Entering Slovakia through distributors: local dealers, tenders in ÚVO's Vestník, the public-sector partner register and a cautious first contact

Slovakia suits a manufacturer that wants a compact market with one national publication point, clear rules on who may be paid with public money, and a first contact best made by letter or phone, because two Slovak laws disagree on cold e-mail to companies.

Putting it simply: Slovak hospitals, regions, municipalities and state bodies buy mostly from local distributors and dealers that bid in Slovak, invoice in the country and service what they deliver. Notices are published in the Vestník of ÚVO, the Public Procurement Office, larger awards also appear on TED, and public contracts go into the Centrálny register zmlúv, so the companies that already sell your category can be found by name. Buyers expect Slovak documents, a checkable company record and, on larger contracts, an entry in the register of public-sector partners. The electronic communications act allows e-mail to a company's published contact details without prior consent, but the e-commerce act bans commercial e-mail the recipient did not ask for, so write or phone first.

How the market buys

Local distributors, often with a Czech link

In technical and professional categories the usual route is a Slovak distributor that holds stock, delivers, services and prepares bids. In our analysis of TED award notices for supplies (September 2026), 94% of the winners in the 2,949 notices from buyers in Slovakia were companies registered in the country; those local winners include distributors and dealers as well as manufacturers' own local subsidiaries (see our methodology). A foreign manufacturer enters by being listed with them.

The Czech link is written into procurement law: Slovak tenders accept bids and documents in Slovak or Czech, and only documents in other languages need an official translation (Act No. 343/2015 Coll. on public procurement, § 20(20)). Some Czech distributors also cover Slovakia, so when you discuss territory with a partner in either country, ask about the other.

Several trade fairs meet at the Agrokomplex exhibition grounds in Nitra, for example Aquatherm Nitra for building services (9 to 11 February 2027), Nábytok a Bývanie for furniture (21 to 25 April 2027) and Future Expo for engineering and industry (19 to 22 May 2027).

Tenders shape the distributor's year

All public buyers work under the same Act and publish through the same office, and a distributor's first order for a new brand is often tied to one tender. The useful question is who wins your CPV codes, for which buyers, in which regions.

The proof Slovak buyers expect

Documents in Slovak

The State Language Act (Act No. 270/1995 Coll.) requires Slovak in the places a distributor cares about most:

• Labelling of the contents of domestic and imported goods, instructions for use, warranty terms and other consumer information must be in Slovak, to the extent set by specific laws (§ 8(1)).
• Technical documentation that has to be prepared or submitted for an official procedure must be in Slovak; a version in another language may accompany it (§ 8(3)).
• In proceedings before public bodies, a contract in another official EU language is recognised alongside the Slovak text, but where the two differ, the Slovak text prevails (§ 8(5)).

In a tender, bids and supporting documents go in Slovak or Czech (Act No. 343/2015 Coll., § 20(20)). Expect a distributor to ask for technical sheets, instructions and declarations in Slovak or Czech.

Conformity evidence

CE marking under the EU legislation for your product is the baseline; expect to be asked for the declaration of conformity and the test reports behind it.

A company record that can be checked

Slovak buyers check counterparties in public registers: the commercial register of the Ministry of Justice (ORSR), searchable by name or identification number, and the trade licence register of the Ministry of the Interior (ŽRSR), searchable by the eight-digit IČO. ÚVO keeps a public list of economic operators that have proved their standing for procurement (§ 152), and buyers must recognise an equivalent entry from another member state (§ 152(3)).

The register of public-sector partners

A distinctively Slovak requirement is the Register partnerov verejného sektora (RPVS), run by the Ministry of Justice with the District Court in Žilina as registering body (Act No. 315/2016 Coll., § 3(1)). A company that receives money from public bodies, public enterprises or health insurers, or concludes a public contract, is a public-sector partner (§ 2(1)(a)), unless the contract brings it no more than €100,000 as a one-off payment or no more than €250,000 in total across partial or repeated payments (§ 2(2) and (3)). The definition also reaches a supplier that, directly or through others, delivers goods to those parties and knows or should know that its deliveries relate to such a contract (§ 2(1)(a), point 7). Registration is filed through an authorised person, such as a Slovak lawyer, notary, bank, auditor or tax adviser (§ 2(1)(c)).

A buyer may not sign a contract with a bidder, or a bidder whose subcontractors, should be registered and are not (Act No. 343/2015 Coll., § 11(1)(a) and (b)). Ask a prospective distributor for its RPVS entry, and check with your adviser whether your own deliveries for a large public contract would bring you within the register.

Invoicing

From 1 January 2027, a VAT payer registered under § 4, 4b or 4c of the Slovak VAT Act (a business established in Slovakia, or a VAT group) that supplies goods or services with a place of supply in Slovakia to a taxable person established in the country, or to a non-taxable legal person seated there, must issue a structured electronic invoice, in a data structure that follows the technical standard for e-invoicing, within 15 days of the supply (Act No. 222/2004 Coll., § 85o(2) to (4) and (6), version in force from 1 January 2027). The invoice data are reported to the Financial Directorate through a delivery service (§ 85o(9) to (11)), with fines of up to €10,000 for failing to report (§ 85o(12)); exempt supplies are outside the rule. These transitional provisions run from 1 January 2027 to 30 June 2030 (§ 85o(1)). As of November 2026 we could not confirm on an official Slovak source what role the existing IS EFA system will play after that date. Your distributor will be affected. A foreign company registered for Slovak VAT under § 5 is not among the payers that § 85o(2) lists, but check whether the rule reaches your own invoicing with your tax adviser.

