Selling into Slovakia through distributors

How the market buys

Slovakia is a compact market with a centralised procurement authority. Ministries and state agencies, the self-governing regions, municipalities, state hospitals and universities each buy for their own needs, but the rules and the national publication point are the same for all of them.

That publication point is the Úrad pre verejné obstarávanie (ÚVO), the Public Procurement Office. ÚVO makes the Vestník verejného obstarávania, the Public Procurement Bulletin, available on its website, along with a searchable directory of contracting authorities' buyer profiles and a set of public registers, including a list of economic operators. For a supplier the bulletin is the place to follow published notices, and the buyer profiles lead to individual authorities.

Slovak public buyers usually buy from companies that can submit in Slovak, invoice in the country and deliver and service locally. 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 (96% across the 30 EU and EEA countries); 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.

Lawful first contact

Slovakia is a country where two laws give different answers on a first e-mail to a company. Section 116 of Act No. 452/2021 Coll. on electronic communications sets the general rule in paragraph 3: electronic mail may be used for direct marketing only with the recipient's prior, demonstrable consent obtained before the contact. Paragraph 4 adds that e-mail may not be used to ask for that consent in the first place.

Paragraph 15 contains an exception for B2B. Prior consent is not required for direct marketing "addressed to the published contact details" of a subscriber or user who is a legal person or a natural person running a business. Two conditions apply to every such message: the recipient must be given a simple, free way to refuse further messages, each time; 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 Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications and Postal Services can fine a company that breaches these rules (section 124(3)).

The older Act No. 22/2004 Coll. on electronic commerce points the other way. Its §4(6) reads: "Poskytovateľ služieb nesmie doručovať informácie komerčnej komunikácie elektronickou poštou, ak si ich príjemca služby vopred nevyžiadal" — a service provider 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 states no exception for businesses or for published addresses; the Slovak Trade Inspection (SOI) supervises it and can impose fines (sections 7 and 7a). The Advertising Act No. 147/2001 Coll. adds in §3(3) that advertising must not be spread by e-mail without the prior consent of the user who receives it. Section 3(4) of the e-commerce act assesses a provider established in another EU Member State under the law of that state, but as of 5 November 2026 we could not confirm how a Slovak authority applies that to cold e-mail, and it does not help senders from outside the EU. We also found no guidance from a Slovak authority or court on how §116(15) and §4(6) fit together.

In practice, until a regulator or court reconciles the two, the cautious route is to make the first contact by letter to the company's registered address or by phone, and to e-mail once the distributor has agreed or contacted you. If you do e-mail, write only to the contact address the distributor publishes — on its website or in its company details — not to an address you guessed or bought; make the message about what the company sells, identify your company fully, include a one-click or reply-to-stop opt-out, and honour any refusal at once. Writing in Slovak, or at least opening in Slovak, is a courtesy that gets read. If you write to a named employee, data protection law applies to that personal data as well.

What local distributors expect

Slovak distributors are used to working with manufacturers from neighbouring countries and expect a straightforward commercial offer:

• Slovak-language documentation for tenders: technical sheets, instructions and declarations, ready to go into a bid without translation.
• Conformity evidence for the category — CE marking, declarations of conformity, test reports — ready to attach to a bid.
• A clear price list with a distributor margin, project pricing for tenders, and a position on price changes during a framework agreement.
• Lead times you can keep and a plan for service and spare parts, ideally with stock held regionally.
• A defined territory and a frank discussion of exclusivity, especially if the distributor also covers the Czech market.
• References and samples, ideally from public buyers in neighbouring markets.

How to enter, step by step

1. Read the record for your categories. Choose the CPV codes that describe your range and look at Slovak contract award notices on TED for the larger contracts, and at ÚVO's Vestník verejného obstarávania for national notices. The directory of buyer profiles leads to individual hospitals, regions and municipalities; note which distributors win repeatedly.
2. Check the electronic marketplace. EKS, the electronic contracting system, runs an electronic marketplace for commonly available goods and services, with an overview of orders and a register of marketplace contracts. Its site states that suppliers must have a valid entry in the list of economic operators kept by ÚVO to trade there, so ask a prospective distributor whether it is listed and already sells your category on the marketplace.
3. Prepare Slovak-language documentation. Technical sheets, instructions and declarations in Slovak, ready to go into a bid without translation.
4. Assemble conformity evidence. CE marking, declarations of conformity and test reports, ready to attach to a bid.
5. Make the first contact by letter or phone. Because §4(6) of the e-commerce act requires commercial e-mail to be requested in advance, write to the company's registered address or call first, and move to e-mail once the distributor has agreed or contacted you. If you e-mail, use only the contact address the distributor publishes, identify your company fully, keep the message about what the company sells, include a one-click or reply-to-stop opt-out and honour any refusal at once; opening in Slovak is a courtesy that gets read.
6. Prepare the first meeting. Bring a clear price list with a distributor margin, project pricing for tenders and a position on price changes during a framework agreement, lead times you can keep, a plan for service and spare parts, and a defined territory, especially if the distributor also covers the Czech market.
7. Follow the results. Provide references and samples, ideally from public buyers in neighbouring markets, and use later award notices to see where your range wins.

Where the evidence comes from

Above the EU thresholds — EUR 140,000 for supplies and services bought by central government bodies and EUR 216,000 for other public authorities from 1 January 2026 — Slovak buyers must publish contract award notices, and those notices appear on TED, the online supplement to the Official Journal of the EU. Each notice names the winning company and carries CPV codes, so the distributors that repeatedly win, for example, hospital equipment or office furniture contracts across Slovak regions can be identified from the public record. National notices are published in ÚVO's bulletin.

Cresques reads the award notices for the CPV categories you choose and shows who already sells that category in Slovakia. It does not help you bid for the contracts; the notices are evidence of who the buyers already trust, and the cautious first contact above is how you reach them.