Request for verification

Concerning the implementation of the Act on the Method of Execution of the Judgement of the European Court of Human Rights in Case No. 60642/08 (hereinafter: the Act), the Fund is responsible for deciding on the assumption of fulfilment of an individual unpaid old foreign-currency savings in the verification procedure.

The request for verification shall be filed in written form, from 1 December 2015 to 31 December 2017.

The request for verification may be filed in person directly at the Fund or sent by post to Glinška 3, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia. (form)

It is not required that the request for verification is filed by a legal representative. Beneficiaries can file the requests themselves. Additional clarifications will be available on the official website of the Fund, which will also be available for clarifications by post, e-mail or phone.

The request must include the following:

• data of the beneficiary, i.e. name, date and place of birth, permanent address of the beneficiary or title and registered office, as well as the identification number of the beneficiary, which is determined by the acts of his/ her state of nationality for the needs of legal transactions or identification by official authorities;
• name and permanent address of a beneficiary’s legal representative or statutory representative, if any;
• data on the unpaid old foreign-currency savings;
• in case of obtaining the claim through inheritance, indication of a legal predecessor and the basis for inheritance;
• address for service if different from the beneficiary’s permanent address;
• beneficiary’s signature.

 The following shall be enclosed with the request:

• supporting documents on the unpaid old foreign-currency savings (an original or a copy of a foreign-currency savings book or a savings contract or other documents proving the existence and the amount of the claim);  
• copy of the beneficiary’s personal document;
• authorisation or other individual instrument providing the basis for representation if the beneficiary submits a request through a legal or statutory representative;
• legal instrument providing the basis for legal succession;
• evidence on the holder and thecnumber of the transaction or personal account to which the funds from the unpaid old foreign-currency savings shall be transferred;
• written statement of the beneficiary assuming material and criminal responsibility that the unpaid old foreign-currency savings was not transferred to another person.

Frequently asked questions

Is it necessary to file a request for verification through a legal representative or an attorney at law?

It is not necessary to file the request for verification through a legal representative or an attorney at law. Beneficiaries can file the requests themselves. Additional clarifications will be available on the official website of the Fund, which will also be available for clarifications by post, e-mail or phone.

It should also be noted that in the process of verification, the applicant is not entitled to reimbursement of costs of representation by an attorney at law and must therefore bear the costs of the procedure himself/ herself, as set out in Article 113 of the General Administrative Procedure Act (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 24/06 - official consolidated text, 105/06 - ZUS-1, 126/07, 65/08, 08/10, 82/13). If the applicant nevertheless decides to empower an attorney at law, its authorisation must reflect that it was given specifically for the verification procedure of the old foreign-currency savings, in accordance with the Act Regulating the Enforcement of the European Court Of Human Rights Judgment in Case No. 60642/08. The authorisation must be granted after the aforementioned Act entered into force, i.e. from 4 July 2015 onwards.

Which documents must be signed by beneficiaries themselves?

If the beneficiary files the request for verification himself/ herself (without a legal representative or attorney at law), he/she will have to sign the request for verification (to speed up the processing of requests, the use of this form is recommended) and the statement referred to in the sixth indent of the third paragraph of Article 10 of the Act, i.e. the statement that the old foreign-currency savings was not transferred to another person (Form Attachment I).

If the beneficiary files the request for verification through a legal representative or an attorney at law, he/she will have to sign the authorisation and the statement referred to in the sixth indent of the third paragraph of Article 10 of the Act, i.e. the statement that the old foreign-currency savings was not transferred to another person.

In case a legal representative or an attorney at law is authorised by the beneficiary to receive payment, the beneficiary will also have to sign a special authorisation, unless this is already explicitly included in the general authorisation. Regarding the obligation that the authorisation must be duly certified, see the section on the signature of the certification.

When is it necessary to duly certify the signature?

According to the fourth paragraph of Article 11 of the Act, the signature on the request for verification must be duly certified if the request is submitted by post. The same applies if the request is filed by a person other than the beneficiary directly at the Fund and that person is not an attorney at law.

If the beneficiary files a request for verification directly at the Fund in person, it is not necessary for the signature to be duly certified, since an employee of the Fund will verify the beneficiary’s identity upon filing, confirm his/ her signature on the request and also certify the copies of the documents attached in accordance with the third paragraph of Article 11 of the Act.

