Three new and important regulations have taken effect in the Slovak Republic on 1st September 2003,namely amendments of the Criminal Code and of the Civil Procedure Code and a brand new Act on Commercial Chains.

The Amendments of the Criminal Code

The amendment No.171/2003 Coll., of the Criminal Code No.140/1961 Coll., as amended, introduces into Slovak criminal law the controversial principle "three times is enough ",known particularly in the common law so far.On the basis of this principle, the judge must impose upon the offender the sentence of imprisonment for a life if the offender was sentenced already twice for any crime mentioned in Section 43 para 1 of the Criminal Code and the punishment had been served at least partly provided that

- the degree of danger represented by such crime to society is extremely high because of the particularly contemptible manner in which the crime was committed, or a particularly contemptible motive on the part of the offender, or a particularly serious result of the crime which it will be difficult to repair, - the imposition of such punishment is required for the effective protection of society and - there is no hope that the offender can be reformed by a prison sentence in duration between fifteen and twenty-five years.

The Amendments of the Civil Procedure Code

The amendment No.353/2003 Coll., of the Civil Procedure Code No.99/1963 Coll., as amended has extended the applicability of the concentration principle in the process of evidence taking in civil court proceedings of the first instance in order to avoid the delays in the proceedings. The parties of the proceedings have to submit or designate any evidence before the judgment of the court of first instance is rendered because evidence designated or submitted later shall not be taken into consideration. This amendment has specified the submission of the bias of the judge and some other questions concerning the proceedings before the courts of first and second instance. he amendment has completed also the regulation of some specific proceedings, particularly in the election matters, e.g. the proceedings in the registration matters of the candidates ’lists.

The Act on Commercial Chains

Chains, should prevent the abuse of economic power by the commercial chains in the business activity. The abuse of economic power is defined by the Act as the relation between the entrepreneur and his contractor in which the negotiating advantage of the entrepreneur results from his economic power and enables him to conclude a contract with his contractor under more advantageous conditions than he or she would achieve without such negotiating advantage. The next provision of the Act regulates more specifically which performances provided by the contractor on the basis of the contract with the entrepreneur or performances without such contract shall be considered the abuse of economic power. The Act prohibits the abuse of economic power and enacts the invalidity of all contracts, which have been made contrary to these provisions of the Act. The Act also specifies conditions under which the seller may label the goods by its own brand. The Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic supervises the compliance with this Act and may impose fines from 1 000 000 Sk to 10 000 000 Sk upon any entrepreneur not complying with the duties provided by the Act.

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