Entering Czechia through distributors: specialist dealers, tenders in the Věstník and NEN, and a first contact by letter

Czechia suits a manufacturer that is prepared to sell through a local partner and to show its paperwork first: the public record of who wins is unusually complete, and the law is clear on payment terms and on the first message.

Putting it simply: Czech professional customers are served by specialist distributors and dealers that hold stock, deliver and service in the country, and prepare bids for public contracts. Notices are published in the Věstník veřejných zakázek, procedures run on NEN and other e-procurement tools, larger awards also appear on TED, and many public contracts above CZK 50,000 excluding VAT are published in the Registr smluv, so the companies that already sell your category can be found by name. Buyers expect Czech documents and a Czech company record they can check. Payment is due in 30 days by default. A commercial e-mail needs prior consent, even when the recipient is a company, so the first contact is a letter, a fair or an introduction.

How the market buys

Specialist distributors, organised by trade

In technical and professional categories the usual route is a Czech distributor that buys from the manufacturer, holds stock, delivers across the country, handles service and spare parts, and bids for tenders on behalf of the brand. Many are specialists in one trade, and each trade has its own association and fair. In medical devices, for example, CzechMed describes itself as "Česká asociace dodavatelů zdravotnických prostředků", the Czech association of suppliers of medical devices. For engineering and industrial categories, the main meeting point is the Mezinárodní strojírenský veletrh (MSV, the International Engineering Fair) at the Brno exhibition grounds, which Veletrhy Brno lists for 14 to 17 September 2027.

As of November 2026 we could not confirm on an official source whether cooperative buying groups play a structured role in Czech professional trade comparable to Germany's Verbundgruppen; plan on approaching distributors one by one.

Tenders shape the distributor's year

Hospitals, regions, municipalities, schools, universities and utilities buy through public procedures, and a distributor's first order for a new brand is often tied to one tender. The useful question is therefore not "who distributes in Czechia" but "who wins my CPV codes, for which buyers, in which regions". Some Czech distributors also cover Slovakia, which is worth raising when you discuss territory.

The proof Czech buyers expect

Documents in Czech

Czech law requires Czech in the places that matter most for a distributor:

• In a public procedure the buyer sets the language of bids. A document in another language must be submitted with a translation into that language, while documents in Czech or Slovak are accepted without translation (Act No. 134/2016 Coll. on public procurement, § 45(3)).
• Where a seller gives consumers written information on use, maintenance and risks, it must be in Czech (Consumer Protection Act No. 634/1992 Coll., § 9 and § 11).
• For CE-marked construction products, the declaration of performance and the instructions and safety information supplied with the product must be in Czech (Act No. 22/1997 Coll., § 13c).

In practice, a distributor will ask for technical sheets, instructions, declarations of conformity and price lists in Czech, ready to attach to a bid.

Conformity evidence

CE marking under the EU legislation for your product is the baseline. Expect to be asked for the declaration of conformity and the test reports behind it, measured against the standards Czech buyers cite in their tender specifications.

A company record that can be checked

Czech buyers check counterparties in public registers. ARES, the Ministry of Finance's administrative register of economic subjects, searches data on entities registered in Czechia, linked to more than ten registers, by company identification number (IČO). The Ministry of Justice publishes the commercial register and the collection of documents (Veřejný rejstřík a Sbírka listin). A foreign manufacturer will not appear there, so have your own home register extract, VAT number and, where relevant, a Czech translation ready for the distributor's supplier file.

Invoicing

Czechia has not made structured e-invoicing compulsory between businesses: under the VAT Act an invoice may be on paper or electronic, and an electronic invoice needs the customer's consent (Act No. 235/2004 Coll., § 26(2) and (3), version in force from 1 January 2026). As of November 2026 we could not confirm on an official Czech source any date for mandatory domestic B2B e-invoicing. Public buyers may not refuse an electronic invoice for a public contract because of its format if it complies with the European e-invoicing standard (Act No. 134/2016 Coll., § 221). Check the details for your own invoicing with your tax adviser.

Payment terms

Under § 1963 of the Civil Code, when one business supplies goods or services to another for payment, the price is due within 30 days of delivery of the invoice, unless the parties agree otherwise. A term longer than 60 days is valid only if expressly agreed and not grossly unfair to the creditor. The same 30-day default applies to supplies to a public contracting authority, which may agree a longer term only expressly, where the nature of the obligation justifies it, and never beyond 60 days. If your distributor supplies hospitals or municipalities, its own cash cycle is bounded by these rules; agree your terms with that in mind, and check contract terms with your adviser.

Where public demand is visible

Czech procurement is published in layers, set by the estimated value of the contract.

