EN ECB-PUBLIC  
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 5 August 2011  
on amendments to the Law on prevention of late payments 
(CON/2011/61) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 19 July 2011, the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Slovenian Ministry of 
Finance for an opinion on a draft law amending the La w on prevention of late payments (hereinafter the 
‘draft law’).  
The ECB’s competence to deliver an  opinion is based on Articles 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty on the 
Functioning of the European Union and the third indent  of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC of 
29 June 1998 on the consultation of the European Ce ntral 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 amends the Law on prevention of late payments
2 (hereinafter the ‘Law’) that was 
addressed in Opinion CON/2011/253. The Law, adopted on 4 March 2011, introduced measures to 
prevent late payments as part of the Slovenian  Government’s efforts to improve economic and 
business conditions for small and medium-sized enterp rises. It defined the moment of late payment 
and the consequences of late payment for contr acts entered into by economic operators or by 
economic operators and public authorities where one  party provides goods or services and the other 
party provides payment. 
1.2 Since the adoption of the Law, economic operators have raised many issues with the Ministry about 
its proper implementation. The amendment intends to  resolve several of th ese issues. According to 
the consultation request, the draft law primarily amends the Law’s rules on obligatory multilateral 
set-off of obligations. However, the draft law also regulates other issues, including which 
authorities supervise compliance with the Law. 
 
                                                 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
2  Zakon o prepre čevanju zamud pri pla čilih, published in Uradni list Republike Slovenije No 18/2011. 
3  All ECB opinions are published on th e ECB's website at www.ecb.europa.eu. 
ECB-PUBLIC  
2 2. General observation 
The Law was adopted before the ECB issued its opinion4. The ECB’s observations could therefore not be 
taken into account in the final version of the Law; howe ver, a number of the observations remain relevant.  
 3. Independence of Banka Slovenije 3.1 Application of the Law to Banka Slovenije’s contractual relations 
As noted in Opinion CON/2011/25
5, Banka Slovenije falls under the definition of ‘public 
authorities’, so the Law applies to its contractua l relations in the area of administration, in 
particular. However, Article 2(4) of the Law exempts Banka Slovenije where it exercises its exclusive competences pursuant to  the law governing Banka Slovenije  or any other laws or Union 
regulations laying down the exclusive competences  of Banka Slovenije. The ECB welcomed this 
provision as it ensured that the Law would not inte rfere with the tasks of the European System of 
Central Banks (ESCB) and the Eurosystem carried  out by Banka Slovenije in accordance with the 
Treaty and the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank, 
in particular the implementation of the monetary policy of the Union. For the sake of clarity, the 
ECB repeats its proposal to further improve the La w by referring specifically to Banka Slovenije’s 
competences as part of the ESCB and the Eurosystem.  
3.2 Supervision of the implementation of the Law 
3.2.1 Article 9 of the draft law explicitly allocates supervision of implementation of the Law to the 
Market Inspectorate of the Republic of Slovenia and the Tax Administration of the Republic of Slovenia. This eliminates concerns about a possi ble allocation of this role to Banka Slovenije, 
which was expected under the current wording of the Law, and about related issues regarding the 
allocation of sufficient human and financial resources to Banka Slovenije for such task
6. 
3.2.2 Under the Law, Banka Slovenije is subject to s upervision. The ECB reiterates that, in order to fully 
respect central bank independence, it should be  made clear that any supervision of Banka 
Slovenije’s compliance with the Law should respect  its status as an independent central bank under 
the Treaty.  
 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.  Done at Frankfurt am Main, 5 August 2011. 
[signed] 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET 
                                                 
4  For details on the consulti ng authority’s duty to consult the ECB, see paragraphs 2.1 to 2.5 of Opinion CON/2011/25. 
5  See paragraph 3.1 of Opinion CON/2011/25. 
6  See paragraph 3.5 of Opinion CON/2011/25.