Slovak parliament passes anti-letterbox law to improve transparency

Introducing higher transparency in trading between the state and private firms will be the function of a new law passed in parliament on Tuesday on the registry of public sector partners, what is known as the anti-letterbox law.

"Through the anti-letterbox law, we are unveiling who the state trades with. Those who want to lie will expose themselves to sanctions, up to erasure from the registry and a ban from applying for public funds," stressed Slovak Justice Minister Lucia Zitnanska.

It covers all forms of operations involving public resources. Every firm that wants to do business with the state will have to sign up to a registry of public sector partners and disclose its whole ownership structure.

The registry should be publicly accessible via the internet. Not only will companies applying for money from state or local administration budgets have to register, but so will those applying for money from state funds or state-run companies.

Public officials will have to be put on the list as well. If they are part of the management or ownership structures of a private company, they'll have to reveal this. False data could result in their dismissal or in the stripping of profits from the firm concerned.

All those undergoing bankruptcy proceedings or restructuring claimed receivables worth more than one million euros (1.08 million U.S. dollars) from an entity that has been registered in the past five years as a partner of the public sector will also have to register. Endit