THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE CZECH CHAMBER OF ARCHITECTS
conscious of the need to strengthen the confidence of architects and the general public in the meaning and mission of competitions which enable architects to measure their professional knowledge and skill in finding the most appropriate and best solutions, satisfying the organizers' requirements while respecting a high level of professionalism in the submitted solutions,
conscious also of the need to make the system of competitions more transparent in the public interest, and to set forth general rules for their organisationorganization,
conscious of the responsibility of the members of juries as to the decisive factors for the proper course of competitions,
conscious of the significance of well-formulated competition rules as well as contractual terms and conditions which would not be binding beyond the extent necessary, but which would create a sufficient framework for the creative activity of the competition participants as well as a suitable framework for the jury's entirely professional and most independent judging of the submitted designs,
and in compliance with the provisions of Section 25 subs. 4 para. b) and Section 23 subs. 6 para. r) of Act no. 360/1992 Coll., on the Professional Practice of Certified Architects and on the Professional Practiceof Certified Engineers and Technicians Active in Construction as amended by Acts nos. 164/1993 Coll., 275/1994 and 224/2003 Coll. (hereinafter referred to as the „Act") and implementing some provisions thereof, and with respect to the provisions of Sections 847 through 849 inclusive of Act 40/1964 Coll., the Civil Code as amended, Sections 281 through 288 inclusive of Act 513/1991 Coll., the Commercial Code as amended, and Section 26 subs. 2 para. a), Section 27 subs. 1 para. b) and subs. 5 and Sections 72 through 75 inclusive of Act 40/2004 Coll., on Public Procurement
declares
this
COMPETITION CODE
OF THE CZECH CHAMBER OF ARCHITECTS
adopted on the 24th of April 1993,
and amended on the16th of April 1994,
on the 29th of April 1995
on the 27th of April 1996,
on the 28th of April 1998,
on the 13th of April 1999,
on the 11th of April 2000,
on the 20th of April 2002
and on the 24th April 2004
(unabridged version)
Section 1
Introductory provisions
(1) This Code sets forth the rules and conditions for the organization of competitions and competitive exhibitions in the professions defined in Sections 17 and 18 of the Act (hereinafter referred to as the “competitions“) and which are, pursuant to Section 23, subs. 6 of the Act in the competence of the Czech Chamber of Architects (hereinafter referred to as the “Chamber“), and in professions naturally related; the provisions hereof shall be used commensurately for competitive exhibitions.
(2) This Code does not apply to international architectural competitions governed by special regulations[1], with the exception of limited regional or national competitions with the invitation of foreign citizens in keeping with the provisions of Section 2 para. b) hereof; competitions organized with the participation of architects from the EEA Member States and the Swiss Confederation are not considered international.
(3) An architectural competition organized according to this Code is considered to be a public competition for design, and is the basis for public procurement for performance of designing and planning services by means of a negotiation proceeding without public notification according to special legal statute[2].
Section 2
Purposes and types of competitions and competitive exhibitions
(1) The purpose of a competition is to choose the best design for the subject matter of the competition from among the submitted competition designs, the author of which will be entrusted with performance of the subsequent planning and design documentation stages.
(2) The purpose of a competitive exhibition is to assess already existing plans, designs or buildings and to rank them.
(3)Architectural competitions are defined by the subject matter of the design as urban planning, architectural, construction and combined competitions.
(4)Competitions are defined by entrant type as:
a)Open public competitions, which are always anonymous,
b)Restricted competitions where the participants are invited by name, and which may or may not be anonymous, and
c)Combined competitions which may only be anonymous due to their public nature.
(5)Competitions are defined by their numbers of rounds as:
a)Single round competitions, the subject matter of which is usually lesser in scale and unambiguous in definition,
b)Double round competitions, the subject matter of which is significant in scale and which will usually include gradual refinement of definition. The deadline for the second round shall be set as no later than six months after the announcement of the results of the first round. Both rounds shall be evaluated by the same jury, including the granting of prizes and awards. Where a double-round competition is either open or combined, the participants may, after anonymous evaluation of the first round, beinvited by name to take part in the second round, or the second round may also be anonymous. Whether or not the second round of the competition is anonymous shall be defined in advance in the competition rules and conditions. In the case of an anonymous second round, the jury shall entrust a reliable person with the opening of the envelopes containing the names and addresses of the competitors and the invitation of those authors to take part in the second round. This person, who may be the secretary of the competition or a notary public, shall be bound by an oath of confidentiality. The designs submitted in the first round shall not be published before the final announcement of the results of the second round, even in cases of a non-anonymous second round. Publication and exhibition of all competition designs including the competition designs submitted in the first round will always take place after the final granting of the prizes. The publication of any competition design before the final announcement of prizes may result in its elimination from the competition by the jury with no further possibility of its being evaluated outside the framework of the competition or in revocation of the competition by the organizer on the basis of the recommendations of the jury.
