of forfeiture of property that is subject to international sanctions.

The factual basis of the criminal offence of establishing, supporting and promoting a movement aimed at suppression of human rights and freedoms under Section 403 of the Criminal Code explicitly includes Nazi and Communist movements.

In the case of some other offences, only partial additions or clarifications have been made (e.g. breach of regulations on circulation of goods in relation with foreign states under Section 261 of the Criminal Code, illegal arming under Section 279 of the Criminal Code, or obstruction of the preparation and course of elections and referendum under Section 351 of the Criminal Code).

Amendments to other criminal legislation

As mentioned at the beginning, changes are also being made to the Criminal Procedure Code, the Act on Criminal Liability of Legal Entities and Proceedings against Them, and the Act on Justiciary in Suits of Youth.

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¹ Specifically, according to Section 67(2) of the Criminal Code, these are crimes of abuse of a person in one’s care and abuse of a person living in the same dwelling, crimes (intentional crimes with a maximum sentence of 5 to 10 years) from the category of crimes against life and health and crimes against human dignity in the sexual sphere, and all particularly serious crimes (intentional crimes with a maximum sentence of at least 10 years).

² The relevant provisions are contained in Act No. 82/1998 Coll., on liability for damage caused in the exercise of public authority by a decision or incorrect official procedure.

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This material is for general information on current topics only, it is not advice. It does not take into account any special circumstances, financial situations or special requirements of the addressees. Recipients should therefore always seek appropriate professional services for the information provided. Notwithstanding the careful compilation of this material, bpv Braun Partners s.r.o. advokáti, its partners, associates or co-operating solicitors and tax advisers cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information contained herein and accepts no responsibility for acting or refraining from acting on the basis of the information contained in this material.