Office

A complaint pursuant to Act No. 9/2010 Coll. on Complaints, as amended, is a submission by a natural person or legal entity (hereinafter referred to as the "complainant"), by which

• seeking protection of his/her rights or legally protected interests which he/she believes have been violated by the action or inaction of a public administration body,
• points to specific deficiencies, in particular breaches of legal provisions, the elimination of which is within the competence of the public authority.

The complaint must be legible and comprehensible. It must be clear who it is directed against, what shortcomings it refers to and what the complainant is seeking.

The complaint must be in writing and may be submitted in paper or electronic form.

The complaint must contain the name, surname and residence address of the complainant. If the complaint is lodged by a legal person, it must contain the name and registered office of the legal person and the name and surname of the person authorised to act for it.

A complaint in documentary form must contain the complainant's handwritten signature.

A complaint submitted in electronic form must be authorised by the complainant in accordance with a specific provision¹; this shall not apply if the complaint has been sent via an access point which requires successful authentication of the complainant².

If a complaint submitted in electronic form is neither authorised in accordance with a specific regulation1 nor sent via an access point requiring successful authentication of the complainant² , the complainant must, within five working days of its submission, acknowledge it by signing it in his or her own handwriting, by authorising it in accordance with a specific regulation¹ or by sending it via an access point requiring successful authentication of the complainant², otherwise the complaint shall be discarded.

Where the complainant chooses a representative to lodge a complaint on his/her behalf, the complaint shall include a written authorisation with a certified signature³ (hereinafter referred to as 'the authorisation') to represent the complainant in lodging the complaint and in the acts related to the handling of the complaint. If the complaint is submitted in electronic form, the procedure for representing the complainant shall be as laid down in a special regulation⁴. If the representative does not attach a power of attorney to the complaint, the public authority shall withdraw the complaint. The obligation to enclose a power of attorney shall not apply to the representation of the complainant by a lawyer pursuant to a special regulation⁵.

A complaint can be lodged:

• in paper form to the following address
  the Industrial Property Office of the Slovak Republic
  Švermova 43
  974 04 Banská Bystrica 4
• in electronic form to the address of the electronic filing office of the Office of the Industrial Property Office of the SR located on the portal
  www.slovensko.sk

[1] Section 23 (1) of Act No. 305/2013 Coll. on the electronic form of exercising the powers of public authorities and on amending and supplementing certain acts (Act on e-Government) as amended by Act No. 273/2015 Coll.

[2] Section 19 of Act No. 305/2013 Coll. on e-Government, as amended.

[3] Section 58(1) of Act No. 323/1992 Coll. of the Slovak National Council on Notaries and Notarial Activities (Notarial Regulations), as amended; Act No. 599/2001 Coll. on Certification of Deeds and Signatures on Documents by District Offices and Municipalities, as amended.

[4] Section 23(3) of Act No. 305/2013 Coll. on e-Government.

[5] Act No. 586/2003 Coll. on advocacy and on amendment and supplementation of Act No. 455/1991 Coll. on trade business (Trade Licensing Act), as amended.

Pursuant to Act No. 85/1990 Coll. on the Right of Petition, as amended (hereinafter referred to as the "Petition Act"), everyone has the right to address, alone or with others, requests and proposals (hereinafter referred to as "petitions") to public authorities in matters of public interest or other common interest.

A petition shall not interfere with the independence of the judiciary and shall not call for the violation of the Constitution, laws and legally binding acts of the European Union, the denial or restriction of personal, political or other rights.

The petitioners may form a petition committee for the purpose of drawing up the petition, obtaining signatures and delivering the petition to the Industrial Property Office of the Slovak Republic (hereinafter referred to as 'the Office').

The petition shall designate a person to represent the petitioner in dealings with the Office who has reached the age of 18 years (hereinafter referred to as the 'representative'). Where a petition committee is formed, the representative shall be appointed by the members of the petition committee.

The petition shall be in writing, marked 'petition' and shall state the subject matter of public or other social interest. Each member of the petition committee shall state in the petition his name, surname and residential address.¹ The representative shall add his signature to his name, surname and residential address¹ in the petition. The written form shall also be deemed to be preserved if the petition is submitted through a petition system or is submitted electronically and signed by a guaranteed electronic signature² of the person submitting the petition.

If the petition does not comply with the requirements of the preceding paragraph, the Authority shall invite the representative or the person who submitted the petition in writing to remedy the deficiencies of the petition within 30 working days of receipt of the invitation at the latest. If the deficiencies in the petition are not remedied within the time limit, the Office shall withdraw the petition.

The handling of petitions under the Petitions Act shall not be subject to the general rules on administrative procedure.³

Unless otherwise provided for in the Petition Law, the provisions of Act No 9/2010 Coll.. shall apply mutatis mutandis to the receipt, registration, handling and control of petitions. on complaints.

Petíciu možno podať:

• písomne na adresu
  Úrad priemyselného vlastníctva SR
  Švermova 43
  974 04 Banská Bystrica 4
• elektronicky (ak je podpísaná zaručeným elektronickým podpisom² osoby podávajúcej petíciu) na adresu elektronickej podateľne ÚPV SR na portáli www.slovensko.sk

A petition can be submitted:

• in writing to
  Industrial Property Office of the Slovak Republic
  Švermova 43
  974 04 Banská Bystrica 4
• electronically (if signed with a guaranteed electronic signature2 of the person submitting the petition) to the address of the electronic filing office of IPO SK on the portal www.slovensko.sk

¹ For example, Act No. 253/1998 Coll. on the Reporting of the Residence of Citizens of the Slovak Republic and the Population Register of the Slovak Republic, as amended, Act No. 404/2011 Coll. on the Residence of Foreigners and on Amendments and Additions to Certain Acts, as amended.

² Act No. 272/2016 Coll. on trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market and on amendment and supplementation of certain acts (Act on trust services), as amended.

³ Act No 71/1967 Coll. on Administrative Proceedings (Administrative Procedure Code), as amended.

Act no. 54/2019 Coll. on the Protection of Whistleblowers of Anti-Social Activity and on Amendments and Additions to Certain Acts (hereinafter referred to as "the Act") regulates the conditions for providing protection to persons in an employment relationship in connection with the reporting of crime or other anti-social activity (hereinafter referred to as "anti-social activity") and also the rights and obligations of persons when reporting anti-social activity.

Under the Act, a whistleblower is a natural person who, in good faith, makes a notification to the competent authority stating the facts of which he or she has become aware in connection with the exercise of his or her occupation, profession, position or function or in connection with an activity in the public interest and which relate to anti-social activity.

The responsible person within the meaning of the Act shall be an employee of the personnel office.

Notification of anti-social activities may be done in following manners:

In writing to the
Industrial Property Office of the Slovak Republic
Personal Office
Švermova 43
974 04  Banská Bystrica
Slovakia

The notifier places the notification in a sealed envelope with the visible marking "Notification of anti-social behaviour - DO NOT OPEN"

Electronically to the following e-mail address
protispolcinnostindprop.gov.sk, 

In person to the responsible person at the premises of the Industrial Property Office of the SR in Banská Bystrica (on working days during office hours).