European court condemns Czech Republic over ‘closed’ notary profession

The European Court of Justice has condemned the Czech Republic for restricting access to the notary profession to just Czechs.

In a ruling Thursday, the court said such nationality limits were discriminatory and broke basic EU rules on free movement and citizens’ rights. The profession could only be limited to citizens if issues of security were at stake and this was clearly not the case.

The European Commission launched court proceedings against the county in 2016 after foot dragging by Prague to bring its rules into line with other member states.

Author: Chris Johnstone