Public Sector Partner's Information

Public Sector Partner

According to the legislation currently in force, a partner of the public sector is a natural or legal person who is not a public administration entity and

1. which receives funding from the state budget, from a budget of a state special-purpose fund, from a budget of a public body, from a municipal budget, from a budget of a higher territorial unit, from European structural and investment funds, from a legal entity established by law, from a legal entity that is fully or mainly funded by the state, by a municipality, by a higher territorial unit or by a legal entity established by law, which is controlled by the state, by a municipality, by a higher territorial unit or by a legal entity established by law or in which the state, a municipality, a higher territorial unit or a legal entity established by law appoints or elects more than a half of its management or supervisory body, from a health insurance company, or who receives state aid or investment aid,
2. which receives property, property titles or any other proprietary rights of the state, a public law institution, a municipality, a higher territorial unit, a legal entity established by law or from a legal entity that is wholly or mainly financed by the State, by a municipality, by a higher territorial unit or by a legal entity established by law, which is controlled by the state, by a municipality, by a higher territorial unit or by a legal entity established by law or in which the state, a municipality, a higher territorial unit or a legal entity established by law appoints or elects more than a half of the members of its management or supervisory body, or of a health insurance company,
3. which concludes a contract, a general framework agreement or a concession agreement under the Act no. 343/2015 Coll. on Public Procurement and on amendments to certain acts, as amended by the Act no. 438/2015 Coll.,
4. which is a health care provider that has concluded a contract for the provision of health care with a health insurance company,
5. which is obliged to be registered under a special regulation,
6. which was assigned or otherwise acquired a claim receivable from the state, a state fund, a public institution, a municipality, a higher territorial unit or from a legal entity established by law, or
7. which directly or through other persons supplies the persons under points one through five with goods or services, or purchases their property, property titles or other property rights and at the same time is aware or should be aware that the granted benefits or assets acquired, the title to property or other property rights are related to the contract under which the public sector partner receives funding under point one or acquires property, property titles or other property rights under the point two.

A public sector partner according to points one, three, four, six and seven is not an entity to be given one-off funds not exceeding EUR 100,000.00 or a total not exceeding EUR 250,000.00 per calendar year in the case of recurring payments; this does not apply if the amount of aid or investment aid cannot be determined at the time of registration.

A public sector partner under points two and six is not an entity which is about to acquire property, property titles or other property rights in a one-off transaction having a general value of less than EUR 100,000.00 in total.

The following entities are NOT a public sector partner:

1. an entity which mostly operates in the non-profit sector; this does not apply when supplying goods or services under a contract, a framework agreement or a concession agreement under the Act no. 343/2015 on Public Procurement and on amendments to certain acts, as amended by the Act no. 438/2015 Coll. for achieving profit or acquires property, property titles or other property rights having a general value exceeding EUR 100,000.00,
2. a bank and a foreign bank's branch when receiving funds from the state budget, from the budget of a state fund, from the budget of a public institution, from a municipality's or a community's budget, from the budget of a higher territorial unit, or from a legal entity established by law, from a legal entity that is wholly or mainly financed by the state, by a municipality, by a higher territorial unit or by a legal entity established by law, which is controlled by the state, by a municipality, by a higher territorial unit or by a legal entity established by law or in which the state, a municipality, a higher territorial unit or a legal entity established by law appoints or elects more than a half of the members of management or supervisory body, or a health insurance company for fulfilling an obligation arising from a credit or a loan.
3. an entity receiving payment from a representative office of the Slovak Republic abroad for the supply of goods, execution construction of works, or provision of services or performance in development cooperation or international humanitarian aid.

A public sector partner must be registered in the Register, which is open to public inspection. Without the registration it is not possible to enter into business relations with the state and apply for funding, whether from the state budget or the budget of a municipality or a higher territorial unit. Without this registration, a public sector partner is not allowed to acquire property or proprietary rights from the state or public institutes.

Authorised person

Under the applicable legislation on registering of public sector partners, an authorised person is a lawyer, a notary public, a bank, a branch of a foreign bank, an auditor or a tax adviser having its registered office or place of business in the Slovak Republic and having agreed in writing to comply with the obligations of an authorised person for a public sector partner.

The authorised person supervises the entire process of registration of a public sector partner, taking all the relevant steps in entering the public sector partner in the Register, and also carrying out the necessary steps regarding changes in data entered in the Register of Public Sector Partners. It is the authorised person which is provided with all relevant documents by the registering authority relating to the registration.

The authorised person is essentially a representative of the public sector partner in relation to the Register and the registration, because each public sector partner may have only one authorised person registered in the Register who carries out all the relevant steps for the partner.

The authorised person must supervise the identification and the registration with due professional care.

The Register and the registration procedure

The Register is available on the website of the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic. It is not necessary to provide any proof of the data as entered in the Register to public authorities. The registering authority shall provide an extract from the Register in electronic form, or a certificate confirming that there is no data entered in the Register, immediately at anyone's request.

An application for registration must be submitted only in an electronic form sent to the electronic mailbox of the registering authority using a specific electronic form. An application for registration must be authorised by an authorised person, otherwise it is disregarded.

The District Court in Žilina is the registering authority for the Slovak Republic.

In the process of registration or when entering any changes for the public sector partner, the authorised person must assist and communicate directly with the registering authority as required.

Data for registration

A public sector partner, and if so provided by law, other persons (Section 17) are registered in the Register. A public sector partner must be registered in the Register at least the duration of the contract.

If a public sector partner is an individual (a natural person), then the data registered includes

1. name and surname,
2. place of residence or place of business,
3. identification number of organisation, if assigned, or date of birth,
4. a list of ultimate beneficial owners in the scope: name, surname, permanent residence address, date of birth, nationality and whether the beneficial owner is a public official holding a position in the Slovak Republic,
5. authorised person's data including
   1. name and surname, place of residence or place of business, identification number of the organisation for a natural person,
   2. name or business name, registered office and identification number of the organisation for a legal person.

If a public sector partner is a legal person, then the data registered includes

1. name and business name,
2. registered address, 
3. legal form,
4. identification number of the organisation, if assigned,
5. a list of ultimate beneficial owners in the scope: name, surname, permanent residence address, date of birth, nationality and a statement whether the beneficial owner is a public official holding a position in the Slovak Republic, 
6. a list of public officials holding a position in the Slovak Republic, who are a part of the ownership structure or management structure of the public sector partner,
7. authorised person's data including
   1. name and surname, place of residence or place of business, identification number of the organisation for a natural person,
   2. name or business name, registered office and identification number of the organisation for a legal person.

Where a public sector partner is an issuer of securities accepted for trading in a regulated market that is subject to disclosure requirements pursuant to special regulation, an equivalent legal rule of a Member State or equivalent international standards, or if it is a company under direct or indirect exclusive controls of the issuer and directly or indirectly managed exclusively by the issuer, instead of beneficial owners, the data entered in the Register pertains to the members of top management; a member of the top management is a statutory body, a member of the statutory body, an authorised clerk, and a managing employee acting directly as a statutory body. This does not apply if an individual is entitled to 25 % or more of profits from the business or other activities according to the preceding sentence; in such a case, the beneficial owner shall be registered. In such cases, the verification documents must provide proof that the conditions for registration of the top management have been met.

The data registered further includes the date of each verification of beneficial owner's identification, the date of a decision on deletion, and the date of a decision on a penalty. The Register also keeps all verification documents. There can be only one authorised person registered in the Register of Public Sector Partners.