Information under the Act No. 106/1999 Coll.

Information under the Act No. 106/1999 Coll., on Free Access to Information, as amended

In accordance with Sec. 5 of the Act No. 106/1999 Coll., on Free Access to Information, as amended, the Financial Arbitrator and the Office of the Financial Arbitrator (Sec. 1a and 4 of the Act No. 229/2002 Coll., on Financial Arbitrator, as amended) hereby publishes, as required, the following information on the Financial Arbitrator (you may download the information here).

1. Official name

Office of the Financial Arbitrator

Financial Arbitrator

2. Grounds for foundation and the establishment of the authority 

The Financial Arbitrator has been founded as of 1 January 2003 by the Act No. 229/2002 Coll., on Financial Arbitrator, in the course of harmonization of the law of the Czech Republic with the European legislation. Back then the Financial Arbitrator had been competent to decide disputes between the persons transferring funds and their clients arisen in connection with transferring of funds, and the persons issuing the electronic payment instruments and the holders thereof in connection with issuing and using electronic payment instruments. The Financial Arbitrator used to be responsible to the Chamber of Deputies for the exercise of its duties. Since its foundation, the main task of the Financial Arbitrator has been to provide fast, free of charge and efficient resolution of disputes between clients and the financial institutions.

As of 1 July 2011 the Office of the Financial Arbitrator has been founded based on the Act No. 180/2011 Coll., forming a government agency and an accounting entity, the revenue and expenditure of which shall form a part of the budget chapter of the Ministry of Finance. The head of the Office of the Financial Arbitrator shall be the Financial Arbitrator. Since then, the Financial Arbitrator shall be responsible to the Government for the exercise of its duties. The competence of the Financial Arbitrator has been gradually extended so that as of 1 January 2015 the Financial Arbitrator is authorized, provided that a Czech court is otherwise competent to decide the dispute in question, to decide disputes between the consumer and:

The Financial Arbitrator is an out-of-court decision-making body founded by the government authorized to decide specific disputes related to the financial market. According to the Act No. 229/2002 Coll., on Financial Arbitrator, as amended, the Financial Arbitrator is authorized, subject to further conditions and provided that a Czech court is otherwise competent to decide the dispute in question, authorized to decide disputes between the consumer and:

a) a payment service provider arisen in connection with offering and providing payment services – e.g. dispute concerning an incorrectly executed payment transaction (malfunction of the ATM, incorrect debiting or crediting of the account, delayed execution of the payment transaction, refusal of a payment order), unauthorized payment transaction (unauthorised use of a credit card or internet banking), termination of a payment account, fee charged for a payment service;

b) an electronic money issuer arisen in connection with issuing and reverse exchange of the electronic money - e.g. dispute between a holder of the pre-paid public transportation card and the public transportation operator;

c) a creditor or intermediary arisen in connection with the offering, providing or mediation of the consumer credit or other credit, loan or other financial service – e.g. dispute between a creditor and its client concerning the rescission of contract, or the fee charged for early repayment of the credit;

d) a person managing or administering a collective investment fund, or offering an investment in the collective investment fund or in a comparable foreign investment fund arisen in connection with managing or administering the collective investment fund, or with offering an investment in the collective investment fund or a comparable foreign investment fund;

e) an insurer or an insurance intermediary in connection with distribution of life insurance and in connection with exercising rights and obligations from life insurance;

f) a money exchange provider arisen in connection with the money exchange – e.g. dispute concerning exchange rate or fee;

g) a building savings bank or intermediary arisen in connection with the offering, providing or mediation of the building savings – e.g. dispute concerning termination of the building savings contract by the building savings bank, change of the building savings contract by the building savings bank (e.g. decrease of the interest on deposits or increase of the fee for keeping the building savings account), fees charged, amount of the state contribution;

h) a person providing investment services in connection with providing investment services, (management of a customer’s assets including an investment instrument based on own discretion in accordance with the contract [portfolio management], custody and administration of the investment instruments including the related services where the securities and book-entry securities issued by an investment fund or a foreign investment fund are concerned, reception and transmission of orders in relation to one or more financial instruments and providing of investment advice concerning investment instruments);

i) a person which maintains an account other than payment account when maintaining the account other than payment account;

j) a beneficiary of a fixed lump-sum deposit when accepting or returning the fixed lump-sum deposit;

k) a pension company or an intermediary in connection with the offering, providing or mediation of state-contributory supplementary pension insurance;

l) a pension company or an intermediary in connection with the offering, providing or mediation of supplementary pension savings;

m) a person providing or distributing a pan-European personal pension product in connection with the providing or distributing a pan-European personal pension product;

n) a person providing a dynamic currency conversion service offered to the payer through an ATM or at the point of sale of goods or providing services before the payment transaction is initiated, in connection with the providing that dynamic currency conversion service;

o) the provider of a long-term investment product when providing that product.

