UCITS passporting in Slovakia

1. EEA UCITS Schemes

EEA Management Companies can passport the management and marketing of UCITS schemes in the Slovak Republic. Management companies, whether foreign or domestic are regulated by the Act No. 203 / 2011 Coll. on Collective Investment (“ACI”).

Notification

EEA Management Companies authorised in their EEA home State may exercise passport rights for its business activities in the Slovak Republic on a services and / or branch basis.

In both cases the EEA Management Company is required to notify its HMSA of the intention to passport its management and marketing rights. Subsequently, the HMSA delivers (i) the notification of an intention to distribute securities in the Slovak Republic, (ii) the relevant documentation, and (iii) a certificate issued by the regulator of the Management Company’s home state evidencing that the Management Company complies with the UCITS Directive, to the National Bank of Slovakia (“NBS”). The notification and certificate shall be submitted to the NBS in English, unless the NBS and the EEA Management Company’s HMSA agree to use another language. An EEA Management Company may begin to distribute its securities from Slovakia from the date it receives a confirmation from its HMSA stating that the notification was sent to the NBS or two months after delivering the notification to the NBS.

An EEA Management Company, which has decided to perform its activities on the basis of freedom to provide services, can begin to passport UCITS once its HMSA has delivered the notice to the NBS.

For the purposes of the notification procedure, the NBS shall not be entitled to request any additional documents, certificates, or information.

The NBS currently does not require any other reporting.

Financial Promotion

An EEA Management Company seeking to passport the marketing of a UCITS scheme in Slovakia shall not use false or misleading information or conceal from investors information necessary for their decision making, and be compliant with other applicable laws. It cannot state false information on personal, technical and organisational conditions of the UCITS or the EEA Management Company. 

The Directive 2019/1160 has been fully implemented into the ACI and in is in force from 2 August 2021. 

2. Fees

Currently, there are no marketing fees.

EEA Management Companies passporting into the Slovak Republic are not required to pay any fees to the NBS in relation to the notification process.

However, an EEA Management Company shall pay an annual fee to the NBS for carrying on regulated activities. The annual fee is set by the NBS at the end of each calendar year for the following year.

The fee is calculated from the value of the assets of the EEA Management Company created and managed in Slovakia. 

In the case that the NBS issues a decision against an EEA Management Company for not complying with the rules regarding the protection of consumers, the EEA Management Company is required to pay specific fees for each issued decision. These fees are equal to one per cent of the annual fees.

The NBS also charges EEA Management Companies, as well as other regulated entities, for individual operations ordered.