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Updates on Slovenia

31 Dec 2005

The Government completed a draft bill to amend Slovenia's Criminal Code in April 2003, but this legislation has not yet been sent to Parliament. The present Criminal Code comprises some but not all of the crimes under the Rome Statute.

On 25 October 2002, the Slovenian National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia adopted the Act on Co-operation with the International Criminal Court. This law entered into force after promulgation by the President and once published in the official gazette.

On 16 May 2002, the Slovenian government sent a draft law on implementation to the Parliament, and an amendment of the Penal Code was under consideration.

The Parliament approved the ICC ratification bill on 22 November 2001 and the President granted his signature shortly thereafter.

The government initiated the Constitutional amendment procedure at the end of July 2001. The Constitution prohibits the extradition of nationals (Article 47) and the Government Office for Legislation stated that the Statute was incompatible with the Slovenian Constitution on this basis. The amendments allowing ratification of the Rome Statute were tabled before the national legal harmonization with the EU.

Previously, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had ordered a study on the consequences of the Statute for the Slovenian legal system in March 1999. This study was completed in September 1999, and recommended the amendment on extradition. The government had hoped to resolve this issue through an interpretive approach without amending its Constitution. Amendments of the penal code, criminal procedure code, various regulations, and the law on police forces were also required prior to ratification.

At the beginning of 2001, experts on criminal law established that the translation of the Rome Statute into Slovenian was not adequate. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs requested a new translation which was finished in mid-July 2001.