The new Commercial Register Act changes not only the registration process itself, but also the rules governing the formation of companies, the transfer of ownership interests, decision-making by shareholders, and representation in registration proceedings.
One of the most significant changes is the expansion of the notary’s scope of authority as a registrar; in addition to recording changes to company data, notaries may now also handle initial registrations of companies (with the exception of initial registrations or changes to registrations resulting from a transformation, cross-border transformation, or cross-border change in legal form, which may only be performed by registry courts). With a broader range of legal forms, it is now possible to choose between a registry court and a notary acting as a registrar for an initial registration or an amendment to a registration. However, this option has its limitations—a notary cannot perform the registration if he or she prepared the registration documents for the person concerned.
The new legislation also imposes stricter requirements on the form of several corporate documents. In cases specified by law, the founding document must be drawn up in the form of a notarial deed or a document certified by an attorney. The same requirement applies, for example, to an agreement on the transfer of a business share in a limited liability company. Conversely, for certain resolutions of the general meeting, certification of the proceedings by a notarial deed is required. For corresponding resolutions of a sole shareholder, the law permits either a notarial deed or authorization by an attorney.
The rules governing representation in registration proceedings are also changing. If the applicant does not act in person, he or she may be represented, based on a power of attorney, by an attorney, a notary, or a natural person who is his or her employee. When preparing an entry in the Commercial Register, it will therefore be necessary to pay attention not only to the documents themselves but also to the proper method of representation and filing of the application.
The law also relaxes the rules governing single-member limited liability companies (s. r. o.), eliminating the ban on the so-called “chaining” of single-member companies, as well as the limit on the number of companies in which a single individual may be the sole shareholder. Another new feature is the option to reserve a business name for a period of 60 days even before the company is entered in the Commercial Register.
The new legislation also involves further digitization of the registry and the reduction of duplicate submissions of data and documents. A document repository is being introduced, along with new mechanisms for data harmonization; and, in connection with the expansion of attorney authorization, a non-public Central Register of Authorizations maintained by the Slovak Bar Association. For failure to comply with the registration obligations established by law, the registration court may impose an administrative fine of up to 4,000 euros, even on multiple occasions.
The new legislation thus introduces not only technical changes to the Commercial Register but also new practical rules for the formation and modification of business entities. For each planned change, it will be important to verify in advance the required form of the documents, the method of representation, and whether the registration will be carried out by the registry court or can be entrusted to a notary acting as the registrar.
The full text of the new legislation is available in the Collection of Laws of the Slovak Republic under Act No. 29/2026 Z. z.
