Trades are registered in the Trade Register of the Slovak Republic.

1. Conditions for pursuing a trade
2. Notifying a trade
3. Issuing a trade authorisation
4. Frequently asked questions

1. Conditions for pursuing a trade

According to the Trading Act, an EU/EEA citizen shall meet:

General conditions for pursuing a trade

• minimum age of 18;
• legal capacity;
• no criminal record (for notifying all types of trades) – documented by an extract from the judicial record. If a natural person (entrepreneur) is not a citizen of the Slovak Republic (in the case of a foreign natural person, the condition of no criminal record shall be met by the head of the foreign person's enterprise or the head of the organisational unit of the foreign person's enterprise); for Slovak natural persons, the PSC secures the extract from the judicial record free of charge.
  • The extract from the judicial record shall not be older than 3 months and provided as certified translation into Slovak.
  • For EU/EEA citizens residing in Slovakia for more than 6 months, it is sufficient to submit an extract from the judicial record of the Slovak Republic.

Specific conditions for pursuing a trade

• Professional competence or other competence to pursue a trade that is regulated – craft and regulated trade. As an EU/EEA citizen, you may prove your professional competence by means of a decision on recognition of professional experience or a decision on recognition of professional qualifications.

2. Notifying a trade

EU/EEA citizens who have permanent residence in Slovakia – shall submit the notification of a trade to the competent Trade Licensing Office based on the place of permanent residence.

EU/EEA citizens who do not have a permanent residence in Slovakia are considered foreign natural persons – the notification of a trade shall be submitted to the competent Trade Licensing Office based on the address of the place of business of the foreign person’s enterprise or the address of the place of business of the organisational unit of the foreign person’s enterprise.

It is possible to notify a trade in person at a Trade Licensing Office (PSC) or electronically.

Notifying a trade at a Trade Licensing Office

In order to notify a trade, the Trade Notification Form, specifically designed for natural persons and specifically for legal entities shall be completed.

Form:

• Notyfying a trade (unregulated, craft and regulated) – natural person
• Notyfying a trade (unregulated, craft and regulated) – legal entity

You can find the list of requested documents (attachments) for natural persons or legal entities in the article "Notifying a trade ” (only in Slovak).

The fee for notifying each unregulated trade is EUR 5, for each craft or unregulated trade it is EUR 15.

The administrative fee can be paid in several ways:

• payment terminal (kiosk placed in the building of district (trade) office);
• certificate of payment of the administrative/court fee (eKolok) (which you can buy in requested value on selected affiliates of Slovenská pošta (Slovak post office);
• a postal order (as a part of  payment order through bank transfer to account stated on payment order).

Electronic notification of a trade

Choose from online forms for notifying a trade (which is designed separately for natural person and for legal entity):

• Notyfying a trade (unregulated, craft and regulated) – natural person
• Notyfying a trade (unregulated, craft and regulated) – legal entity

You can find more information about electronic procedure in the article “Notifying a trade electronically ” (only in Slovak).

You can find the list of requested documents (attachments) for natural persons or legal entities in the “ article Notifying a trade ” (only in Slovak).

More information about requests for the electronic filing sent to district trade office…

Electronic notification can be filed via the Trade Register Services (PSC) – Electronic Notification of a Trade. The form and attachments to the notification shall be signed with a qualified electronic signature.

There is no fee for notifying an unregulated trade, while the fee for notification of each craft and regulated trade is EUR 7.50.

The administrative fee can be paid through the payment portal of Central Government Portal or through internet banking based on the message about payment conditions, which is sent to the electronic mailbox of applicant.

Information on administrative fees related to trade business can be found on the related website of the Ministry of the Interior (administrative fees) (only in Slovak).

3. Issuing a Certificate of trade authorisation

You may pick up the trade authorisation in person at the Trade Licensing Office or it will be delivered to your electronic mailbox, if you filed the application electronically.

The trade authorisation is a document certifying that both the general and specific conditions for pursuing the respective trade have been fulfilled. Following a successful notification, a company ID (IČO) shall be assigned to you.

