Slovak Financial Law News 2004

New Act on E-Commerce

Act No. 22/2004 Coll. on Electronic Commerce and amending and supplementing the Act No. 128/2002 Coll. on State Control of Internal Market in relation to Consumer Protection and amending and supplementing some acts as amended by Act No. 284/2002 Coll.

The new Act on Electronic Commerce regulates (i) relationships between providers of information society services and their recipients arising during their long-distance communication, during connection of electronic equipment via an electronic communication network and consisting of electronic processing, transmission, storage, search or collection of data including text, sound and picture, (ii) supervision over compliance with this Act, and also (iii) international co-operation in electronic commerce.

The stated Act does not relate to information society services, the subject of which are (i) taxes and fees, (ii) lotteries and other similar games except for consumer games and competitions orientated on sales promotion or provision of services, (iii) protected personal data in information systems, (iv) services of notaries public within the scope of execution of their public powers, (v) services of advocates in the representation of their clients in court proceedings, (vi) acts of court executors (bailiffs), and also (vii) agreements and conduct to which special regulations on protection of economic competition relate.

The Act on Electronic Commerce specifies basic terms to be used in the area of e-commerce, such as information society service, provider of information society services, recipient of information society services, commercial communication and coordinated field. The term ``information society service'' shall mean within the meaning of this Act any service normally provided for remuneration, at a distance, during connection of electronic equipment via an electronic communication network at the request of a recipient of an information society service, in particular commercial communication, processing, transmission, storage, retrieval or collection of data and electronic mail except for personal e-mail. The information society service shall not include radio and television broadcasting, including teletext, voice telephone services, telefax services and services which are excluded by their substance from being provided at a distance.

The legal regulation contained in the Act on Electronic Commerce is based on a principle of free provision of information society services. The information society services are characterised by the fact that no special authorisation or licence is required for their provision and the provision thereof is not subject to any registration. However, this is without prejudice to an obligation of a provider of information society services to satisfy general and special requirements belonging to the coordinated field (as defined in this Act). The aforesaid shall also apply to a service provider that provides information society services from the Member State of the EU (the ``Member State''). The term ``coordinated field'' shall mean, pursuant to the Act on Electronic Commerce, general and special requirements stipulated in the legal regulations of the Slovak Republic and the Member States related to service providers, in particular requirements for commencement of business activities, compliance with requirements of carrying on business, the quality of information society services and liability of a service provider. The Act also stipulates that a provider of information society services shall be considered under the law of the Member State in which its registered office is located.

The Act on Electronic Commerce also sets forth the essential information that a provider of the information society services is obliged to provide to a recipient of a service. The essential information to be so provided by the provider shall include e.g. the name, business name and registered seat of the service provider if it is a legal entity, or the first name, surname, place of business and permanent address of the service provider if it is a natural person, e-mail address, but also telephone number, name of the register or list in which the service provider has been registered and its registration number, as well as tax identification number of the service provider if it is a VAT payer. The mentioned information must be simply and permanently available to a recipient of a service and distinguishable from commercial communication. No information of commercial communication may be delivered to the recipient of the service by e-mail, if the recipient has not requested them from the service provider in advance. The Act also regulates reporting duties of a service provider in relation to a recipient of the service relating to conclusion of agreements by means of electronic equipment. The Act expressly stipulates that an agreement for which a decision of court, public administration authority or a Notary Public is required pursuant to a special regulation as well as agreements on security of liabilities cannot be concluded electronically.

The Act regulates cases of the exclusion of liability of a services provider as well. Based on the aforesaid, the services provider shall not be liable e.g. for transmitted information if the information society services consist exclusively of data transmission in the electronic communication network, or of provision of access to the electronic communication network, on the condition that the service provider has not given instruction to the transmission of information, has not selected a recipient of the information and has not prepared, or amended the information. The services provider shall be not liable for the information provided by a recipient of services and saved at the request of the recipient in the memory of electronic equipment intended for retrieval of information, if the services provider is not aware of the illegal content of the stored information or illegal conduct of the recipient of services and if the services provider acts without undue delay in order to eliminate the illegal situation; however, the service provider shall be liable for such information if the recipient of services acts upon its instructions.

The Slovak Trade Inspection Authority, as the general controlling authority in the internal market in relation to consumer protection, shall perform supervision over compliance with the Act on the Electronic Commerce.

This Act came into force on 1 February 2004.

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