PRAGUE, April 1, 2026 — The Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic (NSS) has upheld a 2023 decision by the Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS) finding that the Association of Language Schools violated competition law by setting minimum prices for foreign language teaching services.
The ruling confirms earlier findings by the Regional Court in Brno, which in late 2024 supported the competition authority’s conclusions that the association had restricted competition among language schools participating in tenders for language education services.
According to the competition authority, the association—representing around 30 language schools—published minimum hourly rates for foreign language teaching and promoted their use among members and public procurement authorities. Courts agreed that the practice directly affected competition in the Czech market for language education services.
The minimum pricing scheme had been in place since at least the second half of 2017 and was periodically updated. In 2018, association members bidding for public contracts were required to charge at least 334 Czech koruna per hour, a figure that rose to 368 koruna the following year.
Authorities found that the association regularly discussed pricing at meetings, monitored compliance among its members and encouraged them to adjust their offers if they deviated from the agreed rates.
In its ruling, the Supreme Administrative Court supported all of the competition authority’s key conclusions and criticised the association’s appeal for largely repeating earlier arguments without addressing the reasoning of the lower court.
The case also marked the first time the competition authority calculated a fine imposed on an association of undertakings based on the turnover of its member companies. The authority’s chair later ordered a reassessment of the penalty due to a shorter duration of the infringement, resulting in a final fine of 5.2 million Czech koruna.
While the litigation addressed the finding of an infringement, a separate challenge concerning the fine was also rejected by the Regional Court in Brno, which confirmed that the methodology used to calculate the penalty complied with the law.
