On registration in the register of public sector partners (RPVS), the agreement with the authorised person is often treated as a formality to be attached to the application. In reality it determines who supplies information to whom and when, on which the statutory deadlines depend, and who bears the consequences when something is missed. If you have been registered for years and have not read the agreement since, it is worth going back to it.
Why the agreement is mandatory and what rules govern it
An authorised person is an attorney, notary, bank, auditor or tax adviser who has undertaken, under a written agreement, to discharge the duties of an authorised person for a particular partner (Section 2(1)(c) of Act No. 315/2016 Coll.). The agreement, together with a declaration that the authorised person has no relationship with the partner under Section 19, is attached to the application for registration of the authorised person (Section 5(3)). The Act also determines which contractual type governs it:
The provisions of the Commercial Code on the inspection contract apply by analogy to an agreement on the discharge of the duties of an authorised person for a public sector partner.
— Section 16(4) of Act No. 315/2016 Coll. (unofficial English translation)
Under an inspection contract, the inspector undertakes to establish impartially the condition of a particular matter and to issue a certificate about it (Section 591 of the Commercial Code). In the RPVS, that certificate is the verification document. The inspector must proceed with professional care (Section 593) and the customer must give it the necessary cooperation (Section 596).
Impartiality cannot be contracted away
When identifying ultimate beneficial owners, an authorised person is not bound by the partner’s instructions (Section 11(5) of Act No. 315/2016 Coll.). The Commercial Code adds a rule that applies to the agreement by analogy:
Provisions of the contract imposing on the inspector duties that could affect the impartiality of the inspection carried out or the correctness of the inspection certificate are invalid.
— Section 592(2) of Act No. 513/1991 Coll. (unofficial English translation)
A clause providing that the authorised person is to register the ultimate beneficial owners as instructed by the client, or may not apply for registration of a change without the client’s consent, therefore does not stand up. Notifying a change of ultimate beneficial owner is a statutory duty of the authorised person (Section 9(1)), not a service the client can switch off. For the company this is ultimately an advantage: a verification document produced impartially is easier to defend against a qualified challenge.
What the agreement must cover
The scope of verifications. The Act requires verification as at 31 December and notification of it by 28 February of the following year (Section 11(2)(c) and (8)), and further on a change of ultimate beneficial owner, on registration of a new authorised person, on conclusion or amendment of a contract above the statutory threshold, and on performance exceeding EUR 1,000,000 within 30 days (Section 11(2)). The agreement should expressly cover all of those situations, not merely the annual verification.
The partner’s information duties. The authorised person learns of events only from you. Where a contract above the threshold is concluded, verification is carried out no earlier than ten days before it is signed, unless verification was carried out in the preceding six months (Section 11(2)(d) and (3)), so the agreement should include a duty to give timely notice of contracts, amendments and larger payments in preparation. You must notify the authorised person of a change of ultimate beneficial owner without delay (Section 9(1)). The ultimate beneficial owner has an independent duty to notify both the partner and the authorised person that they have become one, within fifteen days of the day on which they learned of it (Section 11(10)); the agreement may determine who is to advise them of this.
Materials and the deadlines for supplying them. Where the structure includes foreign links, extracts, articles of association or shareholder lists from abroad are needed, and sometimes translations. Contractual deadlines for supplying them should be shorter than the statutory deadlines that depend on them.
Confidentiality and publication. The verification document forms part of a public register and its publication is not a breach of trade secrecy (Section 16(3)). The agreement should govern how the remaining materials, which are not published, are handled.
Liability. The partner is liable for the accuracy of the data together with the authorised person (Section 11(1)), and the authorised person acts as surety for a fine imposed on the statutory representative unless it proves professional care (Section 13(5)). The contract will not shift statutory liability; it may, however, determine who bears the consequences if the partner supplies untrue or incomplete materials.
Termination without a deadline running
The greatest risk lies in termination. If, after terminating the agreement, the authorised person has itself deleted from the register on its own application, a thirty-day period begins to run for the company to have a new authorised person registered, including a new verification (Section 10(2)). Where the delay exceeds 30 days, the other contracting party from the public sector acquires a right to withdraw from the contract and need not pay during the delay (Section 15). The notice period should therefore be long enough, and the agreement should bind the authorised person to coordinate its own deletion with the registration of its successor. A new authorised person may, moreover, be registered without the predecessor’s cooperation (Section 10(3)).
If the company is ending the arrangement because it is no longer a public sector partner, the order of steps is reversed: first deletion of the partner, then termination of the agreement. We explain the procedure in should we have ourselves deleted from the RPVS. Who may take on the role of authorised person at all is examined in can our attorney or auditor be the authorised person.
We conclude an agreement with a clear allocation of tasks on registration through registration in the RPVS and the care of an authorised person, and on taking over the file from a predecessor through change and deletion of an authorised person in the RPVS.
This article provides general legal information as at 12 September 2026. It does not constitute legal services or advice on your specific matter. Laws change and the details of your situation may differ. Check the appropriate course of action or contact us before making a decision.
