Amendment of the Foreign Exchange Act

The government has approved an amendment of the foreign exchange activity act, which should take effect on the first day of the third calendar months after its declaration. The amendment reacts to the dissatisfaction of clients with some foreign exchange offices, the practices of which may be considered unethical in the least.

The client should newly have the option of withdrawing from the contract without giving any reasons, within two hours from carrying out the currency exchange. In case of exchange using a currency exchange machine it is even three workdays. The client will be able to withdraw from the contract at any business premises or at the registered office of the operator. In case of sickness or closed business premises, the client should have a right to withdraw within up to six months. In order to prevent misuse of this act for exchange rate speculations, the scope of withdrawal from the contract is limited to EUR 1,000. In case of exchange of higher sums, caution of the client is expected.

According to finance minister Alena Schillerová, there are common practices at present, when a fee of up to 28 % is charged from the client. In the amendment, the right to consideration paid for such a transaction is therefore reduced and the fee can only be reflected within the exchange rate. The client can thus simply compared exchange rates offered by the individual foreign exchange offices.

The amendment also specifies, how foreign exchange offices should present information on the exchange rate lists and receipts, so that the information is clear and intelligible. According to the minister, the amendment is mainly intended to help tourists, who could get a bad impression from our country.

Šárka Veselá