Overview:

• Recognition and registration are amalgamated in Slovakia rather than ideally differentiated; the primary means of recognition is via legal registration.

• A vertical recognition system exists between religious groups and civic associations.

• Some nominal restrictions exist pertaining to the use of the word “church” and restrictions are made regarding use of the classification “religious group.”

• The imposition of new membership quotas for religious groups is demonstrative of the government’s renewed restrictive approach to religion, particularly evidential is that no religious groups have successfully registered since the law came into effect.

• The rule of mandatory registration violates the Bielefeldt provision.

Positive elements:

• Horizontal recognition is in effect.

• Laws exist against government intervention in the internal affairs of religious groups; however, the degree to which this upheld fluctuates and contradictions exist within the legislation.

Recommendations:

• Dismantlement of the apparatus of laws restricting religious activity.

• To be classified as receptive, establish differentiated provisions for existential recognition and legal registration by reorganising the present recognition system so that it has the capacity to make such provisions.

• To be classified as dynamic, establish a recognition agency that is independent of government to manage the recognition system.