Building law and regulation in Slovakia during Covid-19

Currently, there is no specific construction regulation related to Covid-19 in place.

However, on 26 March 2020, the Slovak Ministry of Economy negotiated with representatives of the biggest employer associations and industry chambers regarding a further package of approximately 50 economic measures to be adopted as soon as possible. It is likely that some of these measures may be related to construction industry. The details of this package have not been made public yet. We will keep monitoring the situation and update this document accordingly.

Loans – two state banks (the Slovak Guarantee and Development Bank and EXIMBANKA) are currently negotiating conditions for short-term and interest-free loans to businesses, especially to SMEs and should be introduced soon.

Job maintenance promotion - a new project has been introduced to promote the maintenance of jobs.

Corporate income tax – the obligation to file income tax returns, as well as the payment of income tax for 2019, has been postponed for all taxpayers until 30 June 2020. No notification is required if the filing and payment are made by 30 June 2020.

New rules for sick leave compensation and care leave compensation have been introduced.

VAT – obligation to file VAT returns and deadlines for payment of VAT has been postponed upon substantiated request of the taxpayer to forgive the missed deadlines.

Per rollam decisions – collective bodies of legal entities may use written voting or voting via electronic means (i.e. per rollam decision-making) even though such procedure is not regulated in internal corporate rules.

Bankruptcy – the statutory deadline for a mandatory bankruptcy petition has been prolonged to 60 days

Slovak Commercial Code is based on objective liability of the contractual parties, therefore it is quite hard to apply the force majeure clauses.

The failing party is obliged to pay damages unless it proves that is unable to fulfil its contractual obligations due to an obstacle which was extraordinary, unforeseeable, created independently of its will (e.g. Covid-19 measures). However, this shall not affect its obligation to pay a contractual penalty.

The party affected by the frustration of the purpose of the agreement may withdraw the agreement, if the basic purpose of the agreement, which was explicitly expressed therein, is frustrated after its conclusion in consequence of a fundamental change of the circumstances under which the contract was concluded. However, the party that withdrew from the agreement is obliged to compensate the other party for the damage they incurred by the withdrawal.

Currently, the new measures are adopted in the accelerated legislative procedure of the National Council of the Slovak Republic. Once adopted by the National Council of the Slovak Republic the measures become usually effective after publishing in the Collection of Laws of the Slovak Republic. The whole process (from adoption to publishing) takes approximately 3 calendar days.

As mentioned above, on 26 March 2020, the Slovak Ministry of Economy negotiated with representatives of the biggest employer associations and industry chambers regarding a further package of approximately 50 economic measures to be adopted as soon as possible. It is likely that some of these measures may be related to construction industry. The details of this package have not been made public yet. We will keep monitoring the situation and update this document accordingly.