According to the fourth paragraph of Article 10 of the Act, the authorisation given by a beneficiary to a person, who is not an attorney at law, must be duly certified. The authorisation given to an attorney does not need to be duly certified, unless it also contains the authorisation for the acceptance of payment (for more information on this authorisation, see below).

According to the second indent of the first paragraph of Article 17 of the Act, the authorisation given by the beneficiary to accept payment to a transaction or personal bank account must be duly certified. The same applies if the beneficiary wishes the payment to be made to the bank account of a third party (i.e. proxy for acceptance of payment) who did not otherwise represent the beneficiary in the proceedings. The authorisation for the acceptance of payment must also be duly certified if the beneficiary is represented by an authorized person or an attorney at law in the verification procedure and the beneficiary wishes the payment to be made to the bank account of the authorized person or attorney at law.

How to duly certify the signature?

The beneficiary’s signature on the request for verification, on the authorisation for representation or on the authorisation for acceptance of payment can be duly certified at any competent authority for certification of signatures in Slovenia or abroad. Slovenian competent authorities are all administrative units, notaries or diplomatic or consular representations of the Republic of Slovenia abroad. The certification of signatures by these authorities is valid without any additional procedures.

If the signature is certified by a foreign competent authority, such foreign official documents need to be certified in the country of origin of the document (country where it was issued) in accordance with the Act on verification of documents in international traffic (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 64/01), before it can be used in the Republic of Slovenia. This means that a competent authority in the country of origin of the document, which performs the certification of domestic official documents for use abroad, verifies the authenticity of the signature and the stamp of the official authority, which certified the document. With certain countries, including the Republic of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Serbia (after 1 December 2015), Slovenia has concluded a bilateral agreement, in accordance with which the certification of a foreign official document, regulated by such agreement, is not necessary for its direct use in domestic legal transactions. This means that official documents, certified by a competent authority of such a country and regulated by this agreement, do not need to be certified for use in the Republic of Slovenia. 

For countries, with which the Republic of Slovenia has not entered into a bilateral agreement regarding exemptions from the certification of foreign official documents, but which are the signatories of the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (including i.e. Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, etc.), official documents need to be certified with an “apostille” for use in the Republic of Slovenia. An apostille is a special international certification, certifying the authenticity of the signature and the stamp of the official person on the document, which is done in the country of origin and is issued in the prescribed form of a special stamp, as determined by the Hague Convention. For example, an authorisation, certified by a notary in Germany, must contain an apostille of the competent authority in Germany (in this case the competent federal or regional German authority), certifying the authenticity of the signature and thecstamp of the notary on the foreign official document, so that it can be used in Slovenian legal transactions.

The list of all member states of the Hague Convention, together with the list of competent authorities is available at the website of the Hague Conference on international private law.

For countries, which do not belong to any of the stated groups of countries, the procedure of full legalization of foreign official documents as determined in Article 15 of the Act on verification of documents in international traffic, applies.

Relating to Serbia we'd like to clarify that the bilateral agreement entered into force on 1 December 2015 and it applies to all certifications made on or after that date. For certifications, which were made before that date, the apostille stamp is still necessary.

List of competent authorities (in different countries)

Who are Attorneys at law in terms of the Act?

In accordance with the legislation on attorneys at law, clients may be represented by either Slovenian or foreign attorneys at law, who are in accordance with the Attorneys Act (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia No. 18/93, 24/96, 24/01, 54/08, 35/09 and 97/14) registered as foreign attorneys with the Bar Association of Slovenia or have a certificate of the Bar Association of Slovenia regarding the notification of their services. The Register of foreign attorneys with the Bar Association of Slovenia is available here.

Foreign attorneys at law, who do not qualify as stated above, are equal to other authorised persons in terms of this Act.

The authorisation must reflect that it was given specifically for the verification procedure of old foreign-currency savings, in accordance with the Act Regulating the Enforcement of the European Court Of Human Rights Judgment in Case No. 60642/08. The authorisation must be granted after the entry into force of the aforementioned Act, i.e. after 4 July 2015.

How to record the transfer of a claim in accordance with the third paragraph of Article 6 of the Act?

In accordance with the third paragraph of Article 6 of the Act, a request for verification under this Act may also be filed by a natural person who obtained his/ her claim for an unpaid old foreign-currency savings on the basis of a valid legal transaction from a beneficiary from the first and second paragraph of Article 6 of the Act, if his/ her acquisition of the claim is recorded at Sarajevo Main Branch or Zagreb Main Branch (hereinafter: Branches) by 1 December 2015. The Branches are committed to cooperate with the Fund based on the first paragraph of Artice 9 of the Act in all phases of the execution of the Act, i.e. also in regard to the recording of the transfer of claims.

