EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 17 September 2008  
at the request of the Slovenian Ministry of Public Administration 
on a draft law on restrictions and prohibitions for public office holders 
(CON/2008/43) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 14 July 2008 the European Central Bank (ECB) r eceived a request from the Slovenian Ministry of 
Public Administration for an opinion on a draft law on restrictions and prohibitions for public office 
holders (hereinafter the ‘draft law’). 
The ECB’s competence to deliver an  opinion is based on Article 105(4) of the Treaty establishing the 
European Community and the third indent of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 
on the consultation of the European Central Bank by  national authorities regarding draft legislative 
provisions1, as the draft law relates to Banka Slovenije . In accordance with the first sentence of 
Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the Eur opean Central Bank, the Governing Council has adopted 
this opinion. 
 
1.  Purpose of the draft law 
1.1 The draft law falls within the regulatory framewo rk for the prevention of corruption in Slovenia and 
regulates: (i) restrictions on officials regarding th e pursuit of gainful activities; (ii) restrictions on 
officials regarding the acceptance of gifts in c onnection with discharging their office; (iii) the 
conduct of business by companies and other entities w ith the public sector in cases where officials 
are connected with both parties; and (iv) the duty of officials to declare in formation on their wealth 
and the disclosure of such information. 
1.2 The purpose of the draft law, as stated in its  explanatory memorandum, is to bring the Law on the 
incompatibility of holding public office with the pursuit of gainful activities in line with the 
Slovenian Constitution2, following a decision by the Slovenian Constitutional Court3. Accordingly, 
the draft law, which otherwise reflects the basic contents of the abovementioned Law, assigns the 
role of supervising compliance with a large part  of its provisions to the Court of Audit, an 
independent state body, and limits the public disclosure of personal data. In addition, pursuant to 
                                                 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
2  Law on the incompatibility of holding public office with the pursuit of gainful activities, adopted on 10 February 2006, 
published in Uradni list Republike Sl ovenije (Official Gazette) No 20/2006.
3  Decision of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia, No U-I-57/06 of 29 March 2007, published in the 
Official Gazette No 33/2007. 
the draft law, the Court  of Audit woul d be able to review the financial and other operati ons of 
officials and notify  the com petent authorities of its findings. 
 
2. General observations 
The ECB welco mes this consultation by the Ministry  of Public Administration. As the ter m ‘officials’ , 
which is used for public office holders and is furthe r defined for the purposes of  the draft l aw, explicitly 
includes the Governor of Banka Slovenije and  other high- ranking offi cials of Banka Slovenij e 
(Article 2(1)), the draft la w should t herefore be assessed fro m the perspective of com patibilit y with t he 
principle of personal independence of the Governor and of other members of the Governing Board of 
Banka Sloven ije. 
 
3. Applicability of the draft law to memb ers of the Go verning Board of Banka Slovenije 
3.1 Incompatibili ty of functions  
Under Articl e 1(2) of the draft law, the restric tions im posed regar ding the acce ptance of gifts and 
the pursuit of gainful activities do not appl y to tho se categories  of officials for whom these  issues  
are regulated by other laws. The issue of gainfu l activities pursue d by m embers of the Governing 
Board of Banka Slovenije, including an ultimate sanction (removal from office) in the case of  
incom patibility of  functio ns, is regulat ed by the La w on Banka Slovenije4 (Articles 38 and 39). 
Therefore, the provisions of Article 8 of the dr aft law governing dism issal of officials who pursue 
gainful activi ties do not apply to m embers of the Governing Board of Banka Slovenij e and  
compliance with the pri nciple of perso nal independ ence as laid down in  Arti cle 14.2 of  the ESCB 
Statute shoul d not be jeop ardised by th e relevant provisions of the  draft law. 
3.2 Acceptance of gifts  
The provisions of the draf t law restri cting acceptance of gifts by  public office holders are similar to  
the requirements laid down in the Cod e of C onduct for the members of the Governing Co uncil5 
(hereinafter the ‘Code of Conduct ’), regarding wh ich a declaration of com pliance has also been 
signed b y the Governor of Banka Slovenije. Altho ugh the restrictions in the draft law are to a 
certain exten t stricter than the corresp ondin g provi sion in Article 3.3 of the Code of Co nduc t 
(regarding maxi mum valu e, form  of gi ft and app licabilit y of the provisions t o officials’ fam ily 
mem bers), th ey follow the  same ba sic principles as stated in Arti cle 2 of the Code of Conduct, 
while public disclosure of gifts received  also serves t he principle of transparenc y. 
 
                                                 
4  Published in th e Officia l Gazette Nos 58/02, 85 /02 and 39 /06. The relev ant pr ovisions of the Law on Banka Slovenije 
were aligned with Article 14.2 of the Statute of th e Europe an System of Central B anks a nd of th e European C entral Bank 
(herein after the ‘ESCB Statute’) , following ECB Opinion CON/2006/17 of 13 March 2006 at the request of th e Slo venian  
Ministr y of Fin ance on  a draf t law amending the Law on B anka Slovenije. 
5  Memorandum of Understanding  on a Cod e of Co nduct for  the members of the Go verning Coun cil (OJ C 123, 24 .5.2002, 
p. 9), as amend ed by the Memorandum of Understanding amending the Memor andum of Understanding on a C ode of  
Conduct for  the members of the Governing Coun cil (OJ C 10, 16.1.2007, p. 6). 
2 
This opini on will be publis hed on t he ECB’s website. 
 
 
Done at Frankfurt am  Main, 17  September 2008 . 
 
[signed ] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET 
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