Construction is no longer an unregulated trade: what a building company needs today

For decades, a construction company could register the unregulated trade of “carrying out construction and alterations” without having to prove professional competence to the trade licensing office. The new construction legislation ended that approach on 1 April 2025: construction became a trade requiring professional qualifications and can no longer be registered as an unregulated trade. For new companies, this is an entry requirement; for holders of the old authorisation, a deadline is approaching.

Four new trades requiring professional qualifications

Today, the former unregulated trade is covered by four entries in Annex 2 to Act No. 455/1991 Coll.: entry 13 as amended and new entries 13a to 13c. Entry 13 concerns managing notified minor construction, alterations and building maintenance; entry 13a covers construction supervision of notified works, minor structures and alterations. Both require a university degree in architecture and urban planning, civil engineering, mechanical engineering or electrical engineering, or complete vocational secondary education in a relevant field and three years of experience. The core changes are entries 13b, “construction of buildings”, and 13c, “construction of civil engineering works”: alongside university or complete vocational secondary education and, as a rule, construction experience (its length depends on the level of education), they require a certificate of passing a professional competence examination or obtaining special professional competence.

The Slovak Chamber of Civil Engineers conducts examinations for site managers and construction supervisors under section 31(2)(k) and (l) of Act No. 138/1992 Coll. Besides education and experience, plans to launch or expand a company should therefore allow in advance for exam preparation and the exam date.

Which activities remain unregulated

Preparatory construction work and finishing work on building exteriors and interiors remain unregulated trades. Companies performing only these partial activities need not address the change. The reverse also applies: holding only these authorisations does not authorise a company to construct a building as a whole. The distinction between finishing work and construction turns on the activity actually performed (fines under sections 63 and 64 attach to carrying on an activity without authorisation), not its description on the invoice.

A legal entity needs a responsible representative

A limited liability company has no education or experience of its own. It may carry on a trade requiring professional qualifications only through a responsible representative (section 11(6) of the Trade Licensing Act). The representative must be employed by the business while the trade is carried on; exceptions include a member of the legal entity (section 11(1)). A qualified company member can therefore be a practical solution; with an external expert, the employment requirement must be met. In addition, the role of responsible representative may not be performed at more than one establishment unless the trade licensing office grants an exception in a justified case (section 11(5)).

The transition period to 31 March 2029—and who cannot use it

Authorisations obtained before 1 April 2025 benefit from a transitional provision:

Unofficial English translation: Trade authorisations for an activity whose substance corresponds to carrying out construction within the scope of an unregulated trade, obtained before this Act takes effect, remain valid until 31 March 2029 within the scope of the authorisation obtained before its effective date. — Section 80as(3) of Act No. 455/1991 Coll.

Professional competence must be demonstrated to the trade licensing office within the same period; otherwise the authorisation expires at the deadline (section 80as(4)). The transition attaches to the old authorisation, not the business owner. A company established after 1 April 2025 cannot obtain it simply by registering a trade and must demonstrate competence immediately. “We have until 2029” is therefore true for only part of the market and does not apply to a new project company within a developer’s group that is to construct buildings itself. Under section 80as(1) and (2), older authorisations for designing simple and minor structures and for managing the construction of smaller buildings have a similar transition period until 31 March 2029. Our advice on trade authorisation and registration in the Commercial Register explains when a legal entity’s authorisation arises.

What happens if a company builds without authorisation

Carrying on a trade requiring professional qualifications without authorisation can result in a fine of up to €3,319 under section 64 of the Trade Licensing Act; the ceiling for an unregulated trade is €1,659 under section 63. A company that fails to appoint a mandatory responsible representative also risks a fine of up to €1,659 under section 65a(1). The consequences do not end with fines: the Construction Act treats as the contractor a person authorised to construct buildings on a commercial basis (section 31(1) of Act No. 25/2025 Coll.), and missing authorisation can also complicate bids for contracts where it must be proven.

What to do now

Companies with the old unregulated trade need to arrange their representative’s examination or recruit a qualified company member. New companies must resolve professional competence at launch. When incorporating a Slovak s.r.o., we align registered business activities with the actual work. Our legal support for construction companies includes reviewing existing authorisations and transitional deadlines. For individual projects, we prepare the construction contract, including rules for minor structures. Our advice on a returned minor construction notification explains what to do if the authority returns a notification.