The acquirer of the claim for an unpaid old foreign-currency savings based upon a legal transaction, may record the transfer of such a claim at the Branches by submitting a notice on the transfer with supporting evidence in person or by post (to enable such recording, we recommend that beneficiaries record the transfer by registered post). Branches shall record the transfer in accordance with the Act (recording does not mean that the savings book will be transferred to a new owner) and inform the Fund thereof.

If any of the Branches would not wish to record the transfer of a claim, the recording will be proven with advice of delivery of registered post in the verification procedure. Therefore, if the acquirer of a claim is not able to record the transfer of a claim in time due to reasons on the side of the Branches, the Fund will take timely recording into consideration in the verification procedure, namely based on evidence on trying to record the transfer or based on evidence on rejection of recording by the Branches.

Is it possible for the beneficiary who is without the foreign-currency savings book (because it has been lost, stolen or similar reasons) to start the verification procedure?

The beneficiary without the foreign-currency savings book can submit other documents which prove the existence and the amount of the claim. The beneficiary can submit other documents which clearly prove that the beneficiary is the holder of the unpaid old foreign-currency savings (for instance, the Ljubljanska Banka (hereinafter: the Bank) can issue a certificate confirming the existence or the balance of the foreign-currency savings; a final decree of distribution). However, the beneficiary has to enclose the evidence of existence of the claim against one of the main branches arising from the unpaid foreign-currency savings.

What should be done if the decree of distribution, accidentally, does not state the  unpaid old foreign-currency deposit?

In case the unpaid old foreign-currency savings is not stated in the decree of distribution, although in accordance with the regulations of the country, in which the decree of distribution was issued, it should be done, the beneficiary has to duly complete the request, before the verification procedure begins.

In case the unpaid old foreign-currency savings was inherited, can heirs file together just one request for verification?

Each heir has to file his/her own request for verification. However, all family members are allowed to authorise one family member to file requests instead of them. The authorised person shall always file separate requests for each beneficiary. However, the Succession Fund of the Republic of Slovenia (hereinafter: the Fund) shall communicate only with the authorised person and not with each beneficiary separately in regard with the verification procedure. The authorisation has to be duly certified.

How will the unpaid old foreign-currency savings interests accrue?

The accruement of the unpaid old foreign-currency savings is defined under Article 3 of the Act on the Method of Execution of the Judgement of the European Court of Human Rights in Case no. 60642/08 (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, no. 48/ 15). In accordance with this Act, the Fund shall work out the balance of the unpaid oil foreign-currency savings as of 31 December 1991, including all bank interests by the aforementioned date, as well as all possible payments from the foreign-currency account to the beneficiary after the aforementioned date.

The interests are paid as follows:

• for the period from 1 January 1992 to 31 December 1992 at an annual interest rate of 6%
• for the period from 1 January 1993 to 31 December 2015 at an annual interest rate of 1.79 %
• for the period from 1 January 2016 until the payment according to  the interest rate for overnight deposits for households published in the Monthly Bulletin of Bank of Slovenia.

Which exchange rate will be used when calculating the unpaid old foreign-currency savings in euros?

The unpaid old foreign-currency savings in currencies of countries which are part of the Eurozone, shall be calculated in euros according to exchange rates between the euro and these currencies on the day of the exchange (1 January 1999).

The unpaid old foreign-currency savings in currencies of countries which are not part of the Eurozone shall be calculated in euros according to the exchange rates between the euro and these currencies on the day when the Act on the Method of Execution of the Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in Case no. 60642/ 08 (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, no. 48/ 15) came into force.

Are there any differences in the execution of the verification procedure for beneficiaries who had deposits at the Zagreb Main Branch of the Ljubljanska Banka  or the Sarajevo Main Branch of the Ljubljanska Banka?

