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The speaker of the lower house of parliament, a Social Democrat, has been assigned the task of drawing up a recommended "Code of Ethics" for MPs. The goal is to put an end to vote "buying" and to establish rules for dealing with lobbyists and business interests. The move came immediately after an MP in the Social Democrat-led government coalition, in an off-the-record interview that was nonetheless published, accused the main opposition Civic Democrats of offering him a 10-million-crown bribe to vote against the government in a confidence vote.

India is losing ground to 'New Europe' as the preferred destination for Western European companies looking to outsource 'nearshore' services rather than 'offshore' them. The Czech Republic is holding its own in the battle for the business. Mark Fernandes has the story.

Heads of companies whose securities are traded on the Czech capital markets will have to make public their remunerations; MP Lubomir Zaoralek has been given responsibility for drawing up a recommended code of conduct for legislators; SachsenFonds buys four office blocks for EUR 125 million; Employment agencies no longer allowed to contract out students for short-term project-based work.

"Investors in People" is a certified standard that sets out a level of best practice for training and development of people to achieve business goals. The IIP standard was developed during 1990 by the U.K. government in partnership with leading national businesses, personnel, professional and employee organisations. Today the standard has been adopted in scores of countries around the world and is being introduced to the Czech Republic.

IMF annual report on the Czech Republic sees favourable near-term outlook, Coalition gov't split on social security and rent deregulation; one-third of real estate companies expected to close by mid-2005; Foreign investor interest in Vitkovice Steel heats up.

It's been just over 100 days since the Czech Republic joined the European Union. In this week's Business Report, we talk to Vaclav Smejkal of the European Consulting Institute about how well-prepared — or unprepared — Czech entrepreneurs were ahead of accession and how they've fared thus far in the expanded EU.

Spending and tax relief proposals in gov't policy agenda axed; U.K. and Irish data show no 'flood' of jobseekers from new EU states; Income gap in Czech Republic widening fast

The Czech government has announced it will increase supervision of casinos in the country, the Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs will adopt two European Union standards for measuring unemployment, and CEZ - the dominant power utility - has yet to receive a serious bid on its 34 percent stake.

Less than seven years ago film distribution and screening in the Czech Republic was an entirely different ballgame providing only options for dealing with single-screen theatres capable of playing one film at a time. Much has changed since then,of course, thanks to the arrival of the multiplex, which had a fundamental impact on how films are now marketed, distributed, and screened here. This week I met with Jan Bradac, the head of major film distributor Falcon films and head of Cinestar - which operates three multiplexes throughout the country

PM Gross calls for mandatory private retirement plans, OECD says social mobility in the Czech Republic stagnant due to limited access to higher education, City of Ostrava begins spending 100m from bond issue, and FinMin expects GDP of 3.2 pct next year, 10.4 pct unemployment.