Deadlines

The Trade Licensing Office shall issue the trade authorisation within 3 working days from receiving the notification with all the required attachments. The date as of which the notification meets all the statutory requirements shall be considered the date of starting the trade.

PSC executes for a natural person – entrepreneur notifying of trade and:

• registration obligation at tax administrator (registration for income taxes),
• registration obligation in the health insurance company (registration to the compulsory health insurance system),
• notification obligation in Social Insurance (registration to the compulsory social insurance system).

Trade Licensing Office (PSC) executes, on request, for a legal entity notifying of trade (request of issuing of trade license certificate) and:

• registration obligation at tax administrator (registration for income taxes);
• at established legal entity and foreign legal entity will send to the competent trade register data and documents (including court fees) (for the purpose of recording the data to the trade register);
• at originated legal entity will send a proposal for the registration of a change in the entered data on the subject of business or activity, which has to be proven by the trade license certificate including court fees to the competent trade register.

4. Frequently asked questions

1. The form for notification of a trade for a natural person requests entering a company registration number as a mandatory field before submission, but no registration number has been issued to the natural person.
When the form is filled in correctly, this item should not be requested, as the field for the company registration number is not defined as mandatory for the purposes of verification. The company registration number is automatically requested only for legal entities when the date of granting the trade authorisation is also provided, in which case the company registration number is required (if the date for the line of business for legal entity is deleted, the company registration number is not required). If the form for natural persons continues to request the company registration number, it is necessary to fill in the form again.

2. The electronic filing was submitted, the applicant received notifications to the electronic mailbox of the start of its processing and on the filing being transmitted to the PSC, however, the electronic filing has not been processed even after a few days have passed.
Where, even after a few days the applicant does not receive a confirmation that the filing is being processed and after a verification by phone at the respective point of single contact to which the filing was submitted confirms that the filing has not been received, the filing has to be re-sent. This is a matter of a rather rare server connection error.

3. Problems with signing the electronic filing
It is necessary to check the installation of the program for signing the electronic form, which is available on the Central Government Portal of the Slovak Republic. If problems with signing persist, contact the Central Government Portal’s helpdesk.

4. I have completed and signed the electronic filing, but it is not possible to submit it.
This is probably a temporary server error. It is not necessary to fill in or submit the form again, as once the server’s functionality is restored, your filing will be automatically transmitted to the electronic filing office of the competent PSC.

Explanatory laws:

Only in Slovak:

• Act No 455/1991 on trade licensing (Trading Act), as amended (principal legislation);
• Act No 136/2010 on services in the internal market and amending certain acts, as amended (directly related legislation);
• Act No 513/1991, the Commercial Code, as amended (‘the Commercial Code’) (directly related legislation);
• Act No 275/2006 on public administration information systems and amending certain acts, as amended (related legislation with respect to e-government);
• Act No 305/2013 on electronic form of governance conducted by public authorities and amending certain acts (e-Government Act), as amended (related legislation with respect to e-government);
• Implementing Decision of the Finance Ministry No 55/2014 on Standards for Information Systems in Public Administration, as amended (related legislation with respect to e-government);
• Act No 395/2002 on archives and registries and amending certain acts (related legislation with respect to e-government);
• Act No 18/2018 on personal data protection and amending certain acts (related legislation with respect to e-government);
• Act No 145/1995 on administrative fees, as amended (related legislation in relation to administrative fees – item 148);
• Act No 563/2009 on tax administration (Tax Procedure Code), as amended – Section 67(11) (related legislation with respect to the PSC registration notification duty);
• Act No 595/2003 on income tax, as amended – Section 49a(9) (related legislation with respect to the PSC registration notification duty);
• Act No 580/2004 on health insurance and amending Act No 95/2002 on insurance and amending certain acts – Section 6(13) in conjunction with Section 23(10) (related legislation with respect to the PSC notification duty);
• Act No 461/2003 on social insurance, as amended, Section 233(9) (related legislation with respect to the PSC notification duty);
• Directive 2006/123/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on services in the internal market (directly related legislation).