Czech municipalities are still checking compliance with the polluting-boiler ban based on tips

Municipalities are checking compliance with the ban on using polluting boilers, which has been in force since the beginning of September, mainly in response to tips from residents; they have not yet launched blanket inspections. One reason is a shortage of officials. Municipalities also lack information about who still has a polluting boiler. At the start of the heating season, they therefore want to identify these properties through visual inspections as well. If they find a violation, they intend to address it first with a warning and only then, if necessary, with a fine. The penalty for heating with a polluting boiler can be as much as 50.000 crowns. This emerged from a survey by the Czech News Agency (CTK) across the regions.

Because of their impact on air pollution, boilers in the first and second emissions classes may no longer be used for heating as of 1 September. According to an estimate by the Association of Heating Technology Companies, around 150.000 were still in operation in the country at that time. People could receive national or European subsidies to purchase new boilers.

Municipalities are responsible for checking compliance with the ban, and the Kolín municipal office, for example, will begin inspections in October, at the start of the heating season. Spokeswoman Šárka Hrubá said it would assign two officials to the task. The Mladá Boleslav Department of the Environment will deal only with tips, according to municipal spokeswoman Šárka Charousková. „Inspections can be carried out over several years, and we occasionally deal with tips during the heating season,“ she said.

Municipalities in the Karlovy Vary, Pardubice, Liberec and Hradec Králové regions will also continue inspections prompted by reports, and intend to address violations first with a warning. „We don’t want to carry out any surprise inspections. If we see excessive smoke coming from a chimney somewhere, we’ll initially deal with it by talking to the people involved,“ said Marta Mastná, head of the spatial planning department at the Polička town hall. She said inspections had not yet begun because the office did not have enough staff.

The Jihlava municipal office also lacks the capacity for more extensive inspections. Katarína Ruschková, head of the Department of the Environment, told CTK that the office also has only a list from the regional authority to use as a basis for inspections, and it does not include all boilers.

Jablonec nad Nisou is also grappling with a shortage of officials. The town hall will therefore conduct what it calls a notification survey, spokeswoman Jana Fričová said. It will contact every house with a chimney, and residents can report which type of boiler they use. Like Česká Lípa and Liberec, it plans blanket inspections only in outlying areas and municipalities without gas connections.

„Operators of non-compliant boilers will first be asked in writing to provide documents confirming that the non-compliant boilers have been replaced. This may then be followed by an on-site inspection,“ said spokeswoman Kateřina Rohlíčková about inspections on behalf of Hradec Králové.

The town halls in Plzeň and Děčín are also notifying owners of non-compliant boilers in writing that they are in breach of the regulations, and will then step up inspections during the heating season. Officials will also look for unsuitable boilers through visual inspections; in Děčín, they plan to involve municipal police officers, among others, spokeswoman Luděk Stínil said. The Ústí nad Labem municipal authority plans to expand its boiler inspections, currently carried out in response to residents’ complaints, by the end of the year to include checks of boilers and flues, town hall spokeswoman Romana Macová said.

Inspections of boilers are not yet planned in Dolní Lutyně in the Karviná area, a municipality with poor air quality. „I think people have replaced their boilers, and many here took advantage of subsidies,“ said Mayor Pavel Buzek (STAN). The municipality has not yet received any tips from residents, he said.

Boiler inspections have not yet begun in Brno, Hodonín, Břeclav or Znojmo either; they plan to carry them out following prior notification. „Given the extent of gas and electric heating in the Znojmo area, however, it should also be said that we do not expect many violations of the new regulation,“ said Denisa Mandátová of the Znojmo town hall.