Amendment to Arbitration Act

31. 03. 2010

Recently, the Arbitration Act has undergone major changes. On 9 March 2010, the National Council of the Slovak Republic adopted its Amendment coming into force on 1 July 2010. Its legislative aim is to react on the expanding misuse in relation to the institution of the arbitrator in consumer matters and to impose a more extensive state control on arbitral tribunals hearing consumer disputes. The last amendment enables the arbitral tribunals to resolve also labour disputes. In addition, the new law sets forth more details as to the constituting of permanent arbitral tribunals, their administration and the liability for their conduct. The supervision over permanent arbitral tribunals is to become more stringent, especially over those hearing consumer and labour disputes. At the same time, the status of the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic as the supervisory and sanctioning body is to be strengthened. The Amendment has introduced a new manner of constituting a permanent arbitral tribunal attached to a legal person, namely constituting the tribunal by virtue of law. Such regulation should enable resolution of some legal matters only by permanent arbitral tribunals which will disburden the general courts. The modifications aim at enhancing the quality and the esteem of arbitral proceedings as well as keeping the public better informed about the conduct of the individual permanent arbitral tribunals. more

What to Avoid When Awarding Public Contracts

23. 02. 2010

Based on our experience, we have prepared an analysis of 10 most common mistakes made by authorities awarding public contracts. This has shown that the contracting authorities, when inviting to submit a bid, make three types of mistakes: their contract specifications are rather insufficient; they set out discriminatory requirements or artificially subdivide above limit contracts. By doing so, the contracting authorities fail to realise that the faulty setting of the contract specification may be easily challenged by the participants which, in the better case, means a prolongation of the award procedure counted in months; in the worse case, a fine may be imposed by the Office for the Protection of Competition. more

New Regulation of Public Procurement in Slovakia

01. 02. 2010

On 1 January 2010, an Amendment to the Public Procurement Act (Act No. 25/2006 Z.z., as amended) came into force which amended the law in connection with the necessity to implement the subject of Directive 2007/66/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (“The Remedies Directive”). more

Slovakia Coping with EU Telco Regulation

11. 01. 2010

In the modern world information form one of the most important factors, which are affecting the quality of peoples’ lives. Relationships between people, mutually exchanging information, shall be, however, regulated and legally governed. Transmission of information in the form of signals from the transmitter to the receiver of the signal via wires as well as facilitating of such transmission is designated as telecommunications (according to the new EU terminology – electronic communications). more

Special Institutes of Licence Agreements in IT

15. 12. 2009

With respect to computer programs, for evident reasons (such as economic and time pressures, and the large scope of the necessary activity) they are created, in addition to creation by one author, by a wider circle of people or as a so-called employee work, which has consequences in the conclusion of licence agreements to these works. more

IT Products as Employee's Piece of Work

15. 12. 2009

Computer Programs as the Object of Legal Relations. The eligibility of computer programs to be the object of legal (and economic) relations is established by the Civil Code which stipulates in Section 118 that the object of civil relations are things, and if their nature admits, rights or any other proprietary values. With regard to the relevant provisions of the Copyright Act we can say that a computer program is intangible property (proprietary value) to which special rights enabling the bearer to economically evaluate the computer program are connected. These rights (in their pure nature) guarantee an author an exclusive position in which the author is entitled to dispose of a computer program without restraint and use it in a manner which its nature enables. At the same time the Copyright Act stipulates the duty for all other entities to refrain from any action that would be in conflict with the author’s rights. more

Concept of Public Interest in Decisions of European Institutions

15. 12. 2009

Public interest is a concept belonging to the category of indefinite concepts, making its definition neither easy nor directly possible. Public interest is interpreted differently by the individual decision-making bodies and changes through time. Also, there is a difference in terminology. Terms such as general interest (in connection with the European Court of Human Rights, “ECHR”) and categorical reasons of general interest (in connection with the European Court of Justice, “ECJ”) appear. The authors of this article want to summarise the actual reflection of this concept in the existing decisions of European court institutions. more

Defects in Computer Programs in Light of Legislation

15. 12. 2009

An interesting and, in the authors’ opinion, very underestimated issue in connection with the creation of a computer program is both the regulation of a contract on the creation of a work and in particular the issues connected with any eventual defects in the work so created (a computer program). With regard to the significance, the issue of defects and liability for defects in practical application, in the acceptance and of course in a dispute, the authors try to offer insight from a different perspective. more

Pitfalls of Handover and Takeover of Work in Information Technologies (IT) and Acceptance Procedure

15. 12. 2009

The proper and timely handover and takeover of a work, not only in the field of information technologies, generally means the fulfillment of the contractor’s (supplier’s) obligations and the creation of the right to the payment of the price and to the work for the client. However, the interests of clients and contractors of information systems may sometimes seem contradictory for the reasons mentioned above. more

Territoriality and Conflict Issues of Licence Agreements in IT

15. 12. 2009

In connection with the possible presence of a foreign element in contractual relations arising from licence agreements it is necessary to emphasise an important feature of author`s rights (as well as industrial rights), which is their territorial limitation. These rights are acquired according to the territoriality principle and their protection is provided only for an area of the given legal order, that is, for the area of the given state. more