Before starting business with a new supplier or customer, most companies verify only one thing: whether the company exists.
The Slovak Business Register (ORSR) can tell you much more than that.
Maintained by the Ministry of Justice, ORSR is a public register containing important legal information about companies operating in Slovakia. It can be searched by company name, company ID (IČO), registered office, registration number, or even by a person's name.
Understanding what information is available—and what changes over time—can help you identify potential risks before they affect your business.
1. Company Status
The first thing to verify is whether the company is active.
A company may be:
- Active
- In liquidation
- Dissolved
- Removed from the register
Doing business with a company that has entered liquidation is very different from working with a healthy, operating business.
2. Directors and Statutory Representatives
The register lists the company's statutory representatives and directors.
Questions worth asking include:
- Has the management changed recently?
- Were several directors replaced at once?
- Does the company frequently change executives?
A single management change is perfectly normal.
Frequent or unexpected changes, however, may justify a closer look.
3. Shareholders and Ownership Structure
Depending on the legal form, ORSR also contains information about shareholders or partners.
Ownership changes can indicate:
- acquisitions,
- investor entry,
- internal restructuring,
- or ownership disputes.
For strategic suppliers, knowing who ultimately controls the business can be valuable information.
4. Registered Office
The company's registered address is publicly available.
While changing offices is common, repeated address changes within a short period may indicate organizational instability or significant restructuring.
This information becomes much more useful when evaluated together with other company events.
5. Scope of Business
ORSR contains the official list of business activities registered for the company.
This helps answer simple but important questions:
- Does the supplier actually perform the services it offers?
- Has the company recently expanded into new industries?
- Is the declared business activity consistent with your cooperation?
6. Registration History
One of the most valuable parts of the register is the company's history.
Instead of looking only at today's data, you can identify when important changes occurred.
Examples include:
- appointment of new directors,
- registered office relocation,
- company name changes,
- ownership changes,
- amendments to the articles of association.
A timeline of changes often provides much better context than a single company snapshot.
Looking Beyond Individual Records
Each individual change may appear insignificant.
However, several changes occurring within a short period can paint a very different picture.
For example:
- new directors,
- new registered office,
- ownership transfer,
- and entry into liquidation proceedings
all within a few months deserve additional attention.
This is why modern supplier monitoring focuses not only on company data but also on detecting important changes over time.
ORSR Is the Beginning—Not the Whole Picture
The Slovak Business Register is one of the most valuable public data sources for company verification.
However, it should not be the only source of information.
Financial statements, insolvency proceedings, court decisions, tax information, and other public registers together provide a much more complete picture of a company's financial health and operational stability.
Continuous monitoring of these data sources allows businesses to react early—before small changes become major business risks.