The undersigned heads of independent institutions denounce inadequate conduct of legislative procedure in the case of the draft Act on Specialised Authorities for Dealing with Corruption-Related Criminal Offences and Organised Crime.
Prior to every legislative amendment, especially in case of radical modifications as provided for in the concerned draft Act, it is necessary to hold a sufficient and timely public and expert debate. However, this was not the case in this particular example. The competent institutions and the interested public were neither included in the process of drafting and making amendments nor were familiar with them. What is more, it is not known which experts participated in the drawing up of the draft Act. This represents the breach of provisions of the Rules of Procedure of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia that determine participation of the public in drafting regulations, as well as the violation of the Resolution on Legislative Regulation.
The undersigned expect that prior to consideration of the draft Act in the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia, there shall be given sufficient time for expert and public debate about the proposed systemic changes, including the appropriate adjustments and corrections to the draft Act, for those modifications to actually bring beneficial developments and improvements. They also anticipate in future such debate be opened at the very planning of amendments.
The past experiences, drawn for example from the Emergency Measures to Ensure Public Safety Act (known as the Šuštar Act) and other omnibus acts, show that rapid changing of a complex subject matter does not, in general, lead to appropriate and constitutionally consistent solutions. It is thus important for the acts to be adopted through ordinary legislative procedure which provides for public debate, while urgent and fast-track procedures should be applied only exceptionally with clear substantiation why a certain act is being adopted through extraordinary procedure.
This is explicitly supported by the Updated Rule of Law Checklist adopted in December 2025 by the Venice Commission for Democracy through Law. It is noted in the Checklist that the quality of law depends to a large extent on the quality of the legislative process. This procedure needs to be efficient, transparent, inclusive and democratic. A meaningful and timely public debate is thus not merely a formality but an essential aspect of a democratic society, providing an opportunity for the public to participate in the conduct of the public affairs and influence its outcome.
Heads:
dr. Simona Drenik Bavdek, Human Rights Ombudsman of the Republic of Slovenia
Jana Ahčin, Court of Audit of the Republic of Slovenia
Katarina Bervar Sternad, Commission for the Prevention of Corruption of the Republic of Slovenia
dr. Jelena Virant Burnik, Information Commissioner
Miha Lobnik, Advocate of the Principle of Equality