Environmental Law

  • In connection with an action of the European Commission against the Slovak Republic for belated transposition of the framework directive on waste, the Parliament adopted an extensive amendment of Act No. 223/2001 Coll., on Waste. Implementation of this directive resulted in modification of several legal definitions, as well as in introduction of new defined terms into the Act (e.g. storage of metallic mercury, biological waste, recycling, dealer and broker). The adoption of the amendment primarily caused a change in the hierarchy of waste management. Emphasis is to be placed on prevention of waste generation and on minimization of negative effects of waste on the environment and human health. The aim of the processes is mainly the efficient use of waste as a potential secondary source. The Act will come into force on January 1, 2013. 

Consumer Law

  • On November 1, 2012, the amendment of the Act on Consumer Protection, which introduces the term “collective interests of consumers”, comes into force. The definition of collective interests covers such acts of the infringer, which are applicable of causing harm to all consumers. In relation to protection of these interests, the amendment also introduces the institute of a preliminary measure. The preliminary measure is conditioned by a written request of the association of protection of consumers addressed to the seller. If the seller within 2 weeks following receipt of the request does not refrain from harming the collective interests, the association can file a petition for issuance of the preliminary measure to the Slovak Trade Inspection as the competent supervisory authority. The preliminary measure may be issued by the Slovak Trade Inspection also on the basis of its own findings on violation of consumer rights. In case of objections against the preliminary measure, the competent authority has two options – it shall either reject the objections and confirm the preliminary measure or accept the objections and cancel the preliminary measure.

 Administration Law 

  • The National Council approved an amendment of Act No. 145/1995 Coll., on Administrative Fees, which aims to raise revenues of the public administration and the state budget. The modifications concern the rates of administrative fees in the field of building administration, internal administration, administration of health services, administration of cadastre, and others. The Act increases the fees for the issuance of a building permit to legal persons, for extension of validity of a building permit, for the issuance of an occupancy permit and for acts in the field of cadastre administration. In the field of transport, the amendment modifies the fees for the first registration of motor vehicles of category L, M1 and N1 with the registry of vehicles of the Slovak Republic. Fees for granting a transport licence have also been reviewed and charges for acts of the Office of Intellectual Property of the Slovak Republic have been rounded up. In addition, the law modifies the fees for registration of medicinal drugs. The Act also postpones the date of cancellation of fee stamps to January 2014 instead of the original date of January 2013. The main reason for these changes is the introduction of the possibility to pay the administrative fees by more advanced methods such as a credit card, sms or internet.

 Tax Law 

  • The Parliament adopted an amendment of the Act on Income Tax, which increases corporate income tax from 19% to 23%. In case of individuals, the 19% rate will be applied to a tax base of up to 176.8-times the minimum subsistence level, above that amount a rate of 25% will be applied. The higher tax will thus apply to people, whose income exceeds approx. EUR 3,300. The amendment also limits the applicability of the 40% lump sum costs by introducing their maximum amount of EUR 5,040 per year or EUR 420 per month. It also cancels the applicability of the lump sum costs to income from lease. 

Legislation in the Process 

  • A draft amendment of the Act on Investment Aid was submitted to the National Council, specifying the provision of tax reliefs for companies operating in the regions with high unemployment rate. One condition for providing this type of relief is, for example, to create 50 new jobs by the applicant, in order to prevent shifting of production from regions, where investment aid cannot be provided. For the same reason, ownership relations must clearly be evidenced in case of companies that are not publicly traded. This should prevent not only the speculative transfer of production, but also restrict the provision of aid to prosperous and well operating companies, which threat to dismiss employees if aid is not granted to them. The Act should come into force on January 1, 2013. 
  • Another law, the amendment of which is in the legislation process, is the Act on Public Procurement. The main areas subject to changes are for example: extension of publishing obligations and related cancellation of negotiation procedure without prior publication; further, the introduction of a ban on amendments related to the price of the performance and the introduction of the principle of reducing price for repeated supplies. An important change will consist in strengthening the principle of the economically most advantageous offer and the adjustment of extremely low prices, which caused problems in practice. The submitted proposal introduces term “strategic contract” from the point of view of interests of the Slovak Republic, unifies the regulation of under-limited and subliminal contracts and contracts with low value. Moreover, the amendment deals with the system of references of quality and rating of suppliers and in order to strengthen the control of relations with subcontractors, it proposes several sanctions including the ban on participation in the public procurement. 

Case law

  • The Court of Justice of the European Union issued a decision, in which it ruled on whether the traders may impose on a consumer who has been informed that he had won a prize, payment of costs (even minimal costs) in order to acquire it. According to the Court, the EU law prohibits aggressive practices, which give the consumer the impression that he had already won a prize, but in order to be informed about the nature of this prize or to acquire it, he is obliged to pay a certain amount, or incur other costs. These practices are prohibited even in case the costs imposed on the consumer are minimal, compared with the value of the prize, or if the trader has no benefit from it. The Court has confirmed the prohibition of these practices also in cases where several methods are offered to the consumer in order to obtain the prize and where at least one of these methods is free of charge.