Czech commercial banks had until Aug. 30 to respond to a government questionnaire regarding proposed fee cuts and other rule changes before presenting them to Parliament.

"We've put together a questionnaire in order to find out which of the suggested changes are being prepared by banks themselves, which [of the changes] can be further talked through, and which requirements are unacceptable for banks," said Deputy Finance Minister Tomás Prouza. "Now it's up to banks to respond."

The government designed the survey, in part, after receiving over 200 customer comments from bank clients and other experts in response to a Finance Ministry invitation to post comments on its Web site.

The questionnaire was sent to officials at 35 certified commercial banks Aug. 17. It contains 88 questions about its proposals with requests that the banks explain why they consider them impractical or difficult to adopt.

Should banks ignore the request, Prouza said, the government will introduce the changes to Parliament to anchor them into law.

Among proposed changes, the government is asking that banks disclose to clients all personal data collected on them, adopt universal names for banking products and ban limitations on access to bank products (i.e. a mortgage can't be obtained unless the person is a customer of the bank).

For banks, however, most of the government's suggestions are unacceptable.