Optimisation and stimulation of production, digital business, the fourth industrial revolution - this is how the current global economy is perceived. Continuous development of new information and communication technologies, economic globalisation, integration of financial markets, growing pressure on boosting higher added value, just as well as the ever- increasing differentiation of demand schemes became a challenge for the global economy. The article elaborates on the implementation of Industry 4.0 in the logistics, logistic chains as well as use of the Industry 4.0 in logistics. The article includes a new definition of logistics due to the Industry 4.0, which extends the basic production factors by a new term - „information“.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology has established itself as an effective tool for identifying various objects in all human and business areas. There are many studies describing the use of this technology. However, scientific articles only marginally address the issue of recycling or reusing radio frequency identifiers. Radio frequency identifiers are defined as electronic waste by European Union legislation. This article deals with the environmental burden resulting from the use of radio frequency identifiers in a selected logistics centre and courier company in the Slovak and Czech Republic territories. The research and its relevance have become topical in the context of pandemics and with the increasing demand for products and courier services. In order to access the level of the above-mentioned environmental burden in a relevant way, an analysis of the circulation of transport units (pallets) and radio frequency identifiers in the selected logistics centre was carried out. The research results showed that the selected logistics centre generated annually 5.7 t of the e-waste from radio frequency identifiers placed on received pallets. The amount of 139 kg of metal was present in the e-waste quantity. The partial results of the research were applied to the e-commerce area. This article’s conclusion is dedicated to the characterization of possibilities of reducing the environmental burden from the use of radio frequency identifiers in logistics.

From the point of view of the national economy, the development of a transport sector is a key process which relies on many other industries. Therefore, it is inevitable to coordinate related activities and to develop the transport sector effectively, and significant synergies in relation to other sectors could be generated. This article deals with the issue of public passenger transport and its greater attractiveness through the account-based ticketing (ABT) technology application in the process of passenger handling. The article contains a review of the current literature on the subject, using both completed and partially completed studies. It presents the case of study of account-based ticketing in the Slovak Republic. ABT technology has already been introduced in many countries, for example, in the Netherlands in 2019, and in Singapore.

The paper focuses on the environmental burden created by Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags in the Slovak Republic (SR). In order to determine the burden there, a model example was created to calculate electronic waste produced by households in the SR by placing RFID tags into municipal waste. The paper presents a legislative regulatory approach towards the environmental impacts from using RFID tags in the SR, as well as an analysis of the environmental burden of using RFID tags throughout the world. The core of the paper is focused on the research conducted in order to calculate the environmental burden of a model household in the SR, where the number of used RFID tags per year was observed; then, the volume of e-waste produced by households of the Slovak Republic per year was determined. In the conclusion, we provide the results of the research presented and discuss including our own proposal for solving the problems connected with the environmental burden of RFID technology.

NFC (Near Field Communication) devices are used in contactless payment systems, similar to those used in credit cards and electronic ticket smart cards, and they allow a mobile payment to replace or supplement these systems. The trend of increasing the quality of transport services also includes the use of progressive information technologies. The article focuses on the use of NFC technology in regional passenger transport. In the first proposal, the implementation of NFC technology in the form of an electronic wallet in a regional contactless chip card is being considered. In the second proposal we deal with the implementation of NFC technology in regional passenger transport using mobile phones with an active NFC chip. The proposals use Check-In/Check-Out validation, where validators are placed in vehicles. In both proposals it would be possible to create a link to EMV (Europay/MasterCard/VISA) technology, and thus to provide a linking of a contactless smart card, possibly a mobile phone to the passenger’s personal account.

Global business is currently still influenced by the economic crisis and the economic development in each country of the EU. The construction sector is among the most affected sectors of the national economies. The production of building material is a part of the construction industry. Several companies of this sector in the European Union use business logistics effectively. The overall efficiency of the company is influenced by many various external and internal determinants, especially the distribution logistics.