ESF:MPP_OPVZ Business Law - Course Information

MPP_OPVZ Business Law

Extent and Intensity

1/1/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
In-person direct teaching

Teacher(s)

Mgr. Ing. Petra Dvořáková, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Ing. Filip Hampl, Ph.D., LL.M. (lecturer)
Mgr. Ing. Ondřej Špetík, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Ing. Petra Dvořáková, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)
Mgr. Ing. Filip Hampl, Ph.D., LL.M. (seminar tutor)
Mgr. Ing. Ondřej Špetík, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)

Guaranteed by

Mgr. Ing. Filip Hampl, Ph.D., LL.M.
Division of Legal Education – Faculty of Economics and Administration
Contact Person: Lenka Hráčková
Supplier department: Division of Legal Education – Faculty of Economics and Administration

Prerequisites

The course assumes legal knowledge within the scope of the course BPP_ZAPR Introduction to Law or BKP_ZAPR Introduction to Law. The necessary knowledge for completing the course can also be obtained through self-study of the assigned materials in the interactive syllabus available in the MUNI Information System.

Course Enrolment Limitations

The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with

there are 6 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display

Course objectives

This course aims to provide students with an overview of the legal regulation, rights, and responsibilities associated with business activities (in particular) of natural persons in the Czech Republic. Students will be introduced to (licensed) trade activities; general and special conditions for carrying on a trade; tax, insurance, registration, and record-keeping obligations of natural persons doing business; the process of concluding contracts with customers and contract types; the duties of entrepreneurs aimed at protecting consumers; prohibited unfair competition; insolvency of natural persons (financial insolvency and overindebtedness); and methods for its resolution.

Learning outcomes

After completing the course, the student should be able to
1. understand the importance of the legal system for business activities;
2. explain the legal framework of business activities and related tax, registration, and record-keeping obligations;
3. understand the conditions for obtaining a trade authorisation, know the content of notifiable and permitted trades, and how to establish a trade;
4. clarify the essential elements of types of contracts, conclude a contract, and prepare selected types of nominated contracts;
5. identify the duties of an entrepreneur to protect the consumer;
6. describe what constitutes unfair competition and legal remedies for unfair competition practices; and
7. understand the insolvency of natural persons (financial insolvency and overindebtedness) and methods for its resolution.

Syllabus

• Self-study before the start of the course
• - Law as a normative system. Basic legal concepts and legal institutes. System of law (legal norms, legal regulations, legal institute, legal branches, legal order, legal principles). Division of law (substantive and procedural law, private and public law). The relationship between national law and European Union law (law harmonisation and unification).
• Private law. Basic principles of private law. The Civil Code as the essential private law code and its association with other private law regulations. Juridical acts and their requirements. Persons in a legal sense—natural and legal persons. Legal personality and legal capacity.
• Lectures
• 1. Introductory lecture. Entrepreneur and entrepreneurship. Definition of an entrepreneur according to the Civil Code, entrepreneurship substance, and legal context. Discussion on legal forms of business natural and legal persons as entrepreneurs, an overview of legal persons considered entrepreneurs. Commercial and Trade Registers.
• 2. Licensed trade. The positive and negative definitions of trade. General and special conditions for carrying on a trade. Notifiable and permitted trades. Trade authorisation. Carrying on a trade through a responsible representative. Differences between entrepreneurship and employment.
• 3. Tax, insurance, registration, and record-keeping aspects of natural-person trade activities. Income tax of natural persons from independent activity income – tax calculation and tax return preparation. Social and health insurance contributions of entrepreneurs – contribution calculation and statement of income and expenses preparation. Tax evidence and accounting.
• 4. Contract law – contracts concluded by an entrepreneur. The contract and its content, principles of contract law, contractual obligations, and contractual process (offer, acceptance, consideration, intention to create legal relations). An overview of types of contracts focusing on a contract of sale and contract for work. Adhesion contracts. Precontractual liability. Legal consequences of contract breach.
• 5. Consumer contracts – contracts concluded between an entrepreneur and a consumer. Consumer protection under the Consumer Protection Act and the Civil Code. Complaints procedure. Supervision of compliance with consumer protection laws and sanctions for violations. Overview of out-of-court settlement bodies (alternative dispute resolution [ADR] and online dispute resolution [ODR]). Overview of other obligations of entrepreneurs in e-commerce.
• 6. Regulation of entrepreneurial market behaviour (anticompetitive behaviour and unfair competition). Antimonopoly law – definition, purpose, basic overview of agreements that disrupt competition, prohibited agreements. Unfair competition law – definition, purpose, situations of unfair competition, including an overview of innominate facts and legal remedies against unfair competition.
• 7. Solving problems during business activities for natural persons – financial insolvency and overindebtedness. Insolvency of self-employed natural persons – legal regulation, definition, insolvency procedure, insolvency resolution methods. Difference between insolvency and distraint. Insolvency Register.
• Seminars
• 1. Definition of entrepreneur and entrepreneurship, the difference between an entrepreneur and consumer, entrepreneur legal status, and acting on an entrepreneur’s behalf (agency law). The importance of public registers for business (formal and material publicity principles). Case studies.
• 2. Distinction between types of licensed trades. Assessment of condition fulfilment for conducting trade by a natural person and through a responsible representative. Completing a single registration form for natural persons and submission options. Searching for information in the Trade Register. Case studies.
• 3. Calculation of income tax for natural persons from independent activity income and completing a tax return. Calculation of social and health insurance contributions and completing statements of income and expenses. Examples and case studies.
• 4. A model course of contracting – offer, termination of an offer, acceptance, consideration, intention to create a legal relation. Drafting a contract of sale without legal defects. Signature of the contract as a requirement for the validity of the contract made in written form (handwritten signature and electronic signatures, possibility of official verification of the electronic signature). Case studies.
• 5. Consumer protection. Prohibited arrangements. Rights arising from defective performance. Liability for defects and warranty for quality. Complaints and model course of complaint proceedings. Entrepreneur obligations in the out-of-court settlement of consumer disputes before ADR bodies and sanctions for breach of these obligations. Case studies.

