LGP Slovakia

Several amendments to the Road Traffic Act (e. g. Act No. 148/2021 Coll., which amends Act No. 8/2009 Coll. on Road Traffic and Amendments to Certain Acts, as amended;

Act No. 146/2021 Coll. which amends Act No. 8/2009 Coll. on Road Traffic and on Amendments to Certain Acts, as amended, and on Amendments to Act of the Slovak National Council no. 372/1990 Coll. on offenses as amended, and

Act No. 128/2021 Coll. amending Act No. 8/2009 Coll. on Road Traffic and on Amendments to Certain Acts, as amended, and Amending Certain Acts)

• the last-mentioned amendment, effective from 15.05.2021, created additional legal preconditions for the removal of vehicles not capable of traffic use (so-called wrecks);
• until the amendment came into force, the process of removing wrecks was much more complicated for municipalities, as according to the previous Act on Waste, the District Office, Department of the Environment had to decide / declare the vehicle as a wreck, so-called waste, and only then could the District Office dispose of the vehicle;
• the amendment supplemented the authorization for the road administrator to remove the unfit vehicle standing on the road, including a sidewalk;
• the second-mentioned amendment, effective from 01.05.2021, expanded the entitlements of municipalities to implement measures in the event of a breach of road traffic rules concerning to stop and stand signs within the so-called strict liability;
• at the same time, it removed legal uncertainty in determining the defined powers of the municipal police;
• it is proposed to define the range of violations that municipalities will be able to discuss as an administrative offense of the vehicle owner, but the municipality will still not be able to document violations of vehicle owner's other than those specified in the Road Traffic Act;
• the last amendment (Act No. 128/2021 Coll.) effective from 01.03.2022, will bring a change for the registration plate number;
• due to the new Act, there will be tables with the registration plate number, so-called "License plates", bound to the vehicle, i.e. the new owner of the vehicle will be able to use the original license plate regardless of whether he continues to reside in the district;
• another important amendment will be that the registration plate number will not be tied to the district in which the vehicle owner resides;
• the new amendment allows the original owner of the vehicle to keep the registration plate number of the sold vehicle and put it on his new vehicle;
• this amendment also removes the current legal procedure, so-called two-step notification of the transfer of possession of the vehicle to another person, and due to the new change, it shall be possible to execute the transition of possession of the vehicle at any traffic inspectorate;
• the primary purpose of this change is to save money, both for the state and for individual vehicle owners who sell an old vehicle and buy a new one;
• It should be noted that the lawmaker, besides the money-saving, sees this legislative change as another fundamental dimension of meaning, and that is the aspect of the ecological impact on society and the environment.

Amendment No. 126/2021 Coll. amending Act No. 340/2012 Coll. on payment for services provided to the public by the Radio and Television of Slovakia and on amendments to certain acts as amended and supplementing Act No. 461/2003 Coll. on social insurance as amended

• the amendment to the Act on Concession Fees will be effective from 01.07.2021, according to which the Social Insurance Agency will provide the collector, which is RTVS (Slovak Radio and Television), with payments for public services (so-called concession fees). According to the concluded agreement, data from its information system to check the payer's employees will be provided electronically;
• the obligation for legal entities to prove the number of employees to the collector will be abolished;
• according to the current situation, legal entities are obliged to pay concession fees in the amount graded according to the number of employees, while only those with the number of employees less than three are exempt;
• the above-mentioned amendment will significantly reduce the administrative burden for payers of concession fees.

Author: JUDr. BARBORA LORD

Date: June 2021