A website can be live, an invoice paid and a campaign successful while the business still lacks the rights, accounts or working files needed to continue independently. The gap usually becomes visible at the worst moment: an agency relationship ends, a freelancer becomes unavailable or a new supplier asks for access that nobody inside the company can provide.
The EU IP Helpdesk's event on 30 October 2026 put contracts, ownership arrangements and confidentiality alongside formal intellectual-property protection. That is a useful management prompt for Slovak SMEs buying websites, software, design and marketing services. A delivery should leave the company able to operate, make permitted changes and appoint a successor. The following handover process is our practical recommendation, rather than a new legal requirement or a description of findings presented at that event.
Define the business asset before discussing ownership
“Our website” may include a domain registration, hosting account, source code, database, photographs, fonts, plugins, analytics property and email service. These components can involve different account holders, permissions and licence conditions. A PDF brand manual is another example: it is a usable output, but it may not include editable design files, font rights or permission to adapt commissioned illustrations.
Start with the business activity you need to preserve. For a small manufacturer, that may be receiving enquiries and updating product specifications. For a consultancy, it may include publishing bilingual content and running booking forms. List the components supporting that activity, their location, responsible person, supplier and renewal date. Prioritise the assets whose loss would interrupt revenue or customer service.
Separate payment, access and intellectual-property rights
Your Europe distinguishes economic rights from authors' moral rights and explains that a licence permits specified uses under agreed conditions. It is therefore unsafe to treat an invoice or an administrator login as a complete answer about rights. The applicable national law and the actual contract matter. Avoid assuming that every form of copyright can simply be transferred in the same way across countries.
Translate the business need into concrete questions for the contract review: may the company reproduce the work, adapt it, translate it, publish it in additional channels and let a replacement supplier maintain it? For software, ask separately about source delivery, deployment and modification. A suitable licence may meet the business need without ownership of every underlying component. Have an appropriate specialist confirm the arrangement for your specific work and jurisdiction.
Keep company accounts under company control
As an operating recommendation, place critical accounts under an authorised company identity where the platform supports it. Confirm the domain registrant, account recovery contacts, billing details and renewal arrangements. Use named user accounts and delegated supplier roles rather than a shared personal login. Maintain an authorised recovery route and a second responsible person.
This does not mean giving every employee full access. Decide who can administer, publish, view reports, change billing and recover an account. Record those roles without putting passwords into a general project document. Use an appropriate password manager and the platform's security controls. If a supplier manages a shared service, clarify which assets can be separated and which require a migration rather than a simple account transfer.
Turn the handover into a list of usable deliverables
A handover should identify what will be delivered, in which format and how the recipient will verify it. For a website, request the agreed source files, database export, configuration guidance, dependency list and operating instructions. For design, identify editable originals and export settings. For campaigns, identify agreed company-owned accounts, creative files and reporting exports, subject to platform and licence restrictions.
Specify exclusions before the project starts. A supplier's reusable framework, stock assets, proprietary tools or other customers' information may not be included. The important question is how the company will continue when a dependency remains outside the delivery. Record the licence, replacement route or continued service needed. “Everything included” is less useful than a precise schedule that both sides can fulfil.
Check third-party material and subcontractors
The European IP Helpdesk recommends checking ownership and restrictions when reviewing intellectual assets. Apply that discipline to the components inside a delivery. Ask which photographs, fonts, music, templates, software libraries and plugins come from third parties. Keep the relevant licence terms and purchase records, and establish whether licences belong to the company, the supplier or a platform account.
Ask whether subcontractors contributed material and whether the contractual arrangements cover the uses you require. This is a request for evidence, not an assumption of wrongdoing. Do not assume that an agency subscription automatically permits the client or a successor to reuse everything. Check open-source conditions separately and record attribution or distribution obligations where relevant. AI-assisted material should also have a documented origin and an agreed review process; a tool subscription alone does not settle every rights question.
Prove that a successor can continue
Use a safe acceptance exercise. Ask an authorised person other than the original creator to perform one representative task from the delivered instructions: restore a website in an isolated environment, edit a design and export it, or locate an approved campaign asset and its usage conditions. The exercise tests practical completeness without disrupting production.
Record what was missing and who will resolve it. An archive may exist but contain an old database; a design may open but lack a necessary font; instructions may assume access to the supplier's private environment. Agree the correction and repeat the failed step. A backup proves that files were copied. A successful recovery exercise provides evidence that the agreed service can be reconstructed within the tested conditions.
Agree the exit while cooperation is good
Set out the notice process, transition assistance, delivery timetable, agreed fees and dependencies that remain payable. Define when existing access will end, who provides the successor's access and how completion will be confirmed. Avoid removing the outgoing supplier before the successor has the necessary authorised access and validated delivery.
Where customer or employee data are involved, establish permitted access, secure transfer and the applicable retention and deletion arrangements. Business records should not be treated as freely transferable simply because they appear in an export. Involve the people responsible for data protection and contractual compliance. Confirm which copies must be retained and which should be removed, then document completion through an agreed process.
Use a 30-day control review
- Week 1 — Inventory: list the ten digital or creative assets most important to sales and delivery. Name the company owner and current supplier.
- Week 2 — Verify: check access, recovery, contract wording, licences, working files and renewal responsibility. Mark unknown items explicitly.
- Week 3 — Test: choose one critical asset and perform a safe handover or recovery exercise with an authorised second person.
- Week 4 — Close gaps: agree missing deliverables and rights clarification, update the register and schedule the next check.
A hypothetical example is a Bratislava service company expanding its website for German-speaking customers. The manager may have approved translation and design costs, yet a successor still needs editable files, suitable permissions for translated material and access to publish. Reviewing those three points before commissioning the next language version is cheaper than discovering them during a hurried supplier change.
Make continuity part of buying well
Track unresolved access dependencies, missing licence evidence, upcoming renewals and the date of the last successful handover test. Review the register when a supplier changes, a new service is commissioned or a key employee leaves. The purpose is to make routine cooperation easier: the supplier knows the required delivery, the company knows its responsibilities and a successor can understand the position.
A modest SME does not need to own every technology or creative component it uses. It does need a clear, evidenced route to keep operating within the agreed rights. Treat that route as part of project acceptance and the purchase becomes a lasting business asset rather than a relationship that only one person knows how to maintain.
For support with responsibilities, supplier handovers and practical operating structures, see our Consulting services.
Sources and further reading
Source facts and legal distinctions were checked on 1 November 2026. The current prompt is the Helpdesk event dated 30 October; we do not claim to have attended it. The register, review plan, hypothetical example, practical recommendations, conclusions and wording are original editorial work by Merkle s. r. o.
- European Commission IP Helpdesk: IP Horror Stories, 30 October 2026 — published event description
- European IP Helpdesk: Knowledge Transfer Tools, 20 October 2026
- Your Europe: Copyright, economic rights and licences
- Your Europe: Licensing and selling intellectual property
- European IP Helpdesk: Frequently asked questions on IP, licences and due diligence
This article provides general management guidance, not individual legal advice. Copyright, contractual and data-protection questions require assessment under the applicable law and the specific agreements; obtain qualified Slovak or cross-border advice where needed.