New Rules for Representing Entrepreneurs and Business Name Reservation

Representation of an Entrepreneur under the New Act

The new act precisely defines which entities will be able to represent an entrepreneur when filing applications with the Slovak Commercial Register. Naturally, actions taken by a statutory representative remain, by their very nature, the legal entity’s own actions. Beyond this, an entrepreneur will only be allowed to be represented by an attorney, a notary, or their own employee. In the case of representation by an employee, a written power of attorney must be officially verified in paper form or, alternatively, authorized by an attorney if it is in electronic form. It is therefore expected that, where representation is provided by an attorney or a notary, individual filings will not be rejected by courts and registrars, as they are handled by qualified professionals capable of assessing their correctness

Reservation of a Business Name

The business name reservation is a completely new concept in the Slovak legal system, bringing it in line with trends in other countries. Many of these countries are already well acquainted with this institution or a similar one. For entrepreneurs, this means in practice that if they wish to establish a new company or change the name of an existing company (e.g., as part of a rebranding), they can reserve the business name in advance for up to 60 days. The fee for this service will be EUR 50. The general conditions that a business name must meet are set forth in the Commercial Code and remain unchanged. In particular, a business name must not be confusingly similar to the name of another entrepreneur or give a misleading impression regarding the nature of the business or the entrepreneur itself.

Changes and Their Practical Impact

When business changes are necessary, an entrepreneur can turn to, for example, their attorney, who will not only prepare the necessary documentation but also file the documents on their behalf. Combined with the process of having documents authorized by an attorney, these changes offer a comprehensive solution and a simplified registration process for business changes. Similarly, the institution of business name reservation is a positive change that has the potential to bring greater stability and predictability for entrepreneurs when establishing a company or rebranding their brand.