Law news

Upcoming changes of laws

Group of MPs submitted to the Parliament the proposal of amendment of Act No. 147/2001 Coll. on Advertisement, according to which travel agencies should state in their offer the final price including all fees associated with a tour. The purpose of this amendment is to eliminate situations where the consumer is misled by the low price of the tour presented in the advertisement and the price is then increased by additional fees. The amendment is expected to come into force on 1 January 2013.
The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs intends to amend the Labour Code. The announced purpose of the amendment is not to restore the text of the Labour Code valid before the major amendment of 1 September 2012. The main objective is to restore the balance between the current status of the employee and the employer. The Ministry has already proposed to social partners a preliminary scope of changes in the Labour Code (e.g. re-introduction of concurrence of severance pay and notice period), and at the same time declared, that some changes made by the previous minister will be preserved. The new amendment should not negatively impact the business environment.
A proposal of the amendment of Act No. 171/2005 Coll. on Gambling was submitted for comments within the legislative process. The amendment proposes to classify promotional competitions as gambling. The promotional competitions afford the participants an opportunity to win pecuniary and non-pecuniary prizes after meeting several conditions. Their primary aim is to promote provider´s goods and services, though to the potential participants they are presented as competitions with the possibility of prize winning. This is the reason why they should be classified as gambling with further clarification of the rules and conditions of participation. The submitted bill contains also conditions of organization of such competitions. They will be based on the principle of announcement, in which the future provider will evidence the accomplishment of operating conditions of this kind of competition. With the aim not to increase the interest of the public to participate in gambling, the proposal introduces new provisions governing the placement of an advertisement highlighting the amount and the probability of the prize winning. Under the new rules, it will be possible to place the advertisement only in interiors where gambling games are operated. At the same time, it will be prohibited to place the information about the possibility to win the prize in the media. As from 1 January 2013, the ban on smoking and alcohol drinking in casinos and the restriction on operation of selected types of gambling only within casinos should come into force.

Miscellaneous

Parliament enacted Act No. 195/2012 Coll. declaring the full wording of the Act on International Assistance for the Recovery of Certain Financial Assets. The act aims to address the following situation: the claim is enforced form the debtor who resides outside the territory of the Slovak Republic and he or she does not have any property in Slovakia. If the competent authorities subsequently find out that the debtor receives income in another member state or has property there, the payments of such debts or at least a partial payments can be obtained from him/ her by using the international recovery assistance. The act regulates specific procedures and conditions under which the competent authorities of the Slovak Republic will provide, seek or accept international assistance to recover financial claims of the Slovak Republic, another European Union member state or a contracting state. International assistance in recovery involves the exchange of information, documents delivery, debt recovery, securing the debt and other related activities.

Judicial decisions

According to a recent decision of the Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic (ref. No. 4 MCdo 5/2012) published in the Collection of Opinions of the Supreme Court and Courts of the Slovak Republic, if within the organizational changes several employees have become redundant at the same time, the employer has a duty to offer a similar position (§ 63 section 2 subsection b/ of the Labour Code) to each of them separately. If there only one position is available, the employer is not entitled to choose the employee to whom he will offer it; instead, he is obliged to offer the position to all employees potentially suitable for the position. The modification of the contract pursuant to § 54 of the Labour Code will take place in respect of the employee who accepted the offer as first.
The Supreme Court stated in its decision (ref. No. 8 Sžp 8/2011) that if the informational, advertising or promotional equipment is placed in a location visible from public areas and is connected with a building or land, the owner, lessee or another operator of the advertisement must seek permission from the building authority. The Supreme Court pointed out that Section 71 of Act No. 50/1976 Coll., the Planning and Building Order (Building Act), requires to obtain a permission for the placement of advertising equipment that is connected with the land or building, it being understood that a fixed connection with the land, as it is the case of other standard buildings, is not required. The Court has determined that the term connection is fulfilled in respect of an advertising equipment with the size of 3mx2m, which is not loosely laid down on the ground, but the location of which required adaptation of the land in the sense that it was necessary to alter the basement, e.g. by excavating a foundation and dumping it with crushed stone.