A foreign entity (foreigner) shall be authorised to conduct business in Slovakia as a:

• enterprise of a foreign entity – if foreign persons are not entrepreneurs in the place of their permanent residence or if they are entrepreneurs in the place of their permanent residence, but they want to conduct business in Slovakia in another line of business,
• organisational unit of a foreign entity – if foreign entities are entrepreneurs in the place of their permanent residence in the same line of business as they plan to conduct in Slovakia.

Before applying for a trade authorisation, consider the following steps:

1. Determining the line of business (activities)
2. Determining the place of business/place of activity and establishment
3. Determining the trade name
4. Other formalities related with doing business

1. Determining the line of business (activities)

• Find out about the conditions for acquiring a trade authorisation of a particular type (trade: unregulated, craft and regulated)
• The list is available on the website of the Interior Ministry of the Slovak Republic – trade licencing

2. Determining the place of business/place of activity and establishment

• The place of business - is the address of permanent residence or other address (natural person with a permanent residence in the territory of the Slovak Republic)
• The place of activity – is the address of the place of business of the foreign person's business or the place of business of establishment of the foreign person's business in the territory of the Slovak Republic (foreign natural person with a permanent residence outside of the Slovak Republic).
• Establishment – place where the activity is to be carried out. An establishment shall be set up when the line of business requires so (e.g. a hair salon).

3. Determining the trade name

• The name under which the trader (a company) presents itself to others is an important step.
• A trade name shall not be likely to be confused with a trade name of another entrepreneur and it shall not evoke a misleading idea about the entrepreneur’s line of the business. Generally, the surname and first name is used with a supplement to distinguish the person and the type of business.

4. Other formalities related to conducting business

• the number of employees who will carry out the business activity,
• the date of starting a business and period of conducting a business,
• assessment of the demand for the services/goods concerned (market research),
• competition in the area concerned,
• forms of conducting business,
• overall financing,
• potential risks.

Explanatory laws:

• 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).