(6) Competitions announced according to an intended design are concept competitions or design competitions. For solely or mainly concept competitions, the scope of any binding, primarily formal conditions shall be limited to the extent necessary for and commensurate with the solution established.
Section 3
Competition participants
(1) Natural and juridical persons or consortia thereof may participate in competitions. Participation is open to all those meeting the requirements set forth in the competition rules, terms and conditions. The participants in various types of competitions are limited by the Organizer in the competition rules and conditions.
(2) Persons are excluded from competitions who:
a) Have participated directly in the preparation of the competition assignment and in its announcement,
b) Are described in Sections 8 or 9 hereof,
c) Are the spouses, blood relatives, brothers- or sisters-in-law, permanent partners in design or direct superiors of or collaborators with excluded persons. This stipulation also applies to members of local government and administrative authorities; nor may the persons stated in this paragraph participate in a competition with designs submitted outside the competition.
(3) Should the Chamber find a competition irregular[2a], all persons registered in the Chamber's list of certified or registered architects are also disqualified from participation in said competition.
COMPETITION ANNOUNCEMENT
Section 4
Competition Organizer
The Organizer of a competition may be a public administrative authority juridical or natural entity.
Section 5
Competition announcement
(1) The date of competition announcement is that date on which the competition rules and conditions are made available to all the competitors eligible under the relevant type of competition. The competition term shall be at least six weeks from the date of competition announcement.
(2) The organizer shall inform the Chamber of the announcement of a public open or combined competition. The Chamber will publish such information on its web pages; the organizer will publish it in the Obchodní věstník (Commercial Journal) and/or in the Official Journal of the European Union[2b]. The organizer will also publish it in at least one national-wide information medium no later than on the date of competition announcement.
(3) From the date of announcement of a public open competition onwards, the organizer shall provide potential competitors with the competition rules and conditions. The competition rules and conditions may be provided for a reasonable fee which shall not exceed the cost of their production and which shall be reimbursed to competitors who submit a competition design accepted by the jury for proper assessment.
(4) A restricted competition is announced by written notice to all those invited to participate. This notice shall include the competition rules and conditions and shall be sent or personally delivered to all the invited participants on the day of competition announcement. Participants shall confirm their participation in a restricted competition in writing within the term set forth in the competition rules and conditions.
Section 6
Cancellation and revocation of a competition or competitive exhibition
(1) A competition may be cancelled only for exceptionally significant reasons. A competition is cancelled by the organizer in the same manner as it was announced.
(2) A competition may also be revoked on the basis of the Chamber’s recommendation, should it be proven during the competition that the Chamber’s statement concerning the competition’s fairness was made on the basis of patently incorrect or incomplete information, especially if the organizer has deliberately misled the Chamber, or if the competition terms and conditions directing the course of the competition and decision of the jury have been changed and the competition has thus become unfair. The organizer will revoke the competition in the same manner as it was announced. The Chamber will immediately publish its findings concerning the unfairness of the competition and its proposal for the revocation of the competition, if any, on its web pages.
(3) If a competition is to be cancelled or revoked, the organizer is obligated to provide reasonable compensation to all those competitors who fulfilled the competition conditions either in part or in full prior to its cancellation.
(4) The organizer may cancel or revoke a competitive exhibition only for exceptionally significant reasons and in the same manner as it was announced. The organizer is obligated to provide reasonable compensation to those competitors who fulfilled the conditions of the competitive exhibition prior to its cancellation only if this is explicitly stated in the competition rules and conditions.
Section 7
Competition rules and conditions
(1) The competition rules and conditions shall normally be drawn up by an expert authorized by the organizer, where necessary in collaboration with the Czech Chamber of Architects.
(2) At least 15 days before the competition announcement, the competition rules and conditions shall be submitted to the Chamber’s Office to be considered by the Chamber with respect to their compliance with the Competition Code. Subsequently, and usually at the constituent meeting of the jury, the competition rules and conditions must be bindingly approved by the signature of all jury members and the organizer or his duly authorized representative. The Chamber as the final instance will confirm these approved competition rules and conditions from the point of view of issues decisive for the fairness of the competition according to general legal statute and this Competition Code, within 10 days at most. The competition rules and conditions approved and confirmed in this manner are binding. The Chamber is entitled to cancel its approval of the competition rules and conditions even during the competition, should it learn that it was misled during its considerations.