• Small-scale contracts (veřejné zakázky malého rozsahu): supplies and services up to CZK 3,000,000 (§ 27, in the consolidated text in force since 3 April 2025). The buyer need not run a formal procedure, but must respect the law's principles of transparency, proportionality, equal treatment and non-discrimination (§ 31 with § 6).
• Below-threshold contracts (podlimitní): from that value up to the EU threshold; the buyer sends the notices to the Věstník veřejných zakázek (§ 26 and § 212(3)(a)).
• Above-threshold contracts (nadlimitní): from 1 January 2026, CZK 3,491,000 for supplies and services bought by the state, the Czech National Bank and state contributory organisations, and CZK 5,386,000 for regions, municipalities and most other contracting authorities (Government Regulation No. 172/2016 Coll., § 2 and § 3). These are the Czech conversions of the EU thresholds of €140,000 and €216,000 set by Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/2152. Notices go to both the Věstník and the Official Journal of the EU, so they appear on TED (§ 212(3)(b)).

After an above-threshold procedure, the buyer must send a result notice within 30 days of concluding the contract or framework agreement (§ 126). The Věstník is part of NIPEZ, the national e-procurement infrastructure run by the Ministry for Regional Development. NEN, the Národní elektronický nástroj, is a certified e-procurement tool guaranteed by the state and administered by the same ministry; it is suitable for every category of contracting authority and its functions are free to users. Buyers may also use other e-procurement tools and buyer profiles, but use of any e-procurement tool must be free of charge for suppliers (§ 213(1)), and every buyer profile's address is published in the Věstník (§ 214).

The contract register

A distinctively Czech source is the Registr smluv, run by the Digital and Information Agency at smlouvy.gov.cz. The state, regions and municipalities, their contributory organisations, public universities, health insurers, state enterprises and companies majority-owned by public bodies (Act No. 340/2015 Coll., § 2) must publish contracts above CZK 50,000 excluding VAT (§ 3(2)(h)) within 30 days of conclusion (§ 5(2)). Smaller municipalities without extended powers (obce bez rozšířené působnosti), their contributory organisations and companies they majority-own are exempt (§ 3(2)(k)), so the register does not show every municipal purchase. A contract that should have been published and was not published within three months is cancelled from the start (§ 7); contracts for medicines and medical devices take effect even before publication (§ 6(3)), but the duty to publish still applies. The register can be searched by contracting party, which shows the deliveries that never reach TED. Above CZK 1,000,000 excluding VAT, the buyer must also publish the procurement contract on its buyer profile, unless it is already in the Registr smluv (§ 219(1)).

Lawful first contact

Czechia does not allow a cold commercial e-mail, and it makes no exception for businesses. Under § 7(2) of Act No. 480/2004 Coll. on certain information society services, electronic contact details may be used to send commercial communications only to users who have given prior consent; the only exception is a sender's existing customer under § 7(3). The Office for Personal Data Protection (ÚOOÚ), which supervises the rule, states in its published guidance that "Zákon č. 480/2004 Sb. nerozlišuje mezi typem adresáta": the law does not distinguish between types of recipient, so a distributor's info@ address is treated like a consumer's. ÚOOÚ also says that addresses freely available on the internet may not be used to send an offer, and that an e-mail asking for consent to send commercial messages is itself a commercial communication. A company that sends commercial communications en masse or repeatedly without consent commits an offence with a fine of up to CZK 10,000,000 (§ 11(2)(a) and (5)(c)).

The lawful routes are a short letter by post in Czech to the managing director (jednatel), with a one-page product sheet and a specific reason why your range fits what the distributor already sells; the sector's trade fair; and an introduction through an association, a chamber of commerce or an existing partner. Once a distributor has written to you or agreed to hear from you, ordinary business correspondence by e-mail is fine. This is a summary, not legal advice; check your outreach plan with your adviser. The Czechia market page sets out the rule and the steps.

Where Cresques fits

Create a market for Czechia, choose your CPV categories (or let the materials reader suggest them from a brochure or website), and Cresques shows the companies named in TED award notices for those categories, with personal details removed, alongside a list of Czech companies in the matching industries from the business register. A company profile shows every award with value and buyer and an AI-researched role, distinguishing an independent distributor from a manufacturer's own subsidiary. The first message is drafted in Czech, with an English version, for the lawful channel, which in Czechia means a letter. Below the EU thresholds, Cresques does not yet show Czech awards; search the Věstník, NEN and the Registr smluv yourself.

What this means for a manufacturer

• Find the distributors through the public trail: TED for the larger awards, the Věstník for below-threshold procedures, and the Registr smluv for public contracts above CZK 50,000.
• Check each candidate in ARES and the commercial register, and have your own register extract and VAT number ready for theirs.
• Prepare Czech documents first: technical sheets, instructions, declarations and price lists, ready for a Czech-language bid.
• Price for the tender: leave the distributor a margin and agree how prices move over a framework agreement.
• Keep payment terms within the Civil Code: 30 days by default, more than 60 only by express agreement, and never beyond 60 for public buyers.
• Make the first contact by letter to the jednatel, at a fair or through an introduction. Not by e-mail, not even to info@.