Slovakia: Securing Logistics

The basic relations for securing logistics between Slovak entities - entrepreneurs in the territory of the Slovak Republic are mainly covered by the regulation contained in the Act No. 513/1991 Coll., Commercial Code as amended, namely in the provisions regarding:
(a)    the Agreement on the Carriage of Goods,
(b)    the Forwarding Agreement,
(c)    the Agreement on Lease of the Mean of Transport,
(d)    the Agreement on the Operation of the Mean of Transport, and
(e)    the Storage Agreement.

In case of a foreign element, the provisions of international conventions apply to the legal relations in connection with the carriage of goods and take precedence over the Slovak legal regulation.

Slovak Republic is the participant of the following international conventions regulating transport: 
(a)    with regard to the road transportation, the Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR), 
(b)    in connection with the rail transportation, the Convention concerning International Carriage by Rail (COTIF) (amended by the Vilnius Protocol), 
(c)    with regard to the air cargo transportation, the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air, and
(d)    with regard to the water carriage, the Budapest Convention on the Contract for the Carriage of Goods by Inland Waterways (CMNI).

In case that the aforementioned conventions do not apply to the carriage of goods, within the European Union, the collision norms of the Regulation (EC) No.  593/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of June 17 on the law applicable to contractual obligations (Rome I) (the “Regulation”), which contain a special provision for the carriage of goods, take precedence over the Slovak collision norms. Conventions take precedence over the Regulation insofar as they address the respective issue itself or establish a conflict of law rule.

With regard to the Slovak obligation law, except for the Agreement on Lease of the Mean of Transport and the Agreement on the Operation of the Mean of Transport, all of the above-mentioned agreements do not have to be in writing to be valid. However, the contracting parties can in any case agree on a written form. At the same time it follows, that:
-    in the case of the Storage Agreement, the storer is obliged to confirm the takeover of the stored item in writing to the depositor,
-    if the Forwarding Agreement was not concluded in writing, the forwarder has the right to request that to be given a written order to procure a transportation (forwarding order), and
-    in the case of the Agreement on the Carriage of Goods, the carrier is entitled to require the sender to confirm the requested transport in the transport document, and the sender is entitled to require the carrier to confirm receipt of the shipment in writing.

From the point of view of the public law, for the purposes of performance of the business in logistics, it is necessary to have granted the public permits, which entitle their bearer primarily to perform business activities in individual spheres of securing logistics.

Within the territory of the Slovak Republic, electronic toll collection is established for using defined sections of highways, expressways, class I. roads and class II. roads by motor vehicles with the largest technically permissible total weight over 3.5 t or by driving sets with the largest technically permissible total weight over 3.5 t specified in the Act No. 474/2013 Coll., on the Collection of Tolls for the Use of Defined Sections of Land Roads as amended. In addition to the national toll system, the European toll system - called EETS will be introduced (representing the extension of existing national toll system with the possibility of toll payment with one on-board unit based on one contract at a time in several countries in which the EETS provider operates). At this time the actions leading to the introduction of EETS are currently ongoing, with the commencement of operation on the territory of the Slovak Republic expected at the beginning of 2024.

Another significant fee obligation is the vehicle tax, which is levied in relation to the vehicles registered in the Slovak Republic and used for business purposes, and which is required to be paid by the holder of the vehicle registered in the vehicle document (or another tax subject under the Act No. 361/2014 Coll., on the motor vehicle tax and on the amendment of some laws).