(3) At the written request of the organizer and on grounds meriting special treatment, particularly humanitarian grounds, the Chamber may consider as fair even those competition rules and conditions which do not comply with the provisions concerning sizes of prizes and awards stipulated herein.
(4) The competition rules and conditions shall include in particular:
a) The name and address/registered address of the competition organizer and name and address/registered address of the competition secretary and examiner and the name and address/registered address of the competition auditor, if nominated,
b) The type of competition - in the case of restricted and combined competitions, also the list of invited participants,
c) The subject matter of the competition and the scope of design. The organizer shall provide all binding requirements for drawing up the design limited to the necessary scope, compliance with which he considers mandatory and, therefore, the legal basis for a contract,
d) The purpose of the competition pursuant to Section 2 subs. 6,
e) The mandatory criteria for the evaluation of the competition designs,
f) The competition time limits: the date, hour, place and method of submission for competition designs, the competition deadline, and the time limits for questions and consultations,
g) The list of competition data documents and their mode of handling,
h) A list of the names of jury members,
i) A means of designating competition designs and their appendices, securing the anonymity of participants where appropriate,
j) The number and sizes of prizes and awards, where appropriate provisions for the compensation of costs to invited competition participants,
k) Provisions on the organizer's rights to use the prize- or award-winning competition designs, including the right to exhibit and reproduce the competition designs and binding method of utilization of competition results,
l) Provisions on the protection of the copyrights residing in the authors of submitted designs3; the jury specifying the competition rules and conditions for the second round of a double-round competition is obligated to respect the copyright of the participants in the first round unless it is explicitly stated in the competition rules and conditions that the participants of the first round have approved utilization of their competition designs for specification of the competition rules and conditions for the second round,
m) Provisions concerning the settlement of possible disputes,
n) Provisions concerning customs clearance and other requisites in cases of a competition open to foreign competitors,
o) The Chamber statement on the fairness of the competition.
(5) The competition organizer is obligated to provide an explanation concerning the organizational requisites of the competition to all persons who have collected the competition rules and conditions, unless replies to these questions and information are within the jury's competence. In the case of a dispute, the chairman of the jury shall make a decision. The responsible competition bodies shall answer no further questions after the deadline set forth in the competition rules and conditions.
(6) The competition organizer commits himself by announcement of the competition rules and conditions to taking responsibility for the submitted competition designs, until the official termination of the competition.
(7) The competition deadline is met when a competition design is delivered to the organizer in the manner stipulated in the competition rules and conditions within the given time for so doing.
(8) By delivering a competition design the competitor accepts the competition rules and conditions.
(9) The organizer and the jury commit themselves as of the announcement day to adhere to the competition rules and conditions as first announced.
(10) Should the organizer change the competition rules and conditions in full or in part during the course of the competition, or should the Chamber announce the unfairness of the competition during the competition (Section 6 subs. 2), a competitor may withdraw from the competition and claim adequate compensation for the costs incurred in connection with his/her participation.
THE JURY
Section 8
The function and composition of the jury
(1) The function of the jury is to judge the competition rules and conditions, discuss and approve them, evaluate the submitted competition designs and decide upon the prizes and awards to be given according to the mandatory criteria set forth in the competition rules and conditions.
(2) The jury shall consist of regular and substitute members. The substitute members shall be in a number proportionate to regular members, usually one third.
(3) The jury shall always have an odd number of members, with a minimum of three and a maximum of eleven members. All the members of the jury shall participate in its sessions but the substitute members only in the advisory capacity. In cases of substitution for an absent regular member, the substitute member shall acquire the status of a regular member with a full vote, in which manner a regular member independent of the organizer (in accordance with the provisions of Section 8, subs. 4 hereof) may be replaced in decision making only by an independent substitute member.
(4) The organizer shall designate jury members from among qualified specialists, primarily architects and urban planners. The jury shall always include certified architects or urban planners. Representatives of the organizer, of the future user and of the relevant local authority may be members of the jury. To ensure an independent decision, the majority of the jury members deciding on the subject matter of the competition shall be independent of the organizer and the authorities deciding on the utilization of the competition results, and shall have qualifications appropriate to the subject matter of the competition.
(5) Should the Chamber be asked to nominate independent jury members, it shall nominate candidates from among certified persons only.
(6) The jury may invite experts to assist, if required by the nature of the submitted competition designs, but only with the prior consent of the organizer. These experts shall attend the sessions of the jury to which they have been invited, but only in an advisory capacity.
(7) The activity of the jury members shall be remunerated as a very highly qualified activity, with special regard to the demanding nature of the performance of the jury chairman. Members of the jury shall not subsequently accept any contractual commitments connected with any assignment resulting from the competition.
Section 9
Staff assisting the jury
(1)Staff assisting the jury shall include: