Database

Online gambling is permitted, but only via license. Sites which operate without the relevant license are blacklisted, and following this, Slovakia's Financial Directorate can demand that ISPs and payment service providers block access to the blacklisted sites. The blacklist currently contains 18 websites.

The Directive 2000/31/EC (E-Commerce Directive) is the legal basis governing the liability of Internet Services Providers (ISPs) in the EU Member States and includes a conditional safe harbor. The Directive covers any type of infringement of third-party rights, including intellectual and industrial property rights and personality rights.

The limitations on liability in the Directive apply to clearly delimited activities (mere conduit, caching and hosting) carried out by internet intermediaries, rather than to categories of service providers or types of information. While it was not considered necessary to cover hyperlinks and search engines in the Directive, the Commission has encouraged Member States to further develop legal security for Internet intermediaries.

Since not all Member States have transposed the relevant articles consistently, the national case law is divergent and leads to legal insecurity on an EU level.

Law No.22/2004 implements the e-Commerce Directive into Slovak law. The implementation, however, is reported to be weak and incomplete.

All foreign workers must undergo a labour market test, however intra-corporate transferees (ICT) are exempted from labour market tests.

In 2014, the EU Commission fined Slovak Telekom and its parent, Deutsche Telekom, for abusive conduct in Slovak broadband market. In particular, the Commission concluded that Slovak Telekom refused to supply unbundled access to its local loops to competitors and imposed a margin squeeze on alternative operators.

UPC Slovakia (the largest cable television operator in Slovakia) blocked Internet Protocol television (IPTV) service provided by the telecom operator Antik via infrastructure of UPC by blocking its public IP address. This meant that customers who used Internet access from UPC were technically precluded from using IPTV service of Antik.

UPC did this apparently in order to block competition on its infrastructure, trying promote its own cable TV retransmission service. The regulator said it was not appropriate for it to rule on the dispute, since blocking services is not currently forbidden by any law, general measure or decision. Moreover, the dispute does not relate to access or interconnection as defined by the Act on Electronic Communications.

The government owns 49% in Slovak Telekom, the incumbent telecommunications operator. The government of Slovakia announced in April 2015 its intention to sell its 49% stake in the company through an initial public offering.

The telecommunications market in Slovakia is liberalized and competition rules apply. However, the incumbent owns the access to the last mile infrastructure.

It is reported that Slovakia continues to suffer from a high level of software piracy. An industry’s anti-piracy organization, the Business Software Alliance, estimates that almost half of the software used in Slovakia is illegal. According to analyses conducted by the International Data Corporation, an analytical company, the software piracy rate in Slovakia was 37% in 2013 - while Western European regional average is 29 %.

In the European Union, there is no general principle for the use of copyright protected material comparable to the fair use/fair dealing principle in the US. Directive 2001/29/EC defines an optional, but exhaustive set of limitations from the author´s exclusive rights under the control of the “three-step test”. This is a clause in the Berne Convention that establishes three cumulative conditions to the limitations and exceptions of a copyright holder’s rights. The Directive has been transposed by Member States with significant freedom.

Slovakia implemented the Directive with significant differences. Limitations of economic rights of author are permitted only in special cases provided in provisions of Sections 24 to 37 of the Copyright Act. The Act expressly implements the three-step-test.

Directors of a limited liability company and members of the board of directors of a joint stock company are not required to be resident in Slovakia only if they are from the EU or OECD countries. Third country directors are not covered by this provision and should therefore reside in Slovakia.

It is reported that the right of access to public procurement is limited to regional trade agreement partners and members of the WTO’s Government Procurement Agreement.

The European Regulation No. 1042/2013 amending the Council Implementing Regulation No. 282/2011, declares that from January 2015, all supplies of telecommunications, broadcasting and electronic services will be taxable at the place where the customer belongs. These include, inter alia:
- images or text, such as photos, screensavers, e-books and other digitised documents e.g. PDF files;
- music, films and games, including games of chance and gambling games, and of programmes on demand;
- online magazines website supply or web hosting services distance maintenance of programmes and equipment;
- supplies of software and software updates advertising space on a website.

Both EU and non-EU suppliers have to register for VAT purposes and comply with the relevant obligations of the Member State where the customer is established, has his/her permanent address or usually resides. This may be burdensome as there are 81 VAT rates across the 28 EU countries and the rates may vary between 3% (Luxembourg) to 27% (Hungary) across member states. Furthermore, member states impose varying thresholds at which companies must begin paying VAT, ranging from EUR 0 to EUR 60,000.

As an alternative to obtaining multiple VAT registrations in each Member State where a supplier has a customer, affected suppliers may be able to opt to account for VAT across the EU via a a web-portal in the Member State in which they are identified. Hence, the system, known as the Mini One-Stop Shop (MOSS) scheme, allows taxable persons to avoid registering in each Member State of consumption.

The EU Copyright Directive allows “fair compensation” for copyright owners. As a result, several Member States have imposed national levy systems.

In Slovakia, producers, recipients from a member state, importers from a third country or other persons who places the carriers or devices for the first time for sale purposes are liable for copyright levies. The following levies apply:
- Optical Storage media: 6% of sale or import price of the carrier.
- Flash media: 6% of sale price or import price of the carrier.
- Consumer electronics: 3% of sale or import price of the device.
- Mobile phones: 3% of sale price or import price of the device.

Online Lotto games are restricted to the state monopoly only. Online gambling is allowed under certain requirements:
- a license;
- an authorized representative who is resident in Romania; and
- data storage equipment (mirror server) situated on the Romanian territory (more information available under data policies chapter).

The regulation allows for IP blocking of gaming sites without a license. The regulator has blacklisted 48 operators (full list available at http://www.onjn.gov.ro/home/lista-neagra) and has instructed all internet service providers to block access to their websites.

Online advertising for spirits is prohibited.