When Does an EU Company Need Local Representation Before a Czech Court? (2026)

The short answer: rarely required, usually decisive

Czech civil procedure follows the same liberal principle as most EU jurisdictions: before the district and regional courts, and on ordinary appeal, any party may act for itself. Mandatory representation by an attorney exists only at the top of the system — the extraordinary appeal (dovolání) to the Supreme Court (§ 241 of Act No. 99/1963 Coll., the Civil Procedure Code), the cassation complaint to the Supreme Administrative Court in administrative-law matters (§ 105(2) of the Code of Administrative Justice), and the constitutional complaint (§ 30 of the Constitutional Court Act). In each case, a filing made without the required attorney is dismissed without being heard on the merits.

So a Dutch supplier or German manufacturer suing a Czech debtor at first instance may, strictly speaking, sign the claim itself. The rest of this article explains why almost none do — and where the decision genuinely matters. The context, from the mandatory pre-action letter to enforcement, is covered in our complete guide to debt recovery in the Czech Republic.

Who may act for your company in a Czech courtroom

Under § 21 of the Civil Procedure Code, a company acts through its statutory body — a director may simply appear — or through an employee authorised for the purpose, including in-house counsel. Foreign companies have the same options as Czech ones. Alternatively, any party may grant a power of attorney to a Czech attorney (advokát) registered with the Czech Bar Association (Act No. 85/1996 Coll., on the Legal Profession); the Bar’s public register of attorneys is searchable at cak.cz.

A lay representative (obecný zmocněnec) is also permitted in principle, but may not act repeatedly in different cases and offers no professional liability — for corporate disputes it is a theoretical option, not a real one. What about the lawyer you already trust at home? Under the EU lawyers’ directives (Directives 77/249/EEC and 98/5/EC, implemented in the Czech Legal Profession Act), an attorney admitted in another member state may act before Czech courts as a visiting European lawyer, or establish here permanently under their home title.

Two practical limits apply: in proceedings where representation by an attorney is mandatory, the visiting lawyer must act in conjunction with a Czech attorney — and nothing about their involvement changes the language of the proceedings, the Czech procedural deadlines or the local formalities. In our experience the workable model is division of labour: your home lawyer manages the relationship and the commercial position, the Czech attorney runs the proceedings. That is precisely how the ARROWS International network operates across 90 countries.

The language of the court: a procedural rule, not an inconvenience

Proceedings before Czech courts are conducted in Czech. A party who does not speak the language has the right to act before the court in their mother tongue and to an interpreter appointed by the court (§ 18 of the Civil Procedure Code) — the interpreter’s costs at the hearing are borne by the state.

That guarantee, however, covers the courtroom, not your case file: the claim and all submissions are filed in Czech, and documentary evidence in a foreign language must generally be accompanied by a certified translation if the court requires it — which, for contested commercial evidence, it routinely does.

The consequences are practical rather than theoretical. Court correspondence arrives in Czech, including procedural orders with deadlines that are not repeated in any other language. An objection to a payment order must be lodged within 15 days; an ordinary appeal within 15 days of delivery of the judgment. A company monitoring its Czech litigation through occasional translations discovers most deadlines after they have expired.

Service of documents: where a local address wins months

If you litigate from abroad without local representation, the court serves documents on you in your home country under the EU Service Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2020/1784). The system works, but each round of service takes weeks to months, may require translations, and every delay is your delay — the deadline starts running on delivery to you, and the proceedings pause while everyone waits.

A Czech attorney changes the mechanics entirely. Every Czech attorney has a state data box (datová schránka), and once a power of attorney is filed, the court serves everything electronically on the attorney — typically the same day it is dispatched. Filings travel the same channel in the opposite direction, with indisputable proof of delivery.

The difference between cross-border service and data-box service, compounded over a contested case, is measured in months of total duration. It is the same infrastructure through which we deliver the mandatory pre-action letter to Czech debtors, as described in the debt recovery guide.

Security for costs: the motion to expect as a foreign claimant

Czech law allows a defendant to ask the court to order a foreign claimant to deposit security for the defendant’s costs (cautio judicatum solvi, § 11 of Act No. 91/2012 Coll., on Private International Law). If the security is ordered and not paid within the deadline, the court stays and then terminates the proceedings — case over, on procedure alone.

For EU businesses the risk is contained but not zero. The statute exempts nationals of EU and EEA states outright, and further exceptions cover claimants from states that do not demand security from Czech parties (reciprocity), claimants owning sufficient Czech real estate, and — notably — claims processed by payment order, where security cannot be imposed at all.

The practical guidance: an EU claimant with a well-chosen procedural route rarely pays security, but the defendant’s motion must be answered correctly and on time. Supreme Court case law shows proceedings terminated because the security arrived on the court’s account days late — a purely logistical failure that ended an otherwise sound claim.

What self-representation actually costs

The Czech cost-shifting rules change the economics of representation. The losing party is ordered to reimburse the winner’s legal costs at statutory rates set by the attorneys’ tariff (Decree No. 177/1996 Coll.) — but only if the winner sent the mandatory pre-action letter under § 142a of the Civil Procedure Code at least 7 days before filing. A represented claimant who wins therefore recovers a substantial part of its legal spend from the debtor. A self-represented claimant recovers nothing for its own management time — Czech law compensates attorneys’ work, not executives’.

Against that stands the catalogue of unforced errors we see in files that arrive after something went wrong: the pre-action letter that did not meet the statutory requirements, costing the winner its costs award; the objection deadline missed because the payment order was served at a Czech-language data box nobody monitored; the court fee paid in the wrong amount, stalling the case for months; the security-for-costs deposit that arrived late. None of these mistakes concerns the merits. All of them decide cases.

One power of attorney, no travel

Instructing a Czech attorney requires a single document: a written power of attorney signed by a person authorised to represent your company. For court proceedings, a simple signature generally suffices — no notarisation and no apostille of the power of attorney itself. Expect the court to want proof of the signatory’s authority, typically a current extract from your national commercial register with a certified Czech translation; within the EU this is a formality, not an obstacle.

From that point on, you do not need to travel. Your attorney acts in all proceedings, including hearings; Czech procedure also allows participation by videoconference where the court permits it (§ 102a of the Civil Procedure Code). In a typical commercial case handled by ARROWS, the client’s only physical involvement is scanning the power of attorney. Information about Czech courts and cross-border procedures is also available in English on the European e-Justice Portal and at justice.cz.

How ARROWS represents foreign companies before Czech courts

One team takes the matter from assessment to enforcement: we review the claim and the evidence, verify the counterparty in the Czech registers, send the compliant pre-action letter through the data box, choose the procedural route with the contested scenario already prepared, and represent you at every stage — including the Supreme Court, where representation is mandatory.

Communication runs in English; the proceedings run in Czech; you see both. Where your home lawyers are involved, we work alongside them — through the ARROWS International network we do this daily in 90 countries. ARROWS is a Czech law firm based in Prague, working in English with clients across Europe and beyond.

 Our lawyers support more than 150 joint-stock companies and 250 limited liability companies, and the firm is insured for damages up to CZK 400 million. More than 2,000 clients trust us with their matters; in 2025, ARROWS was named Law Firm of the Year.

If you face proceedings before a Czech court — as claimant or defendant — write to consultation@arws.cz. Send the contract, the correspondence and any court documents you have received; we will tell you within 24 hours what stage the matter is at, which deadlines are running and what we recommend.