The Mountain Rescue Service of Slovakia was officially founded as a nationwide (at that time Czechoslovakia) emergency service on December 1, 1954, although the history of mountain rescue dates more than 200 years back.

It was reformed in the year 2003 by law number 544/2002, effective from January 1, 2003, which moved the Mountain Rescue Service to the scope of the Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic.

[4] This effectively forced mountaingoers to take out a special kind of insurance, which covers the costs for the rescue in case of an emergency.

The costs of a rescue need to be covered even if visitors get into an emergency situation staying on marked official paths.

[5] The Service has a cooperation agreement with its Polish counterpart (TOPR) in the Tatra Mountain, which lies on the border of both countries.