Legal regulation of municipality status in the Czech Republic

The re-established sovereign status of municipalitles and gradually developing activities of their sovereign authorities are the dominant features of our present local administratíon. Under the present legal regulation, municipalities are considered as bases of local sovere­ignty and it is supposed that in relation to their status a territory and organization level of sovereignty above the level of municipalities will be establíshed soon. In addition to their basic sovereign function in local administration, municipalities also usually perform, according to the legal regulation in vigour, a part of state administration in the scope conferred on them by the State. Therefore so-called "sovereign" and "conferred" municipality activities are distinguished in the work of municipalities and their authorities, the authorities having different position when realizing them. The article deals not only with changes in local administration organization, i.e. substitution of the former national committees system by new local administration authorities, but also with changes in its conception, status, aims and tasks.