29.1.2010: Details about the proposed changes in research funding rules

On 27 January 2010 the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic endorsed a bill presented by Czech Social Democratic Party to change the legal rules of research and development funding. The authors of the bill criticise the system implemented last year; according to them it poses a threat to the existence of research organisations. The government does not agree with the objections; according to Minister of Education Miroslava Kopicova it is the research assessment methodology that has sparked the controversy, and not the law. However, MPs passed the bill to the second reading; it will be debated by the Education Committee. In the documents attached you can find details about the bill presented by MPs Ivan Ohlidal, Pavel Vanousek, Petr Hajek, Bohuslav Sobotka and Hana Orgonikova to amend Act No. 130/2002 Coll., on the Support for Research, Experimental Development and Innovations from Public Funds and on the Change of Some Related Laws (Act on the Research and Development Support), as Amended.