Significant Amendment To The Slovak Commercial Code

A new amendment to the Slovak Commercial Code (Act No. 9/2013 Coll.) has been passed by the Slovak legislator (the "CC Amendment"), mainly as a result of implementation of the EU directive on combating late payment in commercial transactions. Effective 1 February 2013, the CC Amendment brings forward the following key changes:

New regulation on late payment in commercial transactions

The most significant changes in this regard concern (i) payment periods and (ii) statutory interest for late payment. The ultimate goal of these changes is to prevent late payments in commercial contracts concluded after 1 February 2013.

According to the previous regulation, the maturity of monetary obligation was left to contractual freedom, echoing the almost unlimited will of the contractual parties. The CC Amendment, although still providing the contractual parties with room to agree upon the payment period, narrows down the choice to a maximum of 60 calendar days from the later of (i) the