Conclusion of an arbitration agreement shall not prevent the competence of the Arbitrator.

The proceedings shall be commenced by filing a complaint by the complainant (e.g. a payment service user, an electronic money holder, a consumer who has been provided a consumer credit, a consumer investing in an investment fund, a policyholder, the insured, a person with whom a money exchange has been made); the proceedings shall be free of charge and shall be governed by the Financial Arbitrator Act and, adequately, by the Administrative Procedure Code.

3. Organizational structure

The tasks associated with the professional, organisational and technical arrangements of the Financial Arbitrator’s activities shall be performed by the Office of the Financial Arbitrator; the head of the Office of the Financial Arbitrator shall be the Financial Arbitrator; the Deputy Financial Arbitrator shall act on behalf of the Financial Arbitrator to the full extent of the Financial Arbitrator’s competence and responsibilities during the absence of the Financial Arbitrator. At the time of foundation of the Office of the Financial Arbitrator it used to have 14 members, including the Financial Arbitrator and the Deputy Financial Arbitrator. As of 1 January 2014 the number of the employees of the Office of the Financial Arbitrator has increased to 35.

4. Contacts:

Seat: Czech Republic, Prague 1, Legerova 1581/69, ZIP code 110 00
Phone num.: +420 257 042 094 
E-mail address: arbitr@finarbitr.cz 
Data box: qr9ab9x 
Domain: https://financniarbitr.cz; https:/finarbitr.cz; https://financniombudsman.cz 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FinArbitr 
Twitter: @Finarbitr  

5. Bank details

Account No. 19-3520001/0710 kept by the Czech National Bank 

6. Identification number

725 46 522

7. Tax identification number

CZ72546522

8. Budget

From 1 July 2011 to 31 December 2011 – CZK 8 815 000

Year 2012 - CZK 18 000 000

Year 2013 - CZK 15 965 000

Year 2014 - CZK 33 431 739 

Year 2015 - CZK 34 250 713

Year 2016 - CZK 43 197 941

Year 2017 - CZK 56 690 460

Year 2018 - CZK 61 289 977

Year 2019 - CZK 64 906 133

Year 2020 - CZK 69 622 551

Year 2021 - CZK 69 282 551

Year 2022 - CZK 53 890 873

Year 2023 - CZK 69 829 173

Year 2024 - CZK 67 596 481

9. Requests for information

The information shall be provided according to the Act No. 106/1999 Coll., on Free Access to Information, as amended, and according to the Regulation of the Financial Arbitrator on Provision of Information of 30 December 2013.

10. Filing a complaint or other query

Complaints may be filed in writing, electronically using a secured electronic signature, via data box, or orally in the Office of the Financial Arbitrator if protocolled. For filing it in any of the above mentioned ways you may use a form accessible at https://finarbitr.cz/en/dispute-resolution/forms.html. You may also use the Complaint Filing Tutorial accessible online at https://finarbitr.cz/en/dispute-resolution/complaint-filing-tutorial.html; however the online filing shall be subsequently confirmed by one the above mentioned means. Queries concerning the competence of the Financial Arbitrator may be filed in writing, electronically, via data box, or using the online form accessible at https://www.finarbitr.cz/cs/ptejte-se-arbitra.html.

11. Appeals

Against an award or a decision on fine of the Financial Arbitrator objections may be filed under Sec. 16 or Sec. 23 of the Financial Arbitrator Act. Against a ruling of termination of the proceedings an appeal may be filed under Sec. 76 Par. 5 and Sec. 83 Par. 1 of the Administrative Procedure Code. The Financial Arbitrator shall decide on objections by a decision on objections, and on an appeal by a decision on appeal, respectively. An award of the Financial Arbitrator shall be judicially enforceable pursuant to the Civil Procedure Code as soon as the deadline to comply with it has expired, or, if there is no deadline, as soon as it has entered into legal force. An award in legal force may be contested by a review lawsuit filed with a court of law under Part V. of the Act No. 99/1963 Coll., Civil Procedure Code, as amended. A decision on fine in legal force may be contested by a lawsuit filed with a court of law under the Act No. 150/2002 Coll., Administrative Justice Code, as amended. Against a decision of the Financial Arbitrator on denial to provide information an appeal may be filed under Sec. 16 of the Act on Free Access to Information.

