A plenary session of the Slovak Parliament on December 2 moved several bills to their second reading. Under a revision to the Penal Code submitted by the Justice Ministry and backed by MPs, financing terrorism will become a separate crime in Slovakia. The legislation, which would take effect as of January 2010, stipulates that funding terrorism can be punished with 20 to 25 years behind bars, or in some circumstance a life sentence. The revision is being debated in fast-track legislative proceedings.
The two state-run health insurers Všeobecná Zdravotná Poisťovňa (VšZP) and Spoločná Zdravotná Poisťovňa (SZP) should merge in January, according to a draft amendment to the Act on Health Insurance Companies which lawmakers also advanced to its second reading. The legislation should come into force on December 21, and the merger is planned for January 2010. VšZP would become the legal successor of SZP. The state will be the sole shareholder in the health insurer. The cabinet had initially rejected the merger but later changed its mind and gave the go-ahead to the plan in September.
In other amendments, terms deemed ‘unacceptable’ should not appear in consumer contracts as of March 2010, according to a revision to the Civil Code drafted by the Justice Ministry aimed at boosting consumer protection. And mayors and deputies of municipal councils convicted of premeditated crimes or sentenced to a prison term for committing a crime may be obliged to notify the municipality in which they serve according to a revision to the law on municipalities.
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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