Assets

Integrity and Prevention of corruption Act

Article 4
(Definition of terms)

For the purposes of this Act, the following definitions shall apply:
1.    “Corruption” means any violation of due conduct by officials and responsible persons in the public or private sector, as well as the conduct of persons initiating such violations or of persons benefiting from it, for the purpose of undue benefit promised, offered or given, directly or indirectly, or for the purpose of undue benefit demanded, accepted or expected for one’s own advantage or to the advantage of any other person;
2.    “International corruption” means corruption involving at least one natural or legal person from abroad;
3.    “Integrity” means the conduct and responsibility expected of individuals and organisations in the prevention and elimination of risks related to the use of any authority, office, mandate or any other decision-making power contrary to an Act, legally admissible objective or code of ethics;
4.    “Public sector” means state bodies and self-governing local communities (hereinafter: local communities), public agencies, public funds, public institutions, public commercial institutions, the Bank of Slovenia, other entities governed by public law that are indirect users of the state budget or the budgets of local communities, legal persons founded by the state or a local community, public enterprises, commercial companies and other legal persons in which the state or local communities are the controlling shareholders or have a prevailing influence;
5.    “Holder of public office” means deputies of the National Assembly, members of the National Council, the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, ministers, state secretaries, Constitutional Court judges, other judges, state attorneys, the Secretary-General of the Government, the Secretary-General of the President of the Republic, the Head of the Office of the President of the Republic, the Deputy Secretary-General of the President of the Republic, the adviser to the President of the Republic, the Secretary-General of the National Assembly, the Secretary of the National Council, officials in other state bodies and local communities, members of the European Parliament from the Republic of Slovenia, unless their rights and obligations are stipulated otherwise by the regulations of the European Parliament, and other holders of public office from the Republic of Slovenia working in European and other international institutions appointed to their posts by the Republic of Slovenia, and members of the Governing Board of the Bank of Slovenia, unless their rights and obligations are stipulated otherwise by the act governing the Bank of Slovenia and other regulations binding on the Bank of Slovenia;
6.    “Family members” means spouses, children, adopted children, parents, adoptive parents, brothers, sisters, or any other persons living with an individual in a joint household or in a consensual union;
7.    “Officials in a managerial position” means directors-general, secretaries-general of ministries, heads of ministerial bodies, heads of government offices, persons with special powers in the Bank of Slovenia, heads of administrative units, and the directors or secretaries of municipal administrative bodies;
8.    “Managers” means the directors and members of the collective management bodies of the following: public agencies, public funds, public institutes, public utility institutes and other entities governed by public law which are indirect users of the government budget or the local community budget, legal persons founded by the state or a local community, public enterprises, commercial companies and other legal persons in which the state or local communities are the controlling shareholders or have a prevailing influence;
9.    “Official persons” means holders of public office, officials in managerial positions and other public employees, employees of the Bank of Slovenia, managers, and members of the management and supervisory boards of public sector entities;
10.    “Persons responsible for public procurement” means persons who are appointed by the contracting authorities to an expert commission responsible for the awarding of public contracts and persons who decide upon, adopt and propose the contents of tender documentation, evaluate bids, or submit proposals to the contracting authorities on the selection of bidders for public contracts which, pursuant to the act governing public procurement, require the completion of a public procurement procedure and under the condition that the estimated value of a contract is equal to or exceeds EUR 100,000 excluding VAT, regardless of whether or not these contracts or parts of public contract documentation are marked with a security classification marking pursuant to the act governing classified information. Persons responsible for public procurement shall also include those persons who, under this definition, participate in public procurement but do not have an employment relationship with the contracting authority;
11.    “Conflict of interest” means circumstances in which the private interest of an official person or a person appointed as an external member of a commission, council, working group or another similar body by a public sector entity, influences or appears to influence the impartial and objective performance of their public duties;
12.    “Private interest of the person” referred to in the previous point means a pecuniary or non-pecuniary benefit, which is either to their advantage or to the advantage of their family members or other natural or legal persons with whom they or their family member maintains or has maintained personal, business or political relations;
13.    “Interest groups” means legal persons governed by private law, and other legally regulated forms of association of natural or legal persons, on behalf and for the account of which a lobbyist performs a lobbying activity;
14.    “Lobbying” means the activities carried out by lobbyists who, on behalf of interest groups, exercise non-public influence on decisions made by state, the Bank of Slovenia and local community bodies and holders of public authority in discussing and adopting regulations and other general documents and on decisions made by state bodies, the Bank of Slovenia, the bodies and administrations of local communities, and holders of public authority on matters other than those which are subject to judicial and administrative proceedings, other proceedings carried out according to the regulations governing public procurement, and proceedings in which the rights and obligations of individuals are decided upon. Lobbying means any non-public contact made between a lobbyist and a lobbied party for the purpose of influencing the content or the procedure for adopting the aforementioned decisions;
15.    “Lobbyist” means any person who is engaged in lobbying and who is entered in the register of lobbyists or a person who is engaged in lobbying and is an employee of an interest group and lobbies on its behalf or a person who is an elected or otherwise legitimate representative of such an interest group;
16.    “Lobbied persons” means holders of public office and public employees in state bodies, the Bank of Slovenia, local community bodies and administrations and holders of public authority who are responsible for decision-making, or who participate in the discussion and adoption of regulations, other general documents and decisions pursuant to point 14 of this Article and with whom lobbyists communicate for lobbying purposes;
17.    “Authorities responsible for measures” means bodies or organisations which, under the action plan for the implementation of the resolution, have been appointed as being responsible for the implementation of measures to meet the objectives of the resolution.

Article 41
(Obligation to declare assets)

(1) The persons obliged to declare assets are professional holders of public office, members of the National Council, non-professional mayors and deputy mayors, officials in a managerial position, managers and members of supervisory bodies in state-owned enterprises and corporations in which a controlling interest or a dominant influence is held either by the state or by a local community, persons responsible for public procurement, officials of the National Review Commission for Reviewing Public Procurement Procedures (hereinafter: the National Review Commission) and citizens of the Republic of Slovenia who hold office in EU institutions and other EU bodies and other international institutions to which they have been appointed or elected on the basis of secondment or a proposal from the Government or the National Assembly and whose obligation to declare assets is not otherwise regulated by the documents of EU institutions or other EU bodies or other international institutions for which they perform duties.
(2) Within no later than one month after assuming office and after ceasing to hold the office or post, the person with obligations shall provide the Commission with data on their assets as at the date of assuming or termination of office. Persons with obligations shall also communicate the data on their assets to the Commission a year after ceasing to hold the office or post.
(3) Notwithstanding the preceding paragraph, persons responsible for public procurement shall provide the Commission with data on their assets as at 31 December by 31 January for the previous year if, in the previous calendar year, they participated in a public procurement procedure as laid down in point 10 of Article 4 of this Act.
(4) Public sector bodies or organisations in which persons with obligations work shall communicate the list of persons obliged to declare assets within 30 days of any change occurring. Contracting authorities that operate in accordance with regulations on public procurement shall communicate the list of persons with obligations by 31 January for the previous year. Data on the citizens of the Republic of Slovenia who hold office in EU institutions and other EU bodies and other international institutions to which they have been appointed or elected on the basis of secondment or a proposal from the Government or the National Assembly shall be communicated to the Commission by the Government or the National Assembly. These lists shall include the following information: the personal name, personal registration number (EMŠO), tax ID number of the person with obligations, their office or position, the date of taking or ceasing to hold office or position and the address of their permanent residence.
(5) Data on assets and the list of the persons with obligations shall be communicated by way of an electronic form, which is available on the Commission’s website.

Article 42
(Data on assets)

(1) A person with obligations shall provide the following personal data in the form for the declaration of assets:
–    their personal name,
–    their personal registration number (EMŠO),
–    the address of their permanent residence,
–    their tax ID number,
–    data on the office held or the work performed that is the basis for their obligations,
–    data on the office held or the work performed immediately before becoming a person with obligations, and
–    data on any other office held or activities performed.
(2) The person with obligations shall provide the following data on assets in the Republic of Slovenia and abroad in the asset declaration form:
–    data on immovable property: type, size, year of construction, cadastral municipality, ownership share, plot number, building number and the number of the part of the building,
–    data on rights on immovable property and other property rights,
–    data on movable property the value of which exceeds EUR 10,000,
–    data on monetary assets deposited in banks, savings banks, and savings and loan undertakings if the total account balance exceeds EUR 10,000,
–    data on the total value of cash held if this exceeds EUR 10,000 in value,
–    data on ownership or stakes and shares, if their total value exceeds EUR 10,000, and management rights in a company or other private-law entity, with the designation of the registered name of the legal person or the name of the entity and data on the types and values of securities if their total value exceeds EUR 10,000,
–    data on debts, obligations, or assumed guarantees and granted loans if their value exceeds EUR 10,000, and
–    any other data in relation to assets that the person with obligations wishes to provide or that is prescribed by this Act.
(3) The person with obligations shall communicate the data on assets from indents one through seven of the preceding paragraph if they are the legal owner of the individual assets declared. Actual ownership and shares in the total ownership of a particular asset declared shall be provided under indent eight of the preceding paragraph.

Section 43
(Obligation to provide information on any change in assets)

(1) The person with obligations shall communicate any change in the personal data referred to in indents one, five and seven of paragraph one of the preceding Article within 30 days of any change that occurred, and any change in assets by 31 January the year following the change that occurred. As regards changes in individual assets that are declared only if they exceed a certain value pursuant to paragraph two of the preceding Article, the person with obligations shall declare an increase in assets achieving the threshold for declaring a particular type of asset; as regards previously declared individual assets, a change shall be communicated when the assets increase or decrease by more than EUR 10,000.
(2) Any changes in assets shall be communicated by means of an electronic form which is available on the Commission’s website. The form in which changes in assets are communicated also includes the possibility of stating the reason for the increase or decrease in assets.
(3) The Commission may at any time request the person with obligations to submit the comprehensive data referred to in paragraphs one and two of the preceding Article. The person with obligations shall submit such data within 15 days of receipt of the request.

Article 44
(Invitation to submit data on assets)

(1) If the Commission finds that the person with obligations has not provided data on his or her offices, activities, assets and income in accordance with this Act, it shall invite the responsible person to submit the data required within a time limit that may not be shorter than 15 days or longer than 30 days in duration.
(2) If the person with obligations fails to submit the required data within the time limit referred to in the preceding paragraph, the Commission shall decide that this person’s salary or salary compensation should be reduced by ten percent of his basic salary each month after the expiry of the time limit, but to no less than the minimum salary level. This decision shall be implemented by the employer.
(3) Paragraph two of this Article shall not apply to non-professional mayors or deputy mayors.

Article 44a
(Supervision of assets and establishing a disproportionate increase in assets)

(1) The Commission shall supervise the accuracy, timeliness and completeness of asset declaration data and any changes therein. In the event of a suspected breach of the duty to declare assets and suspected disproportionate increase in assets, the Commission shall compare the declared asset data of persons with obligations to the data obtained on the basis of the request under Article 16 of this Act.
(2) If, based on the comparison of data referred to in the preceding paragraph, the Commission finds an inconsistency, it shall require the person with obligations to provide a written explanation for the inconsistency within 15 days, enclosing the appropriate proof, or conduct an interview with the person with obligations to clarify the actual facts.
(3) If the data obtained in the procedure referred to in this Article or other data obtained under this Act gives rise to a suspicion that, since the last declaration, the assets of the person with obligations have increased disproportionately compared to their income derived from their duties of office or an activity performed in accordance with the provisions and restrictions laid down in this Act and other Acts, or that the value of the person’s actual assets, being a basis for the assessment of tax liabilities, considerably exceeds the declared value of said person’s assets (a disproportionate increase in assets) or that the person with obligations possesses assets of unknown origin, the Commission shall initiate proceedings for suspected disproportionate increase in assets. In establishing the facts, the Commission may propose to law enforcement and supervision authorities, including the authority responsible for the prevention of money laundering, that, within their powers, they establish the facts regarding assets and property in the Republic of Slovenia and abroad and submit their findings to the Commission.
(4) The Commission shall prepare draft findings on a specific case containing a list of assets that, according to the Commission’s findings, exceed the value of declared assets, the officially known income of the person with obligations or assets whose source or origin could not be established. This draft shall be sent to the person with obligations, calling upon them to provide, within a time limit set by the Commission based on the circumstances of the violation under consideration, but not shorter than eight days, a written explanation for the manner of increase in or the origin of assets and enclose the appropriate proof. On its own initiative or at the proposal of the person with obligations, the Commission may conduct an interview with said person with regard thereto.
(5) If the person with obligations fails to explain the manner of increase in or the origin of assets or fails to do it convincingly, credibly and clearly, the Commission shall act in accordance with Article 45 of this Act.
(6) If, in the course of the procedure, the Commission estimates that there is a reasonable risk that the person with obligations will dispose of, conceal or appropriate the assets of unknown or unexplained origin, it may propose that the State Prosecutor’s Office or the competent authority in the field of money laundering prevention or financial supervision take all necessary steps within their legal powers to temporarily stop transactions and secure the money and assets for the purpose of seizing unlawfully obtained proceeds or money and assets of illegal origin. In its proposal, the Commission shall submit all the collected data necessary for the bodies referred to in the preceding paragraph to act within their legal powers.
(7) The State Prosecutor’s Office or other bodies referred to in the preceding paragraph shall inform the Commission in writing of the measures taken in this regard or provide reasons for not taking action no later than within 72 hours.
(8) The person with obligations shall be the subject of supervision under this Article for the duration of their term in office, position or work and another year after the termination of their office, position or work.

Article 44b
(Extension of supervision to other persons)

(1) If the procedures referred to in the preceding Article give rise to suspicions that the person with obligations is concealing assets by transferring them to their family members or that these persons acquire indirectly from third parties individual assets that in any way originate from the office or work of the person with obligations, the Commission may extend supervision to the assets of the family members of the person with obligations. The suspicion referred to in the preceding sentence arises particularly when the obtained data suggests the transfer of assets to family members, when the expenditure of the person with obligations significantly exceeds their officially known income or when the data suggests that a significant portion of their living expenses is covered by other persons.
2) The procedure of supervision of the assets of persons referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be governed mutatis mutandis by the provisions of the previous Article.

Article 45
(Measures in the event of a disproportionate increase in assets)

(1) If, based on the notification of the competent body, the person with obligations in the procedure referred to in Article 44a of this Act fails to explain the manner of increase in assets, the origin of assets or the difference between actual and declared assets or fails to do so convincingly, credibly and clearly, the Commission shall immediately refer the matter with all the collected data to the State Prosecutor’s Office to examine the possibility of taking action according to the act governing the seizure of assets of illegal origin or to the competent tax body to examine the possibility of taking action according to tax regulations. The Commission may also, if it establishes based on the notification of the competent body that this would not jeopardise the interests of proceedings before other competent bodies, notify the public sector body or organisation in which the person with obligations holds office or performs work or the body responsible for the election or appointment of the person with obligations.
(2) The public sector body or organisation in which the person with obligations holds office to which they were appointed or performs work or the body responsible for their election or appointment must, on the basis of the notification referred to in the preceding paragraph, in accordance with the Constitution and the relevant act, initiate a procedure for the termination of the term of office or dismissal or other ways of holding the person with obligations accountable, notifying the Commission thereof within three months from receiving the notification.
(3) The State Prosecutor’s Office that receives the matter referred to in paragraph one of this Article shall notify the Commission of its decisions and measures after the procedure has concluded.

Article 46
(Public availability of data for a particular group of persons with obligations)

(1) In order to strengthen transparency and public trust in the holders of public office, the data on asset changes of National Assembly deputies, the President of the National Council, the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, ministries, state secretaries, professional and non-professional mayors and deputy mayors, members of the Governing Board of the Bank of Slovenia, holders of public office in independent and autonomous state bodies performing the duties of supervisors or their deputies and Constitutional Court judges shall be publicly available on the Commission’s website for the entire duration of their term and another year after the termination of office.
(2) The publication referred to in the preceding paragraph shall encompass the data submitted by the person with obligations via the electronic form referred to in paragraph two of Article 43 of this Act. In addition to the form, the Commission may also publish its findings on the accuracy, completeness and timeliness of the declaration referred to in paragraph one of Article 44a of this Act.
(3) The Commission shall publish the data within no later than 30 days after receiving the asset declaration changes.
(4) The data on assets and changes thereto of other persons with obligations shall not be considered information of a public nature.
(5) A detailed methodology for the publication of data shall be laid down by the Commission in its Rules of Procedure.