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RPVS registration for foreign companies

RPVS registration for foreign companies in practice

A German supplier in a Slovak tender, an Austrian partner in an EU-funded project or a foreign subcontractor with more than 30% of the work: foreign entities register in the Slovak RPVS on the same terms as Slovak ones. The extra work lies in the paperwork. Extracts and articles must be authenticated by apostille or consular legalisation and officially translated into Slovak.

We trace the beneficial owner through foreign company registers and beneficial ownership registers such as Companies House, Zefix or the registers of EU member states. With trusts and offshore jurisdictions we need your active help and documents such as a Certificate of Incumbency or the trust deed. Authenticating documents abroad takes weeks, so we start well ahead of the contract signing date.

What we help with

  • We establish whether a document needs an apostille, legalisation or neither.
  • We arrange certified translations by translators listed with the Slovak Ministry of Justice.
  • We trace the chain of parent companies through foreign registers.
  • For trusts we identify trustees, settlors, beneficiaries and protectors.
  • We plan the registration around your signing date.

Worth knowing

Apostille or legalisation

States party to the 1961 Hague Convention authenticate documents by apostille; others require consular legalisation. Under Regulation (EU) 2016/1191 some EU public documents need no apostille, but they still need a translation.

Everything in Slovak

The verification document and its annexes must be in Slovak. Translations must be made by a translator listed with the Slovak Ministry of Justice.

Indicative timeframe

For EU countries with a beneficial ownership register it usually takes 2 to 4 weeks, for non-EU countries using apostilles 3 to 6 weeks, and with legalisation or offshore structures 6 to 12 weeks.

Common questions

  • When it contracts with the Slovak public sector or receives Slovak public funds above the statutory threshold. Typical cases are tender suppliers, EU grant recipients and subcontractors.

  • Registers in the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands or Panama offer little transparency. We therefore need a Certificate of Incumbency, an ownership declaration and, for a trust, the trust deed.

  • No. For RPVS only a certified translation by a translator listed with the Slovak Ministry of Justice is accepted.

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This page is for general information, reflects Slovak law at the time of writing and is not a substitute for advice on your particular matter.