Partners - Slovakia

Updated 04. 2010

Legal requirements

The status of businesses, commercial contractual relationships and also certain other relationships connected with doing business are governed by the Commercial Code.

Commercial Code

Companies, cooperatives and other legal entities and foreign persons are entered in the Commercial Register.

Act on the Commercial Register

Types of collaboration

Under the Commercial Code, the following may become an organisational unit of a company:

affiliated branch - for the operations of an affiliated branch the trade name of the company is used with a an additional reference to the fact that this is an affiliated branch,
other organisational unit - if the Act stipulates that it shall be entered in the Commercial Register,
workplace - a space in which a specific business activity is carried out. The trade name of the business is displayed, to which may be appended the name of the workplace or other distinguishing markings.

One of the ways in which a company can increase its competitiveness and broaden its activities at home and abroad is by acquiring another company. Acquisition can take place in various ways:

Commercial mediation (distributor, mediator, representative)
Franchising
Transport/Logistics
Joint venture
Mergers
Taking over a company
Outsourcing

New types of European business structure

Slovak legal entities include supranational forms of business entity, if they have a registered office in Slovakia. Supranational legal forms of business entity, regardless of their registered office, are in the first place regulated and established in accordance with European Community law. They include:

European Economic Interest Group (EEIG),
European Company (SE),
European Cooperative Society (SCE).

Supranational legal forms are adequately incorporated into the Commercial Code through their inclusion in the Commercial Register.

European Economic Interest Groups, as business legal entities, are closest to the legal form of a general partnership.

Act on European Economic Interest Groups

Under Section 27 of the Commercial Code, European Companies and European Cooperative Societies have the same status as Slovak commercial companies. European Companies most closely resemble traditional joint stock companies, and European Cooperative Societies most closely resemble cooperatives.

Act on European Companies

Other options for expanding your business are taking over an existing one, merging with another company or opening a branch in another EU country.

Administrative procedures

There are no real administrative procedures for entering into commercial partnerships. They depend only on an agreement between independent parties.

In the case of research and development projects, the procedures are quite specific and there are no general rules.

Helpful websites

You can find further information on commercial partnership on:

Commercial Register
Trade Register
Slovak statutes on the internet
List of firms on the internet
Business consultants
Central Register of Notaries
Financial and other information
Central public administration portal

Registration

Applications for data to be entered in the Commercial Register, applications to make changes to data entered in the Commercial Register and applications to remove data entries shall be submitted by an applicant who is a:

registered person,
person authorised, for example, under the Commercial Code.

Applications for registration shall be submitted on the printed form and must be accompanied by:

documents showing the data which must be entered in the Commercial Register, and
documents showing the facts which must be verified, according to the law.

The authenticity of the applicant's signature (or the authenticity of a legal representative acting under a power of attorney) must be verified.

Particulars of entries in a Commercial Register
Commercial Register on the internet - general information
Commercial Register on the internet - searching
Electronic form for the various legal forms of registered person

Provided that the legal conditions for registration have been fulfilled, the Registering Court will complete registration within five working days of receiving an application.

In the case of a cross-border merger or amalgamation of companies the Registering Court will complete registration within 30 days of the submission of the application, as long as the legal conditions have been met.

If an application for registration mentions a date on which the registration is to be made, the Registering Court will register the information on that date. If the Registering Court performs a registration later or if an application does not mention the date on which the registration is to be made, the Registering Court will register the data as of the day following the day on which the registration is made.

It is not permitted to submit objections to a registration that has been performed in accordance with an application for registration.

Double tax relief

Section 45 of the Income Tax Act limits double taxation.

Income Tax Act [744 KB]

If a taxpayer receives revenues from a country with which the Slovak Republic has concluded an agreement on limiting double taxation, the procedure for limiting double taxation under this agreement shall be followed.

If a taxpayer has revenues from sources in a foreign country which has a different tax period from that of the Slovak Republic, and he does not have document on the payment of tax from the foreign tax authority within the deadline for submitting a tax return under Section 49, he shall state in the tax return the expected level of revenues and the tax due on these revenues.

Resources

The SARIO Information Centre system enables businesses to make contact with foreign partners.

SARIO Information Centre

The Slovak Investment and Trade Development Agency (SARIO) helps businesses take part in exhibitions, trade fairs and business exchanges to assist them in finding trading partners.

Business exchange

One of the mechanisms used to provide such assistance is the online trading portal for small and medium-sized businesses, which assists in creating business partnerships.

Online trading portal for small and medium-sized enterprises

Euro Info Centres (EIC), via their own Europe-wide Business Cooperation Database - BCD - search for manufacturing, trading and project partners, support the participation of Slovak firms in cooperation events and international projects, with the aim of helping them to penetrate new markets, and so on.

Check also the legislation on this topic in:

Partners - Slovakia