12. Forms: 

https://finarbitr.cz/en/dispute-resolution/forms.html 

13. Instructions on what to do in specific situations:

https://finarbitr.cz/en/information-for-public/what-to-do-if.html

14. Applicable rules:

• Act No. 229/2002 Coll., on Financial Arbitrator; as amendedAct No. 284/2009 Coll., on Payment System, as amended
• Act No. 321/2001 Coll. on Certain Conditions for Negotiation of the Consumer Credit and on Amendments to the Act No. 64/1986 Coll.
• Act No. 145/2010 Coll., on Consumer Credit and on amendments to other acts, as amended
• Act No. 189/2004 Coll., on Collective Investment, as amended
• Act No. 240/2013 Coll., on Investment Companies and Investment Funds that replaced the Act No. 189/2004 Coll. as of 19 August 2013
• Act No. 37/2004 Coll., on Insurance Contract and on amendments to other acts, as amended
• Act No. 277/2009 Coll., Act on Insurance, as amended
• Act No. 38/2004 Coll., on Insurance Intermediaries and on Independent Loss Adjusters and on Amendment to the Trade Licensing Act, as amended
• Act No. 277/2013 Coll., on Money Exchanges
• Act No. 500/2004 Coll., Administrative Procedure Code, as amended
• Act No. 591/1992 Coll., on Securities, as amended
• Act No. 40/1964 Coll., Civil Code, as amended
• Act No. 513/1991 Coll., Commercial Code, as amended
• Act No. 89/2012 Coll., Civil Code
• Act No. 21/1992 Coll., on Banks, as amended
• Act No. 87/1995 Coll., on Credit Unions and Certain Related Measures and on the Amendment to the Czech National Council Act No. 586/1992 Coll., on Income Taxes, as amended
• Act No. 6/1993 Coll., on Czech National Bank, as amended
• Act No. 136/2011 Coll., on the Circulation of Banknotes and Coins and on the Amendment to the Act No.6/1993 Coll., on Czech National Bank, as amended
• Act No. 253/2008 Coll., on Certain Measures against Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, as amended
• Act No. 191/1950 Coll., the Bills of Exchange and Cheques Act, as amended
• Act No. 256/2004 Coll., on Capital Market Undertakings, as amended
• Decree No. 140/2011, on payment systems with irrevocability of transactions
• Decree No. 141/2011 Coll., on the pursuit of business of payment institutions and electronic money institutions, small-scale payment service providers and small-scale electronic money issuers, as amended
• Decree No. 315/2013 Coll., on money exchanges

15. Schedule of fees for providing information:

The Schedule of Fees related to providing information issued under Sec. 17 Par. 1 of the Act on Free Access to Information is based on the Regulation of the Financial Arbitrator on provision of information:

The Office of the Financial Arbitrator shall be entitled to request fees for providing the information under the Act on Free Access to Information. The fees shall not exceed the actual costs of the Office of the Financial Arbitrator. The actual costs of printing, making copies, or making the record and sending it to the applicants shall be as follows:

CZK 2,00 for printing or copying one page of paper of size A4,

CZK 3,00 for printing or copying both pages of the paper of size A4,

CZK 3,50 for printing or copying one page of paper of size A3,

CZK 4,50 for printing or copying both pages of the paper of size A3,

CZK 7,00 for 1 piece of CD,

fees for postal services as specified by the Schedule of Fees of the Czech Post,

any publications and journals issued by the Office of the Financial Arbitrator (if any) – price stated thereon.

If providing the information would require an exceptionally demanding research and/or processing the applicant shall pay the costs of CZK 300 for every hour of the work of the employee of the Office of the Financial Arbitrator spent on the task.

The information shall not be provided to the applicant before he/she submits evidence of having duly paid the requested costs; the bank details shall be sent to the applicant along with the request for payment.

16. Výroční zpráva o poskytování informací:

Annual report on providing information in 2013 (available in Czech only)

Annual report on providing information in 2012 (available in Czech only)

Annual report on providing information in 2011 (available in Czech only)

17. Annual report on providing information