September 2024 – At the beginning of August 2024, the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic released its annual statistical yearbook for 2023 (please see here: Statistical Yearbook 2023). At the time of publication, the effects of the so-called judicial map reforms that were initiated in 2023 had not yet manifested themselves in any significant way. However, we have identified several intriguing trends and other data that we would like to bring to your attention.
Civil and commercial litigation
- In 2023, courts in the Slovak Republic handled 39,920 civil cases, with 110,392 disputes (including commercial cases), which is 7,742 fewer cases than in 2022.
- Based on an overview of the duration of proceedings in district court civil cases in 2023, the average time to final settlement of such cases was 18.98 months (in comparison to 2022, when the average time was 19.93 months). The average time taken to process a case from filing to final conclusion in cases concerning employment law was 44.15 months; in cases concerning liability for damage, 39.55 months; and in cases concerning commercial law, 29.59 months.
- In 2023, regional courts in the Slovak Republic handled 3,378 appeals against decisions of district courts in commercial cases. The highest percentage of confirmed decisions was recorded by the district courts in the district of the Regional Court in Banská Bystrica (60.89%), while the highest percentage of cancelled and returned decisions was recorded by the district courts in the district of the Regional Court in Bratislava (17.95%).
Administrative judiciary
- In 2023, proceedings in administrative cases in district, regional and administrative courts took on average 22.61 months, which is approximately 1.6 months longer than in 2022. On average, the decisions on legal remedies against the decisions of administrative bodies took the longest time—80.38 months nationwide.
- In 2023, the courts handled 1,975 administrative cases, 984 cases fewer than in 2022. The largest group of cases handled (up to 96%) were those concerning decisions on appeals against administrative procedure, totalling 1,899 cases.
- As of 31 December 2023, the Bratislava Administrative Court still had only 26 judges. The intended number was 44 judges. As of the same date, this court also had only half (44) of the intended number of 88 employees at its disposal.
- As of 31 December 2023, a total of 9,696 cases were pending before administrative courts, of which up to 6,126 fell under the Bratislava Administrative Court.
Bankruptcy and restructuring
- As of 31 December 2023, there were a total of 2,745 ongoing bankruptcy proceedings in Slovakia. During 2023, 310 bankruptcies and 107 small bankruptcies were declared.
- In 2023, 47 restructuring proposals were processed, of which 23 were processed by the initiating restructuring proceedings. In total, 22 restructuring proposals were approved.
- In 2023, the courts decided on 2,866 incidental disputes (most of them in Bratislava). As of
31 December 2023, 2,060 of such disputes were pending.
Commercial Register
- In 2023, a total of 135,676 filings were submitted to the registry courts, a decrease of 82,557 (a 37.8% decrease) in comparison to the previous year. Based on a data comparison from the individual registry courts, the highest number of filings and entries were delivered to the Municipal Court Bratislava III and Bratislava I District Court (34.2% of the total number of filings) in the previous year. They are followed by registration courts –District Court Žilina (11.2%), District Court Nitra (10.9%), and together Municipal Court Košice and District Court Košice I (10.5%).
For more information, please contact Kinstellar’s Dispute Resolution Team.