We have been online since 2005, working daily and systematically on the prevention of administrative barriers. We strive to keep you informed about novelties and news in the field of better regulation, good practices and user initiatives.
Our portal is intended for all citizens and entrepreneurs who come in contact with the state during their business process or in everyday life, and for regulatory drafters and other employees in the state administration who encounter administrative procedures through their work.
In 2005, the Economy Friendly Administration Council was established, the purpose of which was to reduce administrative barriers in the establishment and operation of companies.
The Methodology for fulfilling and monitoring the Statement on the elimination of administrative barriers and cooperation with the interested public was adopted, on which basis the implementation of the operational content of the initial regulation impact assessment commenced. The initial assessment of the impact of regulations is information which contains an approximate analysis, possible risks, benefits and costs of impacts, and serves as support for further work on proposals of regulations to persons preparing regulations.
In 2006, the Rules amending the Rules of Procedure of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia (Article 8)were adopted, which introduce a more transparent procedure for adopting regulations with more thorough monitoring of cooperation with the interested public and assessing the impact on the economy, environment, social security and administrative barriers.
This was the beginning of the systematic revision of the rules in terms of administrative burdens, as a significant share of administrative burdens is imposed by rules issued by ministers. These acts are not the subject of a Government procedure, and thus there is no guarantee that they were revised in terms of administrative barriers. Therefore, the Government instructed all ministries to send, from 6 January 2006 on, all rules issued by ministers, as well as other regulations (instructions, orders), which may be issued by ministers on the basis of law and infringe upon legal relations outside the body, for revision to the Ministry of Public Administration via e-mail prior to their being forwarded to the Government Office of Legislation.
The Ministry of Public Administration in cooperation with various stakeholders prepared the Programme for eliminating administrative barriers (2006), which was adopted by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia and included 34 measures.
In April 2007, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia formed a permanent inter-ministerial working group for the better preparation of regulations and elimination of administrative barriers. This group included representatives of all ministries and some government offices. The main task of the working group was to introduce mechanisms for the better preparation of legislation, i.e. simplification and accessibility of legislation, the assessment of impacts, the elimination of administrative barriers and public consultation.. Ad hoc working groups could be specially formed for individual projects.
The Ministry of Public Administration in cooperation with various stakeholders prepared the Programme for eliminating administrative barriers (2007), which included 30 measures. In September 2007, the Ministry of Public Administration was awarded the ePractice.eu Good Practice label for the example of best practice in eliminating administrative barriers by means of developing the new information system which supported this programme.
The Ministry for Public Administration and several stakeholders prepared the Programme for eliminating administrative barriers 2008 and 2009. The programme consisted of three parts and included a new package of 44 measures for eliminating administrative barriers, two programmes for implementation measures 28/07 – the reduction of obligations in the field of gathering statistical information and collecting various reports, and the first programme for reducing administrative burdens by 25% by 2012.
In 2008, the Manual for Planning, Managing and Evaluating of Public Participation Processes was prepared. The manual fully explains and presents various options of public participation in the regulation process.
It may be the case that the programme implementation in 2008 was hindered by the fact that regulations, subjects to modifications, were not included in the work programme of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia for 2008; nevertheless, 17 out of 35 measures, the implementation deadline for which expired on 31 December 2008, were realised. Thus the programme realisation rate for 2008 was approximately 50 per cent.
On 19 November 2009, the National Assembly adopted the Resolution on Legislative Regulation, which represents a political commitment of each government to respect the principles of better preparation of regulations and to include the public in the process of forming new policies or in the procedure for preparing new regulations.
Handbook on Impact Assessment was also prepared in 2009. The handbook is an instruction or aid for preparing a regulation or government material and implementing training for civil servants from the field of impact assessments on the economy, environment and social services. The handbook will be amended by contributions from individual ministries.
The Programme of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia for eliminating administrative barriers and reducing administrative burdens by 25% by 2012was adopted as the fundamental strategic and operational document for reducing administrative burdens and eliminating administrative barriers, which is part of the endeavour for better public administration, or of the entire project for eliminating administrative barriers, and a continuation and upgrade of planned and systematic government actions. The programme consists of two parts, i.e. the programme for reducing administrative burdens by 25% by 2012 and 41 ‘quick’ measures. In 2009, the Government approved a list of acts (71) and related executive acts measured within the project, i.e. 3,500 regulations altogether. .
In 2010, special attention was paid to the area of labour law, primarily due to the realisation of the Programme of administrative unburdening ‘Minus 25%’. Thus the main activities were performed in the procedures of amendments to the Employment and Insurance against Unemployment Act, with which new acts were being prepared – the Labour Market Regulation Act, and Occupational Health and Safety Act, and further on, in other acts which were the subject of this Action Programme.
