A significant investment (významná investícia) is a project that the Slovak government has declared to be in the public interest under Act 371/2021, confirmed by a certificate from the competent ministry. For a public developer the certificate can bring a statutory pre-emption right, a 30-day offer procedure and expropriation. For a private company it brings weight in permitting, together with duties on investment, jobs and holding periods. The route chosen under section 3 decides which.
What a significant investment is under Act 371/2021
Act 371/2021 took effect on 1 November 2021. The text in force since 1 July 2026 defines the certificate in section 2(a). It is the document that confirms the public interest in the project. Section 18 repealed the older Act 175/1999, and certificates issued under it by 31 October 2021 stay valid on their old terms under section 17(1).
The older vocabulary changed with it. Section 17(3) provides that wherever another law still speaks of a strategic park, it now means a strategic territory. Under section 2(f), a strategic territory is a set of parcels of at least 30 ha in one cadastral area or in adjoining ones. It must be meant for industry, services, research, environmental projects or public services. The roads, networks, treatment plants and other structures that serve the site belong to it.
Section 2(e) names three kinds of project: preparing a strategic territory, an energy project or a public service project. Under section 2(i), preparing the land means settling who owns it and which rights burden it, meeting the environmental rules, building road links and cleaning up old contamination.
Who can qualify, and on what thresholds
Section 3 sets several routes, and the route decides almost everything that follows. Under section 3(1), the project is run by a company founded by the state, a region or a municipality, and the government decides that it is in the public interest. There is no investment or job threshold on this route.
Under section 3(2), a company seated in Slovakia can qualify too. The project must sit on a strategic territory, cost at least EUR 30 million and create at least 50 new jobs. It must also meet the environmental rules, and the government must approve it. Section 3(4) halves the money and job thresholds in the least developed districts. A project spread over several districts gets the reduction if at least half of its area lies in such a district.
Section 3(3) covers public-private partnerships in which the public side holds at least 51 percent, on a strategic territory and from EUR 100 million. Section 3(5) adds health facilities and state IT systems that are part of critical infrastructure. Since 1 July 2026, sections 3(6) and 3(7) add energy. A company more than half owned by the state can prepare land for energy projects, and private energy projects on that land qualify from EUR 15 million.
How a certificate is issued, published and lost
The application goes to the competent ministry under section 5. A private applicant adds the investment plan by year, proof of funding, the planned jobs and a plan of the site. Every route must mark each protected area, protection zone and environmental burden on that plan. Under section 6(1) the ministry assesses the file within 60 days of complete documents and may ask for additions with a deadline of up to 30 days.
Section 6(4) lists firm grounds for refusal. They include unpaid tax, customs duty or insurance contributions, illegal work in the last three years, enforcement against the company, bankruptcy or restructuring, and a criminal conviction. The same test covers partner and linked companies with a seat or permanent establishment in Slovakia. A complete file goes to the government within 90 days under section 6(5). After approval, the ministry issues the certificate within 14 days under section 7(1).
There is no legal entitlement to a certificate under section 16(1), and the Administrative Procedure Code does not apply to the assessment. Section 16(4) makes the ministry publish every certificate within 14 days. Under section 15(1) the certificate lapses if the holder does not start within 12 months. Section 2(b) counts the start of construction or the first purchase offer to an owner, whichever comes first.
What the certificate unlocks for a public holder
For a project under section 3(1), section 8 creates a pre-emption right over the land on the day the government approves it. The right has effect in rem and is entered in the cadastre. It lapses unless it is used, or an expropriation is filed, within two years of the approval, a period the government can extend by one year.
The Slovak Land Fund and the administrators of state land must sell to the holder under section 11(1). Private owners get a written offer. The price is agreed, but never below the value under the valuation decree 492/2004. Under section 11(6), an owner who does not answer in writing within 30 days is treated as having refused. Section 11(9) then opens expropriation under the general expropriation act. Where no land-use plan shows the site, section 11(10) lets the certificate serve as the basis for the decision.
Section 12 lets the holder enter other people’s land for surveys of groundwater, archaeology, boundaries, unexploded ordnance or radon. It must give 15 days’ notice, and the owner can claim compensation. Under section 12a, third-party rights other than statutory easements end when the holder’s ownership is registered, for certificates issued after 1 March 2025. A private holder under section 3(2) gets none of these land powers. Our post on expropriation in Slovakia explains why a private park cannot use that tool.
Duties and fines for a private holder
A private certificate counts in other procedures. Under section 7(5) the holder may attach it to applications for an integrated permit, for a building procedure and for an environmental impact assessment. The price is a set of duties in section 10. The holder must start within 12 months, report completion within 30 days and file a final report within 90 days.
Section 10(2) adds the commitments that matter most to a manufacturer. The holder must acquire long-term assets in the certified amount and finish the project within seven years of the certificate. It must fill the certified jobs within three years of completion and keep each job for at least two years. It must keep using the investment for at least seven years after completion. A report on all of this is due every year by the end of May.
Section 14(2) fines the main breaches at 100 percent of the price the holder paid for the land. Examples are a different use, a missed completion, or a shortfall of more than half the jobs or the investment. Smaller shortfalls cost 40 percent under section 14(3). Under section 11(12), the state also holds a pre-emption right at market price over land it transferred to such a holder if the purpose is not fulfilled.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a significant investment the same as a strategic investment?
No. A strategic investment rests on Act 142/2024, in force since 27 June 2024. It is open only to public investors: the state, regions, towns, companies more than half publicly owned and public-private partnerships. Owners there get 15 days to answer an offer. Under section 30(2) of that act, certificates issued under Act 371/2021 before 27 June 2024 count as strategic investment certificates, and the Ministry of Economy confirmed the Valaliky certificate on that basis on 16 August 2024.
Can a private logistics developer use the act?
Only through section 3(2) or 3(3): a site on a strategic territory with at least EUR 30 million and 50 new jobs, or a partnership with a majority public share from EUR 100 million. A certificate under section 3(2) helps in permitting but does not open expropriation, so the land still has to be bought by contract.
How do I find out whether a site is covered?
The Ministry of Economy publishes its certificates and a register that lists 12 projects since November 2021. A pre-emption right under section 8 appears in part C of the ownership sheet, so a current extract for each parcel shows it.
What does a real certificate look like?
The Valaliky certificate of 25 October 2022, issued under section 3(1), covers 1,052.25 ha in eight cadastral areas around Valaliky near Košice. Volvo Car Slovakia holds its own certificate of 15 November 2022 under section 3(2), for 339.1 ha inside that territory and a planned output of 250,000 cars a year.
Weighing a plot inside a certified territory? Send us the certificate and we will map the duties and the title with you before you sign.