CYIL vol. 8 (2017)

PETR VÁLEK CYIL 8 ȍ2017Ȏ an act that would be lex specialis in relation to the Act on State Service, i.e. , the employees of the Foreign Ministry – whose status was already regulated by the Act on State Service – would stay under this legal regime; nevertheless, in case of specific conditions of the foreign service, the Act on Foreign Service would apply. This complex task was taken up jointly by the Deputy Minister for the Legal and Consular Section and by the State Secretary of the Foreign Ministry. Through the Act on Foreign Service, the following three main objectives were supposed to be achieved: First, to set out flexible rules that would enable the Foreign Ministry to manage effectively its human resources, as explained above. Second, the preparation of this Act was used as a good opportunity to transpose the Council Directive (EU) 2015/637 of April 20, 2015, on the coordination and cooperation measures to facilitate consular protection for unrepresented citizens of the Union in third countries and repealing Decision 95/553/ EC (hereinafter, the “Council Directive 2015/637”). Under its Article 17, the deadline for transposition was set for May 1, 2018. Third, to provide a general legal framework to the foreign service, that has been missing or fragmented in the internal rules of the Foreign Ministry, such as the opening and closing of diplomatic missions and consular posts, cooperation of the Foreign Ministry with other governmental agencies abroad, the criteria and process for granting and lending of diplomatic and consular ranks, the detailed rules on the consular service etc. Although some further compromises had to be made during the consultation process with other ministries before the approval by the Government and subsequently in the Parliament, the above-stated three objectives were to a large extent accomplished. The Principles for the Exercise of Foreign Service In the Czech domestic law a provision containing general legal principles is hard to find. In spite of this, it made perfect sense to include into the Act on Foreign Service a provision on general principles for the exercise of foreign service, since these principles will be of utmost importance for future interpretation of this Act. The initial inspiration came from the Slovak Act on Foreign Service, 2 nevertheless, the Czech version of this provision is enriched by the reference to the international and EU law. The complete § 3(1) of the Act on Foreign Service reads as follows: “The foreign service is exercised in particular in accordance with the principles of a) loyalty to the Czech Republic, b) professionalism, c) indivisibility, d) compliance with the obligations that arise for the Czech Republic from international law and EU law.” The principle of loyalty to a State is a cornerstone of any foreign service, therefore, it does not need any further explanation. The principle of professionalism expresses – according to 2 Zákon o zahraničnej službe, č. 151/2010 Z .z., § 3 Princípy vykonávania zahraničnej služby: „Zahraničná služba, vrátane princípov podľa osobitného predpisu, je budovaná aj na princípe a) jednotnosti, b) profesijnej cti, c) kariérneho rastu, d) mobility.“ 3.

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