Nominate the Slovak Administrative Nonsense of 2015

Creative Commons

Are you running your own business? Do you possibly also think that in the jungle of Slovak legislation the common sense had died long time ago? That you live in ‘Absurdistan’ full of administrative nonsense? Then help us look for the nonsensical, illogical, duplicate, unrealistic, unnecessary or mutually exclusive duties by removing the administrative nonsense from our legal framework. How? All you have to do is to nominate your favourite “Administrative Nonsense of the year 2015”.

The fourth annual “Administrative nonsense of the year” competition is held by Young Entrepreneurs Association of Slovakia under the umbrella of the Entrepreneurs Association of Slovakia. The partners are The National Union of Employers and Slovak Business Agency. It is an “Anti-prize” for legislative measures that unnecessarily complicate the life of entrepreneurs in Slovakia. Goal of the project is to bring to light the biggest absurdities in the business environment. Candidates can be nominated by those who are most hindered by the administrative measures, i.e. by the entrepreneurs.

During the last round of the competition entrepreneurs ‘nominated’ 52 measures. From among them, the representatives of business associations chose 10 finalists. The winner was chosen via online voting in which participated over a thousand of individuals. In the end, the “Administrative Nonsense” for the year 2014 was awarded to the administrative measure ordering entrepreneurs to pay relatively high court fees when declaring insolvency of the firm (simply put: bankruptcy) because it does not have enough money. The nominee received 20 % of all votes.

The second place went to the measure regarding the extension of the duty to secure the health surveillance through work medical service also for employees executing the first and second labor category- for example people working in administration. As third was ranked the issuing of licenses for the transport of persons. According to the law, a concession granted by the District Office in the seat of the Region for providing taxi services is valid only for this region – and so a taxi with concession for Bratislava region can take the customer from Bratislava to Nitra, but cannot take other customer back from Nitra to Bratislava, if it does not have a concession also from Nitra Region (funny, but not so much for the taxi drivers…).

The selection of administrative nonsenses listed every year gives a perfect overview of how many obstacles entrepreneurs must overcome if they want to run business in Slovakia. Feel free to nominate a nonsense that bothers you most – visit www.byrokratickynezmysel.sk and submit your suggestion until this Sunday.

Translated by Juraj Medvec

Jan Oravec