The European Union places great emphasis on removing obstacles within its internal market, which is considered a fundamental pillar of European economic integration. By way of legal acts, the conditions for the functioning freedoms of the internal market are harmonized in all EU Member States. In our study, we focus on freedom to provide services, in order to clarify the system and conditions for providing cross-border services and to identify concrete entities providing this kind of services in Slovakia. The subject of the study is the provision of services by foreign entities in the territory of the Slovak Republic, who have already obtained authorization to perform the services on the territory of their Member State of establishment in accordance with Directive 2006/123/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 on services in the internal market (OJ L 376, 27 December 2006, pp. 36–68). At the same time, the study also focuses on the system of taxation of cross-border services. Based on facts and data obtained from the Register of Cross-border Services, we have identified areas of providing cross-border services in Slovakia. In our study, we have applied the methods of comparative analysis, legal research, the study of literature, and the decisions of the EU Court of Justice. The study also includes clarification of the concept of cross-border provision of services.

Like in all jurisdictions of the Member States of the European Union the Slovak civil procedure is governed by the range of principles that were developed in Europe since 19 th century. The thesis summarizes the main principles and their application by the judges when taking the evidence in the course of civil proceedings. It is evident that the observance of principles is vital not only in the drafting of legislation, but also in its implementation and claiming rights of the parties before the court. The combination of competing principles, such as free disposition principle and the officiality principle, as well as the adversarial and inquisitorial principles helps to achieve the situation in both positive law and the decision making practice of the courts, where it is possible to decide the civil cases in a fair and objective way enabling parties to use procedural tools at their disposal. The thesis further elaborates on role of principles in taking evidence at the court and it also describes the kinds and means of evidence according to the Slovak Code of Civil Procedure.