Yes. Act No. 108/2024 Coll. expressly permits remote supervision, including checks of online interfaces. Inspectors take screenshots and can conduct the entire inspection without visiting your premises. They serve commencement notices and records through your slovensko.sk electronic mailbox, so you learn of the inspection only if someone monitors it. Fines concern what actually appears online, most commonly unfair terms and missing consumer information.
The assumption that inspectors always arrive in person does not hold for online shops. The Slovak Trade Inspection (SOI) routinely checks websites from its desk, and the trader learns of it through an electronic mailbox.
Remote supervision is a standard tool
Act No. 108/2024 Coll. on Consumer Protection gives the supervisory authority two options:
On-site supervision is conducted directly at the supervised person’s premises or another place connected with their activities. Remote supervision involves obtaining, processing and assessing information and materials otherwise than through on-site supervision, particularly from materials submitted by the supervised person or another person under paragraph 4, or by checking an online interface.
— Section 28(2) of Act No. 108/2024 Coll. (unofficial English translation)
An online interface check means inspectors open your website and take screenshots of terms, delivery information, returns and review pages as evidence for the proceedings. In decision No. PP/0142/05/2024 of 21 August 2025, the entire inspection followed this route: screenshots of sixteen pages, a commencement notice and an inspection record, all without the trader’s presence.
The entire process runs through the electronic mailbox
The SOI serves both the commencement notice and record to the company’s activated mailbox on slovensko.sk under the e-Government Act No. 305/2013 Coll. Service takes effect regardless of whether anyone actually reads the mailbox. Traders can therefore miss the opportunity to comment on findings simply because nobody monitors it. This is the first internal arrangement to establish.
What attracted the fine
In that decision, the SOI imposed an aggregate EUR 500 fine for two matters. First, the terms stated: “The seller is not liable for delayed delivery caused by the carrier…” This attempted to transfer delivery responsibility to the courier. The customer’s contractual partner is the trader, however, and such a clause is unfair under the Civil Code (Act No. 40/1964 Coll.):
Unfair terms in a consumer contract include, in particular, provisions that […] (d) exclude or restrict consumers’ rights when asserting liability for defects or damage.
— Section 53(4)(d) of the Civil Code (unofficial English translation)
Section 4(2)(b) of Act No. 108/2024 Coll. prohibits traders from using unfair terms. The second breach was missing information about circumstances in which the customer loses the withdrawal right, required by Section 15(1)(i) of the same Act.
What this means for your online shop
Penalties are substantial: breaches of this kind can attract fines from EUR 200 to 2% of turnover, capped at EUR 200,000 (Section 43(1)(a)). The law also rewards remediation: if, after proceedings have begun and before the decision is issued, the trader proves that it ended the infringement and took appropriate remedial action for affected consumers, the limits of the applicable fine range are halved (Section 44(1)). This does not automatically waive half of a fine already imposed. The cheapest approach is to correct website wording before an inspector records it, including delivery terms, withdrawal information and discount rules, discussed in the lowest price in the previous 30 days.
How we can help
Our terms and conditions review examines your website from a supervisory perspective, with revisions through our online shop terms service. If an inspection is underway, our e-commerce legal services take over SOI communications, including responses to findings.
If a commencement notice has just arrived, contact us before the response deadline expires.
This answer provides general information on the law as at 10 September 2026. It does not constitute legal services or replace an assessment of an individual case. The details of your situation may differ. Book a consultation to discuss them.
