Government adopted an amendment to the Decree on the establishment of programmes of compulsory health insurance services

The Government of the Republic of Slovenia issued a Decree amending and supplementing the Decree on the establishment of programmes of compulsory health insurance services, the definition of the capacities needed for its implementation and the determination of the volume of funds for 2022.

The amended Decree extends the validity of the existing Decree into 2023, which is necessary in order to continue the programmes established by the Decree for 2022. Article 63(4) of the Health Care and Health Insurance Act stipulates that if an agreement is not concluded by the end of November and the Government has not determined the content of the agreement by the end of December, the agreement concluded for the previous calendar year shall apply until the content of the agreement is determined. The agreement between the stakeholders was not concluded by the end of November.

Due to the complexity, the volume of the content (the programme of compulsory health insurance services will contain approximately 200 articles, excluding annexes), which needs to be adopted with a high degree of precision in order to ensure access to health services, the Decree will not be issued by the end of 2022, but at the latest by 31 January 2023.

In the light of the above, it was necessary to extend the validity of the Decree, since failure to comply with all these contents would jeopardise the smooth implementation of the programmes, thereby impairing access to emergency medical services and access to health care services and, consequently, the deterioration of the health situation of the population of the Republic of Slovenia. The content, which is extended by the Decree to 2023, will also be included in the Service Programme for 2023.

Source: Ministry of Health

Government gave consent to amendments and supplements to the Tariff of the Public Agency of the Republic of Slovenia for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices

The Government has given its consent to amendments and supplements to the Tariff of the Public Agency of the Republic of Slovenia for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices (JAZPM). The purpose and objective of the Tariff is to cover the costs of the implementation of the tasks of the JAZMP, which it carries out in accordance with the regulations and mandates, including the costs of the implementation of development tasks, by means of fees.

On the basis of the Medicinal Products Act, the Public Agencies Act and the Decision on the establishment of the JAZMP, as well as the consent of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia, the JAZMP Council issues the Tariff, which sets the level of remuneration for the costs of the performance of professional tasks and services within the scope of the JAZMP's competence in relation to the necessary coverage of the costs of the individual service and in relation to the planned objectives and tasks set out in the Agency's work programme. A certain number of points shall be charged for tasks and services within the scope of the JAZMP's competence. The amount of the fees or the number of points is determined on the basis of the costs per task.

The proposed amendments and supplements to the Tariff of the JMAAP set the fees in the field of clinical trials on medicinal products for human use in accordance with Article 22 of the Decree on the implementation of the Regulation (EU) on clinical trials on medicinal products for human use. In addition, it sets out more detailed conditions regarding the applications eligible for a reduced fee, the reduction of certain fees for homeopathic medicinal products, the increase of the fee for the introduction/importation of medicinal products included in the list of essential or urgently needed medicinal products, the establishment of a specific pricing fee for allergy test groups or allergy extracts. At the same time, the proposed amendments to the tariff increase the value of a point by 10 %, from EUR 5 to EUR 5.5, due to the increasing costs of the JAZMP's work and inflation.

Source: Ministry of Health

New draft Transnational Provision of Services Act

Today, at a correspondence meeting, the Government adopted the draft Transnational Provision of Services Act (ZčmIS-1), prepared by the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. The aim of the Law is to address comprehensively the situation of posted workers in the provision of cross-border services by Slovenian companies and self-employed persons, carriers of economic activity, for their clients in other EU Member States.

For the first time since Slovenia's accession to the European Union, Slovenia has acceded to the systemic regulation of cross-border business activities of all Slovenian business entities that carry out their registered activity with their employees. The draft Act ensures equal treatment of posted workers depending on the very nature of the work (temporary or occasional or permanent, consecutive), establishes safeguards for the effective prevention of breaches and abuses of labour law, and establishes tools for the effective implementation of controls over compliance with the rules on the cross-border provision of services, both from the aspect of labour law and the provision of adequate social security for posted workers.

The Act transposes into Slovenian legal order the new Directive 2020/1057/EU on posted drivers in international transport, which is part of the EU Mobility Package. With the transposition of Directive 2020/1057/EU, the ZČmIS-1 ensures the following in the Slovenian legislative framework:

• an exemption from the general posting rules applicable to cabotage and international transport, with the exception of transit, "bilateral transports" (both freight and passenger) and bilateral transports with two additional stops linked to the transport – this exemption is limited to cases in which there is a service contract between the employer sending the driver and the contracting party operating in the EU host country;
• penalties in the event of breaches of the obligations of carriers and posted drivers.

In order to ensure equal treatment of workers who are also in the same employment situation in terms of equal treatment with regard to social security, the draft Act proposes to delete Article 144(2) of the Pension and Disability Insurance Act (ZPIZ-2). On this basis, only certain posted workers pay pension and disability insurance contributions on a lower base. The Ministry considers that this distinction between different categories of posted workers who are in the same employment situation is not appropriate or is even constitutionally objectionable. In this context, the Ministry points out that the solutions set out in the draft Act were the subject of a very broad and lengthy social dialogue, which led to a consensus at the Economic and Social Council in December 2022. 

Source: Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities

Government reallocated funds in the national budget

The Government has reallocated funds totalling approximately EUR 5.6 million within the Ministry of Health's financial plan. The funds will be used, among other things, to pay claims for COVID-19 and influenza vaccination, allowances for work with COVID-19 patients and claims by the Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia (HIIS) for special workload allowances.

Source: Ministry of Health

Adoption of the amendment to the Resolution on the National Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel Management Programme for the period 2023–2032

The Government agrees to the proposed amendment to the Resolution on the National Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel Management Programme for the period 2023–2032.

The amendment harmonises the text of the Resolution on the National Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel Management Programme for the period 2023–2032 on the basis of the opinion of the Legislative and Legal Service of the National Assembly.

The amendment is of an editorial nature and follows the opinion of the Legislative and Legal Service of the National Assembly, as the text of the Resolution has been supplemented by a new Chapter 12 (on the entry into force of the Resolution), which foresaw that the Resolution would enter into force on 1 January 2023. As the consideration of the resolution at the meeting of the Committee on Infrastructure, Environment and Spatial Planning of the National Assembly on 30 November 2022 was postponed to the January meeting of the same Committee, the delay in the adoption of the resolution necessitated a correction of the date of entry into force of the resolution.

Source: Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning