The rules for Slovaks staying abroad for longer than three months will not change for now as President Ivan Gašparovič did not sign the amendment to the Act on Reporting Citizens’ Residencies, passed by parliament on May 16. The new rules included, among other things, the obligation of people travelling abroad for longer than 90 days to report their trips to the responsible authorities. People who failed to do so were to be fined, the SITA newswire reported on June 8.
Gašparovič proposes to exclude from the amendment the measure which changes the wording from “will report” to “is obliged to report”, saying that he does not agree with the reasoning of the Interior Ministry that the current situation did not already oblige citizens to report that they are leaving. Compared to other measures in the law, the proposed change is confusing, the president said, as reported by SITA.
Gašparovič also said that the law on offences from 1990 already imposes fines at no more than €33, when somebody commits an offence.
Reporting a stay abroad that exceeds 90 days might have a positive impact on the protection of citizens’ rights, especially if official documents were received by the addressee, the president said, adding that it might even prove more important if the person became the victim of human trafficking or some other crime, SITA reported.
Source: SITA
For more information about this story please see: Report your whereabouts, law demands
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
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