. /.RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SCM/Q2/SVN/7
27 October 1999
(99-4674)
Committee on Subsidies
and Countervailing MeasuresOriginal:  English
SUBSIDIES
Replies to Questions from the UNITED STATES1
Regarding the New and Full Notification of SLOVENIA2
The following communication, dated 26 October 1999, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of Slovenia.
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Q1. According to your notification, two laws a re listed as providing the legal basis for
determining the criteria for eligibility for benefits  under Section I, Part D - Restructuring of the
Manufacturing Sector and Technological Development of Industry, under State LoanGuarantees and Guarantees for the Restructuring of Commercial Loans.  What criteria do
these laws establish for loan eligibility, other than being in one of the six sectors listed?
Reply
The legal basis for guarantees in the Republic of Slovenia is:
• Law on Criteria and Procedures for the Issue of Loan Guarantees and Guarantees for Credit
Obligations of Companies (Official Gazette No. 21/95 and No. 18/96);
• Law on Guarantees of the Republic of Slovenia for Obligations of Commercial Enterprises on
the Basis of Restructured Loans (Official Gazette Nos. 96/94, 13/95, 5/96),
which represent, pursuant to the above-mentioned acts, an instrument of industrial policy of a
horizontal nature.  The notification of the subsidies for 1998 shows the outcome of the tender, morespecifically, it shows the sectors which the companies, eligible for the above guarantees, can be
classified into:
(a) Under the first legal basis the priority in the selection of the companies eligible for
the loan guarantees of the Republic of Slovenia  is given to those having:
• development orientated projects (new technology, job creation);
• environmentally orientated projects (energy saving, environmental standards
etc.).
(b) Under the second legal basis – guarantees of the Republic of Slovenia relating to
restructured loans  – the criteria for approval of a guarantee for an economic
                                                     
1 G/SCM/Q2/SVN/6
2 G/SCM/N/38/SVNG/SCM/Q2/SVN/7
Page 2
enterprise relate to declared loss, debt-to-equity ratio, evidence on the ability of a
company to repay the debts from its own operation.
Q2. Under Section I, Part F - Aid to Small and Medium Businesses and Post-Privatization
Assistance, you state that SIT 2,133,638,000 were distributed for long-term and short-termloans.  What criteria were used to determine e ligibility for these loans and the amount for each
disbursement?
Reply
The scope of the Fund for the Development of Small Businesses, financed from the budget, is
promotion of development projects in the small business sector.
(a) The projects are assessed on the basis of criteria applicable in particular to the growth
or development of enterprises.  The criteria are also applicable as elements in the
procedure of approval of guarantees and loans.
The basis of the criteria is in the objectives set out in the Development of Small
Businesses Act (Official Gazette Nos. 18/91, 11 October 1991), which are:
• growth of employment based on new programmes;
• promotion and stimulation of competitiveness of small business;
• promotion of introduction of modern technologies to small business units;
• promotion of setting up and development of the small business units with a high
level of innovation;
• promotion of setting up and development of the small business units with applied
high energy saving and non-polluting standards;
• promotion of the principle of cooperatives in the form of jointly buying the latest
technology, acting on the international market and innovations.
Development programmes in the SME sector of the economy are examined on a case-
by-case basis in order to determine the actual future development-employment
potential of an applicant company.
(b) The amounts of individual disbursements  in 1997 varied from SIT 1,803,396.00 to
SIT 45,000,000.00
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