June 6, 2020

Slovakia

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Slovakia, also known as the Slovak Republic (Slovenska Republika) is a civil law country.  When Czechoslovakia dissolved on January 1, 1993, it peacefully broke into the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. And on the division of Czechoslovakia, the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic entered into a Customs Union which facilitates a generally free flow of goods and services.

The National Law Review includes articles on complex corporate and financial transactions with cross-border aspects in the Slovak Republic and legal matters related to acquisitions, bankruptcy and corporate restructurings, capital markets, financing the obligations of board members of Slovakian companies, Real Estate and Development issues, securities and market financing and local, national and international tax matters.

Additionally, the NLR covers a full range of EU legal issues and EU legislation which impacts Slovakia,  such as banking, customs, food and drug changes related to Brexit, immigration and asylum matters and other international law concerns.

The Slovak Civil Code or Občiansky zákonník is mostly derived from the Czechoslovak Civil Code of 1964.  Slovak law has been influenced by the Austrian and German legal systems, and during the Communist period (1948 until 1989), it became influenced by Socialist legal thinking. In the 1990s, Slovakia has been also shaped by EU law. Slovakia joined the European Union in 2004 and began using the Euro on 1 January 2009. Slovakia is also a member of the Schengen Area and NATO.

Slovakia is a multi-party parliamentary democratic republic.  The head of state and the head of the executive branch is the president (prezident Slovenskej republiky), who is elected by direct popular vote, though most executive power lies with the prime minister as the head of government.

Legislative power is the 150-seat National Council of the Slovak Republic (Národná rada Slovenskej republiky). Delegates are elected for four-year terms.

The Slovak constitution divides the judiciary into two branches: the general courts and the highest judicial body, the Constitutional Court of Slovakia (Ústavný súd).