The Zlín Region was established on the 1st of January 2000 as one of the fourteen new regions established within the reform of the public administration under Constitutional Act No. 347/1997 Coll. on the establishment of autonomous administration units. The main bodies of the Zlín Region include the regional board of representatives, council, governor and regional office. The political representation of the region consists of the local board governed by the governor and the council. They set the directions the region is to follow throughout the entire election period. The decisions taken by the board and the council are implemented by the regional office.

Relation between the Zlín Regionand the 304 municipalities is that of equal partners; the region is not super-ordinate to the municipalities. Like the region, each of the municipalities is governed by the local board, whose decisions may not be interfered with by the regional authorities unless required by law. The autonomous status of the municipalities and regions includes especially the right to use their property (e.g. repairing local roads in the case of municipalities, repairing roads of Classes II and III in the case of regions). However, this does not apply to the transferred competence, i.e. those activities that have been transferred from state administration to regions and municipalities under a special law (such as building permit proceedings, business licences etc.). In these cases, the municipalities must obey the directives issued by the super-ordinate bodies, i.e. the regional authorities and respective ministries.

Municipalities of the Zlín Region
Municipalities with extended competence execute most of the state’s administration within the transferred competence. They are also called municipalities of level III. In the Zlín Region these municipalities include:
• Bystřice pod Hostýnem, Holešov, Kroměříž, Luhačovice, Otrokovice, Rožnov pod Radhoštěm, Uherské Hradiště, Uherský Brod, Valašské Klobouky, Valašské Meziříčí, Vizovice, Vsetín, Zlín
Municipalities with extended competence of the local authority include those municipalities to which the state has also transferred a part of its administrative activities, but in a smaller extent than is the case with the municipalities of level III. Municipalities with extended competence of the local authority (also referred to as municipalities of level II) include all municipalities with extended competence as well as 12 additional minor towns in the region.
Each of the 304 municipalities belongs to a district administrated by a municipality with extended competence of the local authority and at the same time to a district of a municipality with extended competence.