On Monday, Slovak President Peter Pellegrini will return to the National Council of the Slovak Republic for re-discussion two laws that the deputies approved during the 49th parliamentary session. These are amendments to the laws on product conformity assessment, making the specified product available on the market and collective investment. The president rejected them for legislative stickers, which also changed unrelated laws. The Office of the President of the Slovak Republic informed about this on Monday.
- President Peter Pellegrini will return two laws to parliament for legislative stickers.
- The head of state announced that he will not accept stickers unrelated to laws.
- A change in the assessment of the feasibility study is key to the recovery plan.
- The new rules require that the 112 emergency line allows full text communication.
- The amendments allow tax refunds for unsold smokeless tobacco products after destruction.
“At my last meeting with the Speaker of the Parliament, I publicly warned the National Council of the Slovak Republic and the Government of the Slovak Republic that, in order to improve the quality of the legislative process, I will not accept so-called stickers that are not related to the law under discussion in the future. Given that in these laws, the sticker was in no way related to the topic of the law itself, I decided to return the two laws for renegotiation with this reservation.” said the president.
Along with the product conformity assessment law, the parliament also approved an amendment to the law on extraordinary measures for strategic investments and for the construction of the trans-European transport network. With this, the deputies removed the possibility of the government appointing an entity other than the Ministry of Finance (MF) of the Slovak Republic to carry out the evaluation of the feasibility study for strategic investments. This change is important for the fulfillment of one of the milestones of the recovery plan, since the European Commission (EC) did not agree with the previous adjustment and therefore there was a threat of the payment being cut.
The amendment of several other laws was supposed to ensure the requirement arising from the European directive that for emergency communication to the single European number 112, not only voice, but also text communication was used so that hearing-impaired people could write and receive text messages interactively and in real time. The amendment established the right of the subscriber using telecommunication services to use this method of emergency communication and the obligation of operators to ensure its transmission.
Amendments to the Act on Collective Investment also included changes to the Accounting Act, which introduced a transitional provision. These should enable accounting units with the obligation to report information on sustainability in the annual report for accounting periods starting from January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2026. use the exemption from this obligation when filing the annual report after May 31, 2026. The affected entities must meet at least one of the established size conditions for the exemption.
In this way, the deputies also amended the law on excise duty on tobacco products. The change was intended to enable a person who, by May 15, 2026, notifies the customs office of the number of consumer packs of smokeless tobacco products that were not sold by April 30, 2026 and requests their destruction, to refund the tax on tobacco or other fillings than tobacco. These are packages of smokeless tobacco products that have been marked with a control stamp with the indicated symbol for the validity of the tax rate G. This regulation takes effect on the day of the announcement.
