Professional Chambers as Forms of Civil Society[Profesní komory jako součást občanské společnosti]

The system of self-governing professions through the chambers pertain the performance of highly skilled occupations associated with personal responsibility and professional accountability. Such professions must be performed with qualified supervision to prevent damages to property or health. Therefore, the role of professional chambers is simply irreplaceable. Chambers are gatekeepers over access to such professions and they are responsible over exercise of the profession and set standards and rules for carrying out best practices. Through their codes of conducts they supervise a compliance of their members with ethical standards. Moreover, chambers are important components of liberal democracies and fulfil the myriad of functions attributed to civil society. Chambers therefore do (and should) mainly act in accordance with public interests. In the Czech Republic currently there are two types of professional associations; chambers with a compulsory membership and chambers with a voluntary membership. However, only chambers with compulsory membership have the opportunity to punish its members for violations of professional and ethical standards.