Trustee

Conditions for the obtaining of an authorisation to pursue the activities of a trustee

Natural persons:

A natural person can be registered in the list of trustee if he/she:

1. is a national of the Slovak Republic, another Member State of the European Union or another state that is a state party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area (hereinafter referred to as “another Member State”);
2. has full legal capacity;
3. has a permanent residence in the territory of the Slovak Republic or another Member State;
4. is a person of integrity and credibility;
5. has professional competence.

A person acquires full legal capacity upon attaining the legal age of majority. (The legal age of majority is 18. Prior to attaining this age, a person may attain the legal age of majority by marriage.)
A natural person is not considered a person of integrity if he/she has been legally convicted of an intentional crime or a crime whose statutory elements relate to business performance; the same applies to a natural person who has been legally convicted of a particularly serious intentional crime, a crime of misuse of public authority, a crime of accepting bribes and other unjustified benefits, a crime of bribing or a crime of indirect corruption, even if that person is treated as if he/she has not been convicted of such crime.

A natural person is not considered credible if

1. he/she was deleted from the list of trustees (on grounds that, in spite of the fine imposed upon him/her, the person has seriously breached, repeatedly within one year since the imposition of the fine, his/her obligations prescribed by law), or if he/she was a partner in a legal person that had been deleted from the list of trustees for recurring violations of obligations prescribed by law at the time of its deletion from the list of trustee;
2. he/she has been imposed a disciplinary penalty in the form of deletion from a list of auditors, tax advisors, attorneys, euroattorneys, candidate attorneys, from the register of patent attorneys, a disciplinary penalty in the form of his/her removal from a notary office, distrainer office or prosecutor office, and a disciplinary penalty in the form of his/her dismissal as a judge; 
3. he/she is subject to criminal prosecution by law enforcement authorities for an intentional crime or a crime whose statutory elements relate to business performance;
4. he/she has been imposed, over the past four years, a sanction for having committed an administrative delict in the form of a ban to perform business related activities;
5. he/she has been subject to a sanction, over the past two years, for having committed a misdemeanour or other administrative delict in the area of trusteeship, business, international economic contacts, a right to access to information, property, taxes, foreign exchange management, sole trade, protection of classified information and personal data (on-the-spot fines are not taken into account);
6. he/she has been imposed a fine, over the past four years, or has been subjected to distraint proceedings under applicable tax or customs legislation (on-the-spot fines are not taken into account);
7. he/she is subject to bankruptcy proceedings, or a petition for bankruptcy has been dismissed on grounds of insufficient assets;
8. he/she has been subjected, over the past two years, to the enforcement of judgment or distraint proceedings;
9. he/she has deliberately provided false information in the declaration of honour annexed to the application for registration in the list of trustees.

A natural person is considered professionally competent, if he/she has a master’s degree (or equivalent) in law or economics and demonstrates his/her qualification by passing a trustee examination.
The purpose of trustee examination is to examine applicant’s professional knowledge and competence in law and economics, necessary for the proper conduct of the activities of a trustee. The examination is held in the state language before a three-member examination board. The applicant may only take the trustee examination after having duly completed professional training, however not later than one year since its completion. The trustee examination may not be re-taken sooner than six months after the failed attempt.
The activities of a trustee may only be conducted by a person who is not an employee or who is in no similar employment relationship, with the exception of pedagogical, publication, literary, scientific or artistic activities. Given their character, trustee activities are incompatible with fulfilling obligations towards an employer under the labour law.

Legal persons:
A general partnership may be registered in the list of trustees if

1. its partners only include trustees - natural persons;
2. none of its partners is a partner in another legal person registered in the list of trustees;
3. all the partners are authorised to act on its behalf independently and without limitation;
4. has its registered office in the territory of the Slovak Republic; and
5. its partners are persons of integrity and credibility.

A limited partnership may be registered in the list of trustees if

1. its general partners only include trustees - natural persons;
2. none of its partners is a partner in another legal person registered in the list of trustees;
3. all the general partners are authorised to act on its behalf independently and without limitation;
4. it has its registered office in the territory of the Slovak Republic; and
5. its partners are persons of integrity and credibility.

Foreign legal persons:
A foreign legal person may be registered in the list of trustees if

1. it has its registered office in a Member State;
2. one or more of its partners are liable for its debts with all their property;
3. has a company or its organisational unit established in the territory of the Slovak Republic;
4. its statutory bodies or statutory body members only include trustees - natural persons;
5. its statutory bodies or statutory body members are authorised to act on its behalf independently and without limitation;
6. its partners are persons of integrity and credibility.

Additional information on the pursuit of the activities of a trustee

Trustees - natural persons are required to continuously expand and extend their professional knowledge and competence necessary for the proper conduct of the activities of a trustee, in particular with respect to changes and developments in the matters related to the conduct of trustee activities. 
Continuing education of trustees consists of their participation in lectures, workshops and conferences, lecturing and publication activities, self-study, and the practical pursuit of the activities of a trustee.
Trustees evidence their proper participation in continuing education with credit points obtained. The proper participation in continuing education is assessed by the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic (hereinafter referred to as the “Ministry”), always by the 20th of December of each even calendar year.
If a trustee fails to demonstrate to have obtained the prescribed number of credit points during the assessment period, the Ministry will ordain the trustee to take a retest.The Ministry may ordain that all trustees be retested if substantial changes have been made to the legislation governing the conduct of trustee activities. Retesting takes the same form as the trustee examination. 

Fees for the issuance of an authorisation to pursue the activities of a trustee

The fee for registration in the list of trustees is €165.50.
The fee may be paid:

1. in the form of a stamp tax with the prescribed nominal value paid to the relevant administrative authority;
2. in the form of a cash payment to the relevant administrative authority;
3. by a postal cheque to the bank account of the relevant administrative authority; or
4. by a wire transfer from a bank account.

Where relevant operations and proceedings are carried out on the basis of an application sent by electronic means and signed with an electronic signature, the fee is reduced to 50% of the amount of the fee prescribed in the schedule of fees (up to €70 at the most).
Note: Applicants may pay the administrative fee using any of the aforementioned methods, but any payments made by electronic means in the form of a wire transfer from a bank account are only deemed paid when debited from the applicant’s account. (A payment confirmation does not have to be annexed to an electronic application for authorisation.)

Application procedure for the obtaining of an authorisation to pursue the activities of a trustee

In order to obtain the authorisation to pursue the activities of a trustee, applicants have to fill in an application for the registration in the list of trustees maintained by the Ministry, and attach necessary annexes thereto. Annexes to be attached to the application

Natural persons:

1. documents evidencing their professional competence; 
2. information necessary in order to apply for a certificate of no criminal record;
3. a declaration of honour on meeting the credibility requirement;
4. a lease contract or a certificate of title evidencing the establishment of an office;
5. a list of office addresses.

Legal persons:

1. a memorandum of association along with the statement of incorporation in the Business Register;
2. information about the partners necessary in order to apply for a certificate of no criminal record;
3. declarations of honour by the partners on meeting the credibility requirement;
4. a lease contract or a certificate of title evidencing the establishment of an office;
5. a list of office addresses. 

Application:

• electronic application form for registration of domestic natural person
• electronic application form for registration of foreign natural person
• electronic application form for registration of domestic legal person
• electronic appliaction form for registratrion of foreign legal person

A person who wish to work as a trustee can also address written application to the competent organ (Ministry of Justice). There is no given format for written application (applicant can write its own application).

Electronic form:

Electronic forms can be found at this link and press "Enter the portal". Information about electronic procedures can be found here.