Amendments to the Rules of Procedure of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia and Instruction No. 10 for Implementing the Provisions of the Rules of Procedure of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia were made.The Rules amending the Rules of Procedure of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia were adopted on 8 April 2010 and entered into force on 4 May 2010. The contents of the aforementioned amendments follow the directives of the Resolution on Legislative Regulation and specifically regulate the implementation of the impact assessments of regulations, and specifically define cooperation and consultations with the public. The technical or implementation aspect of these provisions was included in the text of Instruction No. 10 for Implementing the Provisions of the Rules of Procedure of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia, which was adopted on 26 May 2010 and entered into force on 4 June 2010. The Instruction specifically defines the constituent parts of the accompanying letter and the contents of government material, and the manner of their preparation.
Information support for the legislative procedure was also carried out.On 1 April 2010, the information support system for procedures for the preparation of regulations came into use. This system covers all significant stages in the process of adopting regulations and enables the inclusion of contributions of the interested public to the contents of regulations. The connection of the support system with the web portal e-democracy enables simple monitoring of valid legislation and legislation at the preparatory stage in one place, since the provisions of the Resolution, Rules on Procedures, the Instruction as well as of the Act on the Access to Information of Public Character require ministries and government offices to publish all regulations at the preparatory stage on their websites with the purpose of informing and cooperating with the public. This single point of contact is located on the e-democracy portal and is available on the Internet.
Within druge faze the second stage of the implementing the Action Programme for the Reducing Administrative Burdens by 25 per cent by 2012, 3,529 regulations were reviewed and EUR 1.5 billion administrative burdens were assessed on the basis of the common methodology for measuring administrative costs. The analyses showed that greater emphasis regarding unburdening will have to be put on the area of environment and spatial planning, labour legislation, cohesion (drawing on European funds), finance (including taxes and excise duties), the economy (including status related legal affairs, and business or financial reports), and taxes and other duties.
2011 saw the intensive implementation of the ‘Minus 25%’ Programme and the preparation of a plan of measures for realising the ‘Minus 25%’ Programme. During the fourth stage, the implementation or realisation of the programme of measures was significantly slowed down, as some acts from the field of labour legislation were rejected in referendums, and in the second half of 2011, the adoption of acts which should be amended in order for the fourth stage of the Action programme to be realised, came to an almost complete halt. Due to the aforementioned, the deadlines for implementing the fourth and fifth stages had to be extended.
Regardless of the aforementioned, it is necessary to emphasise that, overall (‘Minus 25%’ programme and individual additional measures), over 200 measures were realised in the period between 2009 and 2011. More information on the savings which are a consequence of individual measures is available on the web portal www.minus25.gov.si.
In October 2011, we established the Minus 25 portal in accordance with the Action Plan. The purpose of the portal is to provide the public with all current information regarding the implementation of the Programme for reducing administrative burdens or realisation of the ‘Minus 25%’ Programme. The portal is especially intended to publish best practices (at both national and EU levels), reports on administrative burdens in an individual regulation (act, rule,…) measured in the programme, and to convey additional proposals of users for simplification in order to achieve the greatest effect possible in pursuing the objective of reducing administrative burdens and simplifying procedures by 25 per cent and, consequently, of simpler and more transparent legislation.
In June 2012, a test publication of the new national web portal EUGO Slovenia - Slovenia Business Point took place. The portal is intended for domestic and foreign service providers, and offers comprehensive information on the business life cycle in one place in a simple, transparent and user-friendly manner.
The main part of this web portal is dedicated to presenting information on the conditions for performing regulated activities and professions in the Republic of Slovenia. In this way, Slovenia is meeting the requirements of European directives, and enabling simpler and friendlier operations in the market of the Republic of Slovenia. The PSC project is being implemented within the scope of the Operational Programme for Human Resources Development 2007–2013, developmental priority ‘Institutional and administrative capacity’, priority orientation ‘Efficient and successful public administration’.
The Ministry of the Interior in cooperation with other ministries or competent government sectors prepared a draft of the renewed Action programme for realising the programme for eliminating administrative barriers and reducing burdens. In addition to the unrealised measures from 2011, the new programme includes the commitments of the Government stemming from the Contract for Slovenia 2012–2015. Thus the renewed Action Programme comprises 269 measures, 136 of which were transferred from 2011, since they were not realised in that year, as well as an additional 133 measures according to individual priority areas.
Reports on the realisation of the programme implementation will be regularly published on the STOP the bureaucracy website, which is intended for communication with the general public (collecting proposals, providing information on the measures realised) and, consequently, the more successful implementation of the programme for eliminating administrative barriers, and for monitoring the realisation and news regarding the simplifications performed, while special communication will also be intended for the procedures linked to the amendments to legislation in the future.
On 25 June 2012, the project of information support for procedures for preparing regulations was awarded second prize among countries from North America and Europe in the category ‘Improving participation in the area of decision-making by using new mechanisms’.
In cooperation with other line ministries, the working group will study regulations and prepare proposals for renewing legislation.
In August, new members of the project council, and of PSC1 and PSC2 project groups for implementing the PSC project were appointed.
In September, a new working group was appointed. Members of the working group will act as agents in individual fields of the sectoral authorities.
