Application could help Slovaks solve administrative issues online

Slovaks will be able to pay for fees for transferring flat or car ownership rights, for a lawsuit or for a new identity card via their mobile phones or with a credit card, as the state-owned Slovak Post Office is testing a new application in this respect. The SME daily reports that the Post Office is currently completing tests of a new free-of-charge web app for smart phones called 'e-kolok' or electronic stamp in English. Customers will be able to choose the fee they'd like to pay from a list and will subsequently be offered the choice of whether to pay via SMS or credit card. Any credit card from any bank will be accepted. Following the payment people will be given a QR code that will be subsequently scanned by the institution in receipt of the money.

According to the chief editor of PC Revue Martin Drobny this app is a positive step for more technically savvy people, while pensioners will prefer the traditional way. Director of Accenture for Central and Eastern Europe Peter Skodny said that it's an interesting app, but not too appropriate for this century. "There are significantly cheaper and more effective alternatives than electronic stamps", he asserted, adding that such alternatives include, for example, a central treasury for the whole state administration drawing on the State Treasury's infrastructure. Skodny considers the e-stamp to be a typical project of the so-called e-government programme, which costs too much and brings minimum efficiency. The system for processing electronic stamps will cost €8.5 million annually over the course of the next ten years, but this isn't more than what printing and distributing paper stamps costs. The money will be provided by the Finance Ministry.