BRNO- The Constitutional Court today cancelled the verdict of the Culture Ministry which refused to register a new charity branch in the North Moravian town of Lipnik nad Becvou, set up by the Olomouc Archbishopric.
The Ministry did so although last year, the Constitutional Court had cancelled a part of the law precluding charity activity to be carried out by churches at their discretion.
Constitutional Court judges have criticised the Culture Ministry for this and banned the continuation of this policy.
Now, the Ministry should register the Lipnik charity.
The decision will have an impact on all charities which have been locked in similar disputes with the Ministry.
Last year, the Constitutional Court said that the state only had as its task to register church social organisations, not to decide on their existence.
"Registration has only information value because of legal protection of third persons," judge Vojen Guettler said.
The dispute between the Catholic church and the government flared up because of the interpretation of the church law.
In January, the Culture Ministry refused to register the Charity Lipnik nad Becvou, to which the status of legal entity was given by the Olomouc archbishop.
The rights of the branch included the collection of clothes for those in need, and nursing services.
Jana Repova, the director of the Culture Ministry department of churches, wrote that the new branch could not be registered because the law on churches does not allow for the establishment and maintenance of health facilities.
"We will keep proceeding as previously. What was forbidden to us today, we have not done for at least half a year," Repova said, adding that the Ministry had registered some diaconites of the Evangelical churches.
This was denied by charity's lawyer Katerina Simackova.
"According to my information, diaconites are locked in a number of similar legal disputes with the Culture Ministry," Simackova said.
Last November, the Constitutional Court cancelled the clause of the law which prevented the churches from establishing their charities as they want. Moreover, the law prevented them from conducting business and investing the earned money.
The court stripped the Culture Ministry of its right to check the registration of charity organisations and only empowered them with registration.
The Lipnik branch could not work because without registration, it could not set up a bank account and its staff could not conclude agreements.