More info on how partners are added to the public sector partner registry (RPVS) is available online. The RPVS is open to the public and lets you search for registered partners based on different criteria. In this article, you'll learn who's authorized under the RPVS law and we'll mention some of their responsibilities.
The general public and professionals can find a lot of info on the website about how public sector partners can get listed in the public sector partner registry by authorized people, mainly to make sure that entities that need to be listed in the public sector partner registry are actually listed, but also for marketing or advertising by authorized people.
Many authorized persons thus provide, as part of their activities, what we consider to be useful, reasonable, and basic information about the legal regulation of Act No. 315/2016 Coll. on the register of public sector partners and on amendments to certain laws (hereinafter also referred to as the “RPVS Act”), on the creation or termination of the obligation to register in the register of public sector partners, on the method and speed of registration in the register of public sector partners and, last but not least, on the remuneration for the performance of the activities of the authorized person.
Of course, the public sector partner itself is obliged to be aware of the obligations arising from its existing registration in the register of public sector partners, as well as the subsequent obligations in the event of verification events and verification of the identity of the final beneficiary. It is necessary for them to be informed about the individual provisions of the RPVS Act and also (with the obligation to register) related legal regulations, such as, in particular, Act No. 343/2015 Coll. z. on public procurement and on amendments to certain laws, or other legal regulations on the basis of which the obligation to register in the register of public sector partners arises (e.g. Act No. 264/2022 Z. on media servicesand on amendments to certain laws, or e.g. Act No. 581/2004 Coll. on health insurance companies, supervision of health care and on amendments to certain laws, as amended). For the sake of completeness, we would like to point out that the website https://www.justice.gov.sk/sluzby/register-partnerov-verejneho-sektora/ and the website of the public sector partner register https://rpvs.gov.sk/rpvs are also useful sources of information.
Pursuant to Section 2(1)(c) of the RPVS Act, an authorized person is:
- a lawyer, notary, bank, auditor, tax advisor who has a place of business or registered office in the Slovak Republic and who has undertaken, on the basis of a written agreement, to perform the duties of an authorized person for a public sector partner, but also
- a foreign person authorized in the Slovak Republic to perform the same activities as an authorized person under the first point, who has their business or organizational unit located in the Slovak Republic and who, on the basis of a written agreement, has undertaken to fulfill the obligations of an authorized person for a public sector partner.
According to Section 11(5) of the RPVS Act, quote:
"When identifying the ultimate beneficiary and verifying the identity of the ultimate beneficiary, the authorized person is required to act impartially and with professional care, obtain all available information on the subject of the entry in the register and evaluate it. The authorized person is not bound by the instructions of the public sector partner. Acting with professional care means acting with care appropriate to the function or position of the authorized person, taking into account and independently evaluating all available information that they have obtained or could have obtained and that relates to or may affect their actions. The provisions of a special regulation shall apply mutatis mutandis to the procedure for identifying the ultimate beneficiary and verifying the identity of the ultimate beneficiary.
The RPVS Act contains a purpose-specific definition of acting with professional care. For the purposes of the RPVS Act, acting with professional care means acting with care appropriate to the function or position of the authorized person, taking into account and independently assessing all available information that the authorized person has obtained or could have obtained and that relates to or may influence their actions. Each authorized person is required to act in accordance with their specific function or position within the scope of the legal regulation governing the performance of their function or position.
In practice, there are often situations where many authorized persons interpret acting with professional care to mean that they only request publicly available documents from the public sector partner or, conversely, request many documents and supporting materials that have no logical basis or systematic approach for determining the final beneficiary. However, professional diligence should always take into account the individual assessment of the public sector partner and request all documents that have a real impact on the identification of the final beneficiary and those documents where, based on an individual assessment of the public sector partner, there is a reasonable assumption that there are legal facts that may affect the identification of the final beneficiary.
The authorized person is obliged to obtain all available information on the subject of the registration, i.e. not only information provided by the public sector partner itself (whether upon request or on its own initiative), but also information obtained or that could be obtained from its own activities (e.g. from publicly available registers and databases).
The authorized person is obliged to review, verify, and evaluate the information obtained in order to properly identify the ultimate beneficiary in accordance with the RPVS Act and the Act. The authorized person is obliged to evaluate each piece of information obtained separately and in conjunction with other information obtained as a whole.
The authorized person evaluates the information at their own discretion in accordance with professional care. Any instructions or guidelines from the Partner that directly relate to the identification of the ultimate beneficiary (where the Partner itself determines who its ultimate beneficiary is and requires that this person be registered as the ultimate beneficiary) are irrelevant to the Partner.
In conclusion, we would like to point out that the identification of the ultimate beneficiary is not a simple process and requires the above-mentioned action by an authorized person with professional care in close cooperation with the public sector partner. For the purposes of proper registration and fulfillment of the obligations of public sector partners, the main criteria for the selection of an authorized person to perform the activities of an authorized person in the register of public sector partners should not be the speed and administrative simplicity of registration, or the amount of remuneration for ensuring registration and remuneration for performing the activities of an authorized person.
The law firm Hronček & Partners, s. r. o. is ready to provide you with comprehensive legal advice and services in connection with the performance of the activities of a law firm as an authorized person for public sector partners. We also provide advice on the obligation to register entities in the register of public sector partners, the assessment of related financial limits, and the obligation to verify the identity of the ultimate beneficiary of public sector partners in so-called verification events within the meaning of the RPVS Act.
