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The Czech Republic’s entry into the European Union facilitated free trade with other members of the bloc. That was good news for Czech businesses, though it can result in paradoxical developments. One of the best known Czech beers Pilsner Urquell often retails at lower prices in Germany than in the Czech Republic - leading Czech wholesalers to re-import one of their country’s most famous brews.

The Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority announced Friday that the brewery Radegast had passed its inspection and is now entitled to call itself a “Czech Beer,” a name that is protected and requires a certain standard of quality. Other brands that are allowed to call their brews a “Czech Beer” are Pilsner Urquell, Gambrinus and Velkopopovický Kozel. The European Union introduced protected designations of origin for agricultural and food products in 1993 to help consumers discern quality products more easily. In the Czech Republic, the protected status of beer has added to the regard and success of the product abroad, says Jiříi Mareček, spokesman of the brewers’ association Prazdroj Pilsen.

A Czech micro-brewery in Ostrava is now producing gluten-free beer, a product that is bound to delight Czech sufferers of Celiac disease- a condition of intolerance to gluten, a protein found in most grains, and also in regular beer.

The Union of Friends of Beer named the Herold brewery in Březnice, central Bohemia, the brewery of the year. Draught beer Podskalák, made by the Rohozec brewery, won the best 10-degree beer category, while the best 12 degree beer is Svijanský rytíř by the brewery in Svijany, in northern Bohemia.

Czech breweries have said they are preparing a complaint to the country’s constitutional court over a planned increase of duty on beer. Duty on half a litre of beer should rise by half a crown from January as part of the government’s package to curb the 2010 budget. The deputy head of the Czech Beer and Malt Association, Jiří Fusek, said the rise threatened the existence of some companies which is some cases would have to bear the brunt of the increase because of fixed long-term contracts with suppliers. He said brewers would turn to the European Union and Brussels if they failed in their legal fight at home.

In this week’s Business News: a warning from Brussels over public finances; price rises become passé; a new owner to swallow Staropramen; CSA pilots hold out against restructuring; and all fuelled up over power policy.

Why do tourists keep getting lost in Prague? A famous chocolate chef visits the Czech capital and the fashion sins that Czechs commit. Find out more in Magazine with Daniela Lazarová.

In the height of summer, no invitation is more common in the Czech Republic than “Let’s grab a beer”. Although business is down, most evening pubs still get their share of clientele enjoying the golden beverage. Now though, a venue in the eastern town of Olomouc has taken things a step further, not just allowing customers to drink but also to learn a thing or two about brewing.

In this week’s Business News: the ad spending slide hits Nova profits; one sole order for Staropramen; bad loans provisions hit Česká Spořitelna; ČEZ powers up in Germany; and Czechs lose taste for pork products.

Beer is one of the Czech Republic’s best-known products and a reason why thousands of tourists flock to this country each year. Now, parched holidaymakers can navigate their way around the country’s breweries using a new beer map. I met the man behind the ‘Breweries of the Czech Republic’ map, cartographer Jan Ptáček, and asked him why he had swapped his usual production of school atlases and hiking maps for beer: