EY Law News, February 2023

New Whistleblower Protection Act Adopted

On 27 January 2023, the National Assembly adopted a new Whistleblower Protection Act (hereinafter “the Act”), which will enter into force on the 15th day after its publication in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia. The Act transposes the provisions of Directive (EU) 2019/1937 on the protection of whistleblowers and comprehensively addresses the protection of whistleblowers.

The newly adopted Act provides an overarching framework for protection and establishes control mechanisms in various areas. The same legal protection is guaranteed for whistleblowers who report infringements of EU law and for those who report infringements of national rules.

The main principles are:

• Obligation to set up an internal reporting channel for public and private sector persons with more than 50 employees.
• Prohibition of retaliation and regulation of safeguards to help whistleblowers. They will be protected against disclosure of their identity and in the event of retaliation. Whistleblowers will have access to psychological support, unemployment benefits, free legal aid, judicial protection and interim injunctions in the event of retaliation.
• The Ministry of Justice will be able to grant NGOs the status of public-interest NGO.

The Act provides for a transitional period for the establishment of the internal registration channel. For private sector taxable persons employing 250 or more employees and public sector taxable persons, a time limit of 90 days from the entry into force of the Act is set. However, obliged persons with up to 249 employees have until 17 December 2023 to set up internal registration channels. 

New Prevention of the Restriction of Competition Act

On 29 September 2022, the National Assembly adopted a new Prevention of the Restriction of Competition Act (hereinafter "ZPOmK-2"), which was published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia No. 130 on 11 October 2022 and entered into force on 26 January 2023.

The Act transposes EU Directive 2019/1 on strengthening the role of the competition authorities of the Member States in the effective enforcement of competition rules and ensuring the proper functioning of the internal market (the ECN+ Directive) and introduces certain indispensable instruments.

Among the main changes we highlight in particular:

• Establishment of a single administrative procedure for the detection of infringements of competition rules and administrative sanctions against undertakings.
• Extension of the Agency's investigative powers.
• Simplified notification of concentration procedure.
• Possibility of waiving sanctions for responsible persons.
• International cooperation between competition authorities.
• Possibility to reduce the administrative penalty on the basis of a settlement application.

The ZPOmK-2 introduces a new institute under which the Agency will have the possibility to reduce an undertaking's administrative sanction by up to 20% if it accepts an application for settlement submitted by the undertaking.