In connection with the coronavirus pandemic, on September 2, 2020, the National Council of the Slovak Republic (parliament) voted to override President’s veto and repassed the government bill amending Act No. 351/2011 Coll. on Electronic Communications, as amended, as well as amending Act No. 355/2007 Coll. on Protection, Promotion and Development of Public Health, as amended. According to the explanatory memorandum, the aim of the amendment is to enable the prompt and effective identification of potential carriers of COVID-19 and the monitoring of compliance with the measures implemented to prevent the spread of the virus.

The amendment introduces the obligation of mobile operators to provide, free of charge, information in the form of warning or informative SMSs to their subscribers at the request of the Public Health Office of the Slovak Republic. At the same time, also the authorization of mobile operators to process the location data of subscribers without their consent has been modified in this context.

The amendment also introduces the obligation of mobile operators to provide, at the request of the Public Health Office, telephone numbers of subscribers and the corresponding authorization of the Public Health Office to process data on subscribers for a period of 60 days from the date of their provision.