Slovak courts are often requested to issue preliminary injunctions in civil or commercial disputes. A preliminary injunction serves primarily as a tool to prevent certain actions or harmful effects, e.g., not to dispose of real estate property in order to prevent undesired disposal, or not to terminate a certain contract. A Slovak court may order a preliminary injunction either (i) if it is necessary, without delay, to determine (legal) relations, or (ii) if there is a threat that the potential enforcement may be endangered.
It is also possible to ask a Slovak court to issue a preliminary injunction prior to the initiation of arbitration proceedings, or following the initiation of the arbitration proceedings but prior to the appointment of an arbitrator/arbitral tribunal. However, after the initiation of arbitration proceedings and appointment of an arbitrator/arbitral tribunal, the arbitration court has exclusive jurisdiction to issue a preliminary injunction.
Timeframe:
Under Slovak law, the court may issue a preliminary injunction:
- prior to commencement of the court proceedings,
- during the court proceedings, or
- after the termination of the court proceedings.
The court has a statutory deadline to decide on the application for
a preliminary
injunction within 30 days
following the receipt of the application fulfilling
all statutory requirements. An exceptional case is the application
for a preliminary injunction in order to prevent entrance into a
house or apartment, in case of a reasonable suspicion of violence,
in which case the court must decide within 24 hours from the
receipt of the application.
Main advantages:
- Relatively quick decision of the court on the application, mainly due to statutory deadlines;
- The court usually decides on the application based on the evidence submitted by the applicant, without a hearing and without giving an opportunity to the other party (respondent) to comment on the application;
- If the application is dismissed by the court, the other party (respondent) is not informed about it;
- The court decision on granting the injunction is valid and effective upon delivery, unless a special law stipulates otherwise.
Obstacles:
- Serving the issued preliminary injunction to the respondent and confirmation of its delivery;
- Enforcement of the issued preliminary injunction is not always easy;
- The appeal process may take longer due to the lack of a statutory deadline;
- Damage / harm caused by the preliminary injunction and its recovery.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.