There has been no violence directed toward foreign-owned companies. While not aimed at Americans, organized crime has been on the rise in Slovakia and wars between rival organizations has resulted in two fatal shootings at or near major hotels over the past year. There are no formal performance requirements for establishing, maintaining, or expanding foreign investments. Slovakia maintains investment incentives in the form of customs relief for certain investment goods, and tax holidays. G. Right to Private Ownership and Establishment Foreign and domestic private entities are entitled to establish and own business enterprises and engage in remunerative activity in Slovakia.
Businesses are able to contract directly with foreign entities.
All Slovak obli- gations of liquidated companies must be paid before any remaining funds are transferred out of Slovakia. H. Protection of Property Rights Protection of property rights fall under the jurisdiction of two agencies. Slovakia adheres to major intellectual property agreements including the Bern Convention for Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, the Paris Convention for Protection of Industrial Property, and numerous other international agreements on design classification, registration of goods, appellations of origin, patents, etc. Patents, copyrights, trademarks and service marks, trade secrets, and semi- conductor chip design appear adequately protected under Slovak law and practice. Slovakia has a membership application pending with the European Patent Organization, and in general aims to uphold European standards for protection of intellectual property.