A summons is, under the Administrative Procedure Code, one of the means to ensure the personal attendance of persons whose personal attendance is necessary for an act. Persons may be summoned, for example, if they need to be interviewed or to provide an explanation¹.

A summons must always be in writing and must be delivered into the receivers’s own hands with sufficient advance notice to persons who are to take part in the act as interviewees or as persons providing an explanation. If these persons have a legal representative, the summons must also be delivered to that representative.

If summoned persons cannot arrive at the designated place in time for serious reasons, they are obliged to excuse themselves without delay, stating the reasons.

The excuse must be delivered to the Ministry in time and must be duly justified, i.e. supported by concrete reasons that genuinely prevent you from appearing on the summons. You must also submit proof of these reasons no later than upon request.

¹ § 59 of the Administrative Procedure Code.

Compelled attendance is a means to ensure the course and purpose of the procedure which the Ministry of the Interior uses if summoned persons (other than the applicant for a residence permit) fail to appear on the summons without a proper excuse or sufficient reasons¹.

If the summoned persons have not excused themselves for serious reasons, or the Ministry finds that the excuse was merely pretextual and there is reasonable suspicion that the persons concerned will avoid any further summons as well, it may proceed to compelled attendance.

In such a case, the administrative authority may issue a resolution on the basis of which participants or witnesses will be brought in. The written version of the resolution on compelled attendance is not delivered in the usual manner but via the Police of the Czech Republic, which carries out the compelled attendance.

The persons concerned may lodge an appeal within 15 days of delivery. The appeal has no suspensive effect, and therefore has no impact on the enforceability of the resolution and does not prevent the compelled attendance or the conduct of the act for which the persons are being brought in.

¹ § 60 of the Administrative Procedure Code.

Removal from the premises of the place where an act is being conducted is an instrument intended to ensure the undisturbed course of the act in relation to a person who, by improper conduct, disturbs order during an oral hearing or other act and who does not desist from such disruptive conduct even after a prior warning¹.

Removal is, by its nature, declared orally by resolution, which is announced orally and noted in the minutes drawn up for the act. The legal effects of the resolution arise upon its announcement.

Persons being removed are instructed about the consequences of failing to comply with the instruction to leave the official room, which may include removal via the police or an order fine.

¹ § 63 of the Administrative Procedure Code.

An order fine is another means to ensure the course and purpose of the procedure.

It may be imposed, for example, if the persons concerned fail to appear on a summons without an excuse or sufficient reasons, or if, even after a prior warning, they disturb the order of the hearing or fail to obey an instruction of an official person.

An order fine may also be imposed on a person who makes a grossly insulting submission. An appeal may be lodged against a decision imposing an order fine, and the appeal has suspensive effect¹.

¹ § 62 of the Administrative Procedure Code.