Goods and services (Directive 2004/113)

• Author: Koldinská, Kristina
• Pages: 50-52

50

9 Goods and services (Directive 2004/113)75

9.1 General (legal) context

9.1.1 Surveys and reports about the difficulties linked to equal access to and supply of

goods and services

To the knowledge of the expert, there are no specific surveys or reports about difficulties

linked to equal access to and supply of goods and services.

9.1.2 Specific problems of discrimination in the online environment/digital

market/collaborative economy

To date, there has only been one monograph on the collaborative economy which,

however, does not tackle the issue of equality.76

9.1.3 Political and societal debate

There is currently no debate on equal access to goods and services regardless of sex.

9.2 Prohibition of direct and indirect discrimination

Section 1 of the Anti-Discrimination Act also prohibits discrimination based on sex

regarding access to goods and services. This act also defines and prohibits direct and

indirect discrimination.

Act No. 634/1992 Coll., on consumer protection states in its Se ction 6 only that , ‘The

seller shall not discriminate against th e consumer when selling products or providing

services’.

9.3 Material scope

There is no specification of the material scope relating to access to goods and services.

The Anti-Discrimination Act only guarantees equal access to goods and services.

9.4 Exceptions

National law does not stipu late exceptions from the material scope regarding the content

of m edia, advertising and education. Act No 231/2001 Coll., on operation of radio and

television broadcasting ,77 stipulates that broadcasters may not include commercial

communications containing discrimination based on sex, race, colour, language, belief

and religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, belonging to a national or

ethnic minority, property, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation or other status

(Section 48(1)l). Section 2(3) of Act No. 40/1995 Coll., on regulation of advertisements,

reads: ‘Advertising must not be contrary to good morals, in particular it must not contain

any discrimination on grounds of race, sex or nationality or attack religious or national

feelings, endanger morality in a generally unacceptable way, reduce human dignity, or

contain pornography, violence or fear-based elements’.

75 See e.g. di Torella, E. C. and McLellan, B. (2018), Gender equality and the collaborative economy European

network of legal experts in gender equality and non-discrimination, available at:

www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/4573-gender-equality-and-the-collaborative-economy-pdf-721-kb.

76 Pichrt, J., Boháč, R., Morávek, J. (2017) Sdílená ekonomika (Collaborative economy). Prague: Wolters

Kluwer.

77 Zákon č. 231/2001 Sb., o provozování rozhlasového a televizního vysílání a o zmn dalších zákon.

Available at: https://www.zakonyprolidi.cz/cs/2001-231.