Literature

required literature
• ONDŘEJ, Jan. Zahájení podnikání : (právní, ekonomické, daňové, účetní aspekty). 2. vydání. Praha: Wolters Kluwer, 2019, xx, 287. ISBN 9788075983374. URL info
• TINTĚRA, Tomáš and Pavel PETR. Základy závazkového práva. 2. aktualizované vydání. Praha: Leges, 2020, 288 stran. ISBN 9788075024763. info
• ŠTENGLOVÁ, Ivana, Jan DĚDIČ and Miloš TOMSA. Základy obchodního práva : vysokoškolská učebnice. 2. aktualizované a rozší. Praha: Leges, 2019, 475 stran. ISBN 9788075023148. info
• Zákon č. 89/2012 Sb., občanský zákoník, ve znění pozdějších předpisů.
• Zákon č. 455/1991 Sb. o živnostenském podnikání (živnostenský zákon), ve znění pozdějších předpisů.

recommended literature
• NOVOTNÝ, Jiří and Pavel ŠAŠEK. Právní základy podnikání. První vydání. Plzeň: Západočeská univerzita, 2017, 206 stran. ISBN 9788026106913. info
• FOLTAS, Tomáš. Studijní texty „Základy práva“. ESF MU. Portál výuky právních předmětů ESF: Webová adresa: http://pravoesf.econ.muni.cz/.
• RONOVSKÁ, Kateřina, Eva DOBROVOLNÁ and Petr LAVICKÝ. Úvod do soukromého práva : obecná část. Druhé vydání. Brno: Česká společnost pro civilní právo procesní, 2018, 87 stran. ISBN 9788088248026. info
• ŠEDOVÁ, Jindřiška, Petra DVOŘÁKOVÁ and Filip HAMPL. Základy práva. Studijní podklad pro seminární výuku (elektronická verze) (Introduction to Law. Study materials for seminars (online version)). 1., elektronické vydání. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2020, 82 pp. ISBN 978-80-210-9634-9. info

Teaching methods

Lectures, seminars, case studies, discussion, self-study of assigned literature, and answering ROPOT (revision, opinion poll, and testing) assignments during a semester, work with legal regulations and public registers.

Assessment methods

A written exam completes the course. The requirements to sit for the exam are (i) seminar attendance (max. 2 unexcused absences), (ii) completion of the introductory knowledge test, and (iii) active participation during the semester (min. 6 points). To complete the course, students must obtain at least 48 points in total from the exam (max. 80 points), points for correct completion of the introductory knowledge test (3 points), and points for active participation during the semester (min. 6 points).

The exact requirements for completing the course also apply to students studying abroad (e.g. Erasmus) with an individual study plan, except for the compulsory attendance (alternative assignment is provided instead). More information on the alternative assignment is given in the interactive syllabus of the course. Students are required to contact the guarantor in the first teaching week of the semester and arrange the deadlines for fulfilling the assignment.

Caution: Any copying, recording, or leaking of the exam; use of unauthorised tools, aids, or communication devices; or other disruptions of the objectivity of exams (credit tests) will be considered noncompliance with the conditions for course completion as well as a severe violation of the scholastic rules. A student found in violation will have a grade of ‘F’ recorded in the Information System, and the Dean will initiate disciplinary proceedings that may result in suspension or expulsion. The aforementioned disciplinary procedure relates to all the activities comprising the final evaluation of the course.

Language of instruction

Czech

Further Comments

The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: every week.

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