Commercial registry snafu

Changes that take effect today were supposed to bring about a revolution in terms of getting entries recorded in the commercial registry, but a last-minute move by Justice Minister Pavel Němec might mean the red tape gets no thinner. Without any cost to the state, the interagency Development Council had agreed on standardized forms that were acceptable to almost everyone involved, including the relevant division at Němec's ministry, CzechInvest, reform-minded judges and ODS's point man, Jiří Pospíšil. But Němec cast the forms aside and gave PVT a.s. a contract to draw up new ones. The revised forms are needlessly complicated and leave room for old-style judges to reject the applications. These sticky-fingered reform-busters were supposed to be sidelined, but thanks to Němec they'll remain in the game. Němec's spokesman declined to confirm or deny that PVT earned Kč 3m for messing up forms that had already been done well for free.