During the period from July to September 2012 was the first reporting to the competent ministries in their area realized 42 measures in the Action Programme, which accounted for 15.6 percent of all measures.
During the period from October 2012 to May 2013 in the second reporting by the line ministries in specific areas an additional 26 measures were realized. Together with the 42 measures realized in the first report additional 68 measures were implemented, representing 26 percent of all the realized measures from the renewed programme.
The Government of the Republic of Slovenia adopted a single document to ensure better regulatory and business environment and increase competitiveness.
In May interim report on the state of implementation of the I. package of measures for amendments to legislation on the regulated activities and professions in the field of trade, tourism, construction was adopted. Also II. package of measures to amend the legislation which includes detective agencies, estate agencies, driving schools, attorney ship, land survey and veterinary was adopted.
In June, second report on the state of implementation of the revised Action Programme for the elimination of administrative barriers and reducing regulatory burdens was adopted by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia. Also launching recast and renamed portal STOPbirokraciji.si.
In December, introduction of Facebook profile STOP birokraciji
Second report on the implementation of measures from the single document to improve the legislative and business environment and enhance competitiveness was considered by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia on 17 July 2014
The state of the implementation of measures in the single document: 64 implemented measures (25%), 104 measures in the phase of implementation (41%), 88 unrealised measures (34%), 5 measures are proposed for deletion and 3 measures are proposed to be additionally included in the single document.
First report on the implementation of measures from the single document to improve the legislative and business environment and enhance competitiveness was considered by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia on 10 April 2014.
Established Application of measures to improve regulatory and business environment, that provides users with an overview of all measures and control over the implementation of measures to improve the regulatory and business environment at one place.
Third, Fourth and Fifth Report on Implementation of Measures from the Singlel Document of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia to Enhance Better Legislative and Business Environment and Increase Competitiveness.
Establishment of an application-supported solution called SME test - an assessment of the effects of regulations on the economy and, in addition, carrying-out the first training of civil servants.
Evaluations of measures for a better legislative and business environment, realized savings in the amount of 365 million EUR, were also carried out.
Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Report on Implementation of Measures from the Singel Document of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia to Enhance Better Legislative and Business Environment and Increase Competitiveness.
OECD Regulatory Policy Review of the Republic of Slovenia.
Establishment of Inovativen.si.
Ninth Report on Implementation of Measures from the Singel Document of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia to Enhance Better Legislative and Business Environment and Increase Competitiveness.
An interdepartmental working group was formed to improve the regulatory and business environment and raise competitiveness.
»Public participation in regulation drafting« trainings were conducted.
Publishing of the SME (micro, small and medium enterprises) Test on the eDemocracy portal, intended for the general public.
The Government of the Republic of Slovenia discussed the tenth report on the implementation of the measures.
The Twelfth Report on the implementation of measures from the Unified Collection of Measures of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia to ensure a better legislative and business environment and enhance competitiveness.In collaboration with the Administrative Academy and CNVOS (the Umbrella Network of Slovenian Non-Governmental Organizations), workshops were conducted for legislative drafters regarding public involvement.
The Thirteenth Report on the implementation of measures from the Unified Collection of Measures of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia to ensure a better legislative and business environment and enhance competitiveness.In collaboration with the Administrative Academy and CNVOS (the Umbrella Network of Slovenian Non-Governmental Organizations), two workshops titled "How to Effectively Involve the Public in the Preparation of Regulations and Policies" were conducted in the second half of 2021. A total of 40 public servants who play a crucial role in drafting regulations at ministries attended these workshops. The aim of the training was to provide legislative drafters with basic knowledge and skills in planning, implementation, and evaluation of consultative processes.
The Fourteenth Report on the implementation of measures from the Unified Collection of Measures of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia to ensure a better legislative and business environment and enhance competitiveness.In the first half of 2022, in collaboration with the Administrative Academy and CNVOS (the Umbrella Network of Slovenian Non-Governmental Organizations), we conducted two basic training sessions and one advanced training session on the topic "How to Effectively Involve the Public in the Preparation of Regulations and Policies." A total of 48 public servants were acquainted with the basic knowledge of planning and implementing consultative processes, while 18 public servants gained advanced knowledge in preparing regulations regarding communication of legislative proposals and stakeholder and interest coordination. The content of the advanced training session included a practical presentation of the negotiation process, how to involve key stakeholders, negotiation techniques, and approaches.
The Fifteenth Report on the implementation of measures from the Unified Collection of Measures of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia to ensure a better legislative and business environment and enhance competitiveness. In August 2023, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia approved the Methodology for the preparation of impact assessments on various social areas and subsequent evaluations. Application support in the MOPED information system (Modular framework for the preparation of electronic documents) is being prepared, which, through its production and start of use, will contribute to the realization of one of the important goals of the project - the establishment and implementation of a system of effective preliminary and subsequent assessment of the effects of state regulations on individual areas. and, at the same time, drafters of regulations suitably qualified for its use.
