Chambers' powers to be slashed.

(From The Slovak Spectator)

Byline: Beata Balogova Spectator staff

Government says chambers hinder business; professional organisations disagree THE GOVERNMENT has plans to dissolve a number of professional organisations, and the powers of those remaining will be considerably slashed. The Justice Ministry has already proposed to thin out the professional chambers and the interest associations. Health Minister Rudolf Zajac announced on August 28 that the number of professional chambers in the Slovak health care sector will shrink from the current eight to five. In mid July, Economy Minister Robert Nemcsics proposed the cancellation of obligatory membership in these organisations. "Chambers with obligatory memberships are, without a doubt, unjustified barriers to starting a business," Nemcsics told news wire SITA. Chambers regulate entry into professions and oversee the performance of professionals, including their adherence to ethical standards. Currently, a pharmacist cannot open a pharmacy, and a lawyer cannot start a practice without permission from a chamber, which is established based on the country's laws. The government's plans to weaken the status of professional chambers have outraged their leaders, who have compared the intention to restrictive socialist measures. "This move unambiguously pursues the extermination of professional organisations," the president of the Slovak Chamber of Executors, Jan Jonata, told the daily SME. The deputy chairwoman of the Slovak Bar Association, Darina Michalkova, told The Slovak Spectator that the chamber is in no way an obstacle to the development of business activities in Slovakia, but rather is a guarantor of their growth. The leaders of the chambers are also critical of Nemcsics' efforts to cancel compulsory membership. They say that without obliging the pharmacists, lawyers, and physicians to join professional organisations, the chambers would lose their ability to regulate the quality and ethics of performance within these professions. According to the Economy Ministry, the chambers annually collect several millions of crowns from membership fees. "Compulsory membership fees and the prospect of profiting from the redistribution of these funds are often the main motives for the chambers to push for the strengthening of their powers," Nemcsics told journalists. However, according to Michalkova, the bar association secures professional standards for the profession, while "for the complex and effective performance of this role, compulsory membership with a payment fee is unavoidable." She went on to explain that the compulsory membership does not have negative effects on the market, but rather benefits the professional growth of its members. "A different institutional and legal arrangement - for example, one that provides legal services based on the tradesmen law - could undermine the legal profession, by weakening or even liquidating the demanding criteria that the chamber ...