Payment terms

Under § 340a of the Commercial Code (Act No. 513/1991 Coll.), an agreed payment term for goods or services may not exceed 60 days from delivery of the invoice or from performance, whichever is later, unless a longer term is expressly agreed and is not grossly unfair to the creditor. A public-law debtor must pay within 30 days; a longer term, never beyond 60 days, is allowed only by express agreement justified by the nature of the supply (§ 340b(1)). The same rules apply to a company registered in RPVS when it pays for goods and services that are evidently supplied for the benefit of a public body (§ 340b(7)), such as a distributor paying for a hospital contract. Check contract terms with your adviser.

Where public demand is visible

Slovak procurement is published in layers, set by the estimated value of the contract excluding VAT (Act No. 343/2015 Coll., version in force from 2 August 2026).

• Under €50,000 in a calendar year, or over the life of a longer contract, the Act does not apply (§ 1(14)).
• Below-threshold contracts (podlimitné zákazky): from €50,000 up to the EU threshold (§ 5(3)). The buyer invites at least three economic operators to bid through the dedicated function of the electronic platform, or uses another procedure the Act allows; for goods and services commonly available on the market it may use the platform's dedicated function, with framework agreements limited to 12 months (§ 108(2)).
• Above-threshold contracts (nadlimitné zákazky): from the limit set by an ÚVO decree (§ 5(2)). From 1 January 2026 the EU thresholds for supplies and services are €140,000 for central government authorities and €216,000 for other contracting authorities (Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/2152). These notices go to the Official Journal of the EU and appear on TED.

ÚVO publishes the Vestník verejného obstarávania electronically on working days, with notices sent through the eForms system and searchable in full text. The electronic platform for awarding contracts (§ 13) has been administered since 1 January 2025 by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for the Recovery Plan and the Knowledge Economy (§ 187u).

The central contract register

Contracts that public bodies conclude with public money must be published (Act No. 211/2000 Coll., § 5a(1)) in the Centrálny register zmlúv, the electronic register kept by the Government Office (§ 5a(6) to (8)). Such a contract takes effect on the day after publication, and if it is not published within three months of conclusion, it is deemed not to have been concluded (Civil Code, Act No. 40/1964 Coll., § 47a(1) and (4)). Searching it by supplier and buyer shows deliveries that never reach TED.

Lawful first contact

Section 116(3) of Act No. 452/2021 Coll. on electronic communications sets the general rule: e-mail may be used for direct marketing only with the recipient's prior, demonstrable consent, and § 116(4) forbids using e-mail to ask for that consent. Section 116(15) makes an exception for B2B: no prior consent is needed for direct marketing "addressed to the published contact details" of a user who is a legal person or a natural person running a business. Every message must offer a simple, free way to refuse further messages, and e-mail that hides the sender's identity, or gives no address to which the recipient can send a request to stop, is prohibited.

The older Act No. 22/2004 Coll. on electronic commerce says the opposite. Its § 4(6) provides that a service provider "nesmie doručovať informácie komerčnej komunikácie elektronickou poštou, ak si ich príjemca služby vopred nevyžiadal": it must not deliver commercial communication by e-mail unless the recipient asked for it in advance. The act defines the recipient as any natural or legal person and makes no exception for businesses or published addresses; the Slovak Trade Inspection (SOI) supervises it and can fine (§ 7 and 7a). The Advertising Act No. 147/2001 Coll., § 3(3), also requires prior consent for advertising by e-mail. Section 3(4) of the e-commerce act assesses a provider established in another EU Member State under that state's law, but as of 5 November 2026 we could not confirm how a Slovak authority applies this to cold e-mail, and we found no guidance from a Slovak authority or court reconciling § 116(15) with § 4(6).

In practice, until a regulator or court settles it, make the first contact by letter to the company's registered address, by phone or at a fair, and move to e-mail once the distributor has agreed or replied. If you do e-mail, write only to the address the distributor publishes on its website or in its company details, not to one you guessed or bought. Identify your company fully, include an opt-out and honour any refusal at once; opening in Slovak gets read. If you write to a named employee, data protection law applies to that personal data as well. This is a summary, not legal advice; check your outreach plan with your adviser. The Slovakia market page sets out the rules and the steps.

What this means for a manufacturer

• Find the distributors through TED, ÚVO's Vestník and the Centrálny register zmlúv.
• Check each candidate in ORSR or ŽRSR and in RPVS, and have your own register extract and VAT number ready for theirs.
• Prepare Slovak or Czech documents first: technical sheets, instructions, declarations and price lists, ready for a bid.
• Keep payment terms within the Commercial Code: no more than 60 days without express agreement, and 30 days, at most 60, where the money comes from a public buyer.
• Make the first contact by letter, by phone or at a fair in Nitra, and e-mail the published company address, with your identity and an opt-out, once the distributor has agreed or replied.

Where Cresques fits

Create a market for Slovakia, choose your CPV categories (or let the materials reader suggest them from a brochure or website), and Cresques shows the companies named in TED award notices for those categories, with personal details removed, along with the trade fairs where your industry meets. A company profile shows every award with value and buyer and an AI-researched role, distinguishing an independent distributor from a manufacturer's own subsidiary; for Slovak companies whose filed accounts we import, paid plans also show their financials. The first message is drafted in Slovak, with an English version, together with advice on the channel, which for Slovakia sets out the conflict between the two acts and the cautious route of a letter or call first; you send it yourself. Below the EU thresholds, Cresques does not yet show Slovak awards; search ÚVO's Vestník and the Centrálny register zmlúv yourself.