Commercial Law, Civil Law

  • Parliament enacted the Act on Protection of Consumer in Respect of Providing of Certain Tourism Services effective as of May 1, 2011 representing the transposition of the Directive 2008/122/EC on the protection of consumers in respect of certain aspects of timeshare, long-term holiday product, resale and exchange contracts. The act regulates the elements of these contracts and the competence of supervisory authorities in relation to controlling the compliance with this Act.    
  • Parliament enacted an amendment of the Act on Securities effective as of June 30, 2011 which transposed the Directive 98/26/EC on settlement finality in payment and securities settlement systems.
  • As of May 1, 2011 the Government repealed Act No. 429/2008 Coll. on Submitting Price Proposals of Commercial Companies. The act conditioned the submission of the price proposal to the Regulatory Office for Network Industries (in Slovak “Úrad pre reguláciu sieťových odvetví”) pursuant to Section 14(1) of the Act on Regulation in Network Industries by the adoption of the resolution of the General Meeting of commercial companies. The repeal of the Act gives possibility to proceed without approval of the General Meeting when submitting the price proposals which eliminates the increased administrative burden and improves business environment. 
  • Amendment of Act No. 231/1999 Coll. on State Aid and amendment of Act No. 233/1995 Coll. on Judicial Executors and Execution Activity (Execution Procedure Code) were enacted, which regulate the obligation of the Beneficiary who has been granted unjustified state aid according to the decision of the Commission to return this sum including the interest pursuant to the respective rate determined by the Commission, as well as specific rules of execution proceedings for enforcement of the decision of the Commission on unjustified state aid.

Labour Law, Social Security Law

  • Parliament enacted an amendment of Act No. 5/2004 on Employment Services with the aim to maintain the work habits of the long-term unemployed people and to extend the use of activation work allowance for example by allowing administrators of roads and rivers to use the unqualified work force for removing of waste and dirt along the roads and on riversides.
  • As of May 1, 2011 an amendment of Act No. 581/2004 Coll. on health insurance companies, control of health care comes into force. The amendment lays down the obligation of health insurance companies to effectuate annual settlement (in 2011 for the first time) for their insurees and in the case these insurees have the employers also for the employers. The objections of citizens and employers against wrong data in annual settlement are introduced. In case the health insurance company accepts the objection, it will make a correction without delay and in case the objection is not accepted, the dispute will be resolved by the Health Care Supervisory Authority.

Miscellaneous

  • Parliament enacted the Act on Execution of International Sanctions effective as of May 1, 2011, which allows the execution of certain international sanctions in the interest of maintenance of international peace and security, protection of fundamental human rights and fight against terrorism. The act regulates the obligations of persons and competence of state administration bodies in relation to imposing sanctions in the area of business and non-financial services, financial services, in the area of transport, post and telecommunication, in the area of technical infrastructure and in the area of science and technics, etc.
  • Amendment of Act No. 309/2009 Coll. on Promotion of Renewable Energy Sources and High-efficiency Combined Production and amendment of Act No. 276/2011 Coll. on Regulation of Network Industries as a reaction to Directives 2009/28/CE and 2009/30/CE on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources were enacted. Besides other things, the amendments integrate into renewable sources aerothermal energy and hydrothermal energy and extend the promotion of production of biomethane and its use as biofuel. Further, the amendments provide for granting certificates for installers of boilers and biomass staves, photovoltaic and solar thermal systems, shallow geothermal systems and heat pumps. The amendments also extend the competence of the Regulatory Office for Network Industries.