In the Slovak Republic, international judicial cooperation in criminal matters is provided by Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic as a central authority, General Prosecutor´s Office and relevant District and Regional Courts, as well as relevant District and Regional Prosecutor´s Offices.
Depending on the legal basis, mutual communication between relevant authorities should be made through the diplomatic channel, central authorities or by direct communication between competent judicial authorities.
In accordance with the the principle of reciprocity, if the requesting State is not bound by an international treaty, the Slovak authorities shall act on its request if the requesting State guarantees that it will comply with a comparable request from the Slovak authority and if it is a request, the performance of which is not bound by the existence of an international treaty.
In accordance with the principle of public order, the request of a foreign authority may not be granted if its performance would violate the Constitution or any provisions of the system of law of the Slovak Republic, which must always take precedence, or if the performance of the request would damage another important protected interest of the Slovak Republic.
A letter rogatory of the Slovak authorities of the preliminary hearing on legal assistance shall be sent to a foreign State through the General Prosecutor’s Office. Letters rogatory of the Slovak courts shall be sent to a foreign State through the Ministry of Justice. If legal assistance is provided under an international treaty in a manner which is not governed by Slovak Code of Criminal Procedure, the competent public prosecutor shall decide in what manner the legal assistance should be performed. In accordance with the principle of public order, the requested legal assistance may be performed upon the request of a foreign authority under a legal regulation of the requesting State, if the requested procedure is not contrary to the interests protected by the provisions of Slovak Code of Criminal procedure.
The letters rogatory of a foreign authority for legal assistance shall be served to the Ministry of Justice. To ensure the processing of a letter rogatory from a foreign authority for legal assistance, the District Prosecutor´s Office, under which jurisdiction the requested act of legal assistance is to be performed, is competent. If the local jurisdiction is given to several public prosecutions, the Ministry of Justice shall send the letters rogatory to the General’s Office for a decision as to which of the public prosecutions shall provide its processing. If a foreign authority requests the performance of an interrogation or another act of legal assistance by the court due to the application of the act in the criminal proceedings in the requesting State, the public prosecutor shall submit the letters rogatory of a foreign authority to this extent to the District Court under which jurisdiction the act of legal assistance is to be performed, for processing. If the subject of the letters rogatory is solely an act which is to be performed by the court, the Ministry of Justice shall serve the request directly to the competent court.