The verification process will be managed equally, regardless of the fact whether the beneficiaries had deposits at the Zagreb Main Branch or the Sarajevo Main Branch. Even the beneficiary's citizenship at the time when the request is filed does not affect the verification procedure. The Fund shall treat the Sarajevo Main Branch savers according to the first and third paragraph of Article 21 of the Act on the Method of Execution of the Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in Case no. 60642/ 08 (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, no. 48/ 15), which provide that the decision regarding the requests of the unpaid old foreign-currency savings at the Sarajevo Main Brach be delayed until all relevant and complete data arising from the ninth paragraph of this Act (data in regard to the unpaid old foreign-currency savings at the Sarajevo Main Branch) are sent. The Fund has not received the relevant data yet.

Regardless of the aforementioned fact, the Fund shall decide upon the beneficiaries' requests whom the claim arising from the unpaid old foreign-currency savings was recognized with a final judgement of a court with general responsibility in the Republic of Slovenia or with a comparable judicial decision issued by an international court.

The date of the aforementioned data acquisition regarding the Sarajevo Main Branch shall be published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia and on the Fund's official website.

Is it necessary for the beneficiary to have a EURO account for the transfer of funds?

The payment shall be made according to the second paragraph of Article 4 of the Act on the Method of Execution of the Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in Case no. 60642/ 08 (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, no. 48/ 15) in euros. We suggest that the beneficiary has a EURO account, to which transfers of funds in euros can be made, or that the beneficiary verifies whether the chosen bank shall convert the transfer of funds into the foreign currency account.

In case the beneficiary has not got a EURO account, additional costs could arise at the acceptance of transfers of funds due to currency conversions. Moreover, there is also a potential risk that a specific bank declines the transfer which can lead to additional costs and consequently the payment of the unpaid old foreign-currency savings could be delayed.

Costs arising from conversion or any other costs which are the consequence of incorrect bank data shall be borne by the beneficiary.

What can happen if the beneficiary forgets to enclose a document or submits incorrect data?

If the beneficiary does not include all the necessary documents in the request or does not send all the necessary data for the verification procedure, the Fund shall call the beneficiary to complete the request. It is of utmost importance to know that the three-month period, during which the Fund shall decide upon the beneficiary's request, shall not begin to run, until the beneficiary's request is not completed. Furthermore, the beneficiary is obliged to submit correct data to the Fund, which means, that the beneficiary is obliged to submit any change of data which happens after the request for verification has been filed or that the beneficiary has to inform the Fund if the beneficiary establishes that incorrect data have been submitted to the Fund.

Indicative calculation

We inform the beneficiaries who have already received the indicative calculation and agree with it that no further steps from their side are needed. It is not necessary to inform the Fund that they agree with the indicative calculation. In such case, the Fund is obliged to wait for the expiration of the prescribed 30-day period from the day of the delivery of the indicative calculation, during which the beneficiary can file an objection. If the objection is not filed, the funds are transferred with the accrued interest to the beneficiary’s bank account on the 30th day after the decision becomes final.

We also clarify that the beneficiary cannot waive his/ her right to file an objection to the indicative calculation. The Act on the Method of Execution of the Judgement of the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter: the AMEJECtHR) does not confer that right on beneficiaries. Since the verification procedure is a specific administrative procedure, in accordance with the fourth paragraph of Article 7 of the AMEJECtHR, for any questions that are not regulated by the AMEJECtHR, the provisions of the General Administrative Procedure Act (ZUP) are applied. Article 229 of the General Administrative Procedure Act  governs only the possibility of the appeal waiver. However, the AMEJECtHR in the third paragraph of Article 15 provides that appeals against the Fund’s decisions are not allowed, it follows that the beneficiary cannot waive his/ her right.

We kindly request that the beneficiaries who have received the indicative calculation check once again the accuracy of the bank account data, to which the Fund shall transfer the funds, as well as immediately notify the Fund about any potential changes. In accordance with Article 17 of the AMEJECtHR, the beneficiary has to notify the Fund in writing about any potential changes within the period set for filing an objection to the indicative calculation (or if an objection to the indicative calculation has been made, until the decision on the request for verification is issued).

Relating to the tax treatment of payments, we emphasize the first paragraph of Article 19 of the AMEJECtHR. It provides that personal income tax on the interest of the unpaid old foreign-currency savings (calculated for year 1992 and onwards) paid to the natural person is not paid to the Republic of Slovenia, unless the interest is paid to the natural person who obtained the claim for unpaid old foreign-currency savings from the beneficiary on the basis of a valid legal transaction and within the scope of performing an activity. Under the act regulating personal income tax or the act regulating corporate income tax, a withholding tax shall not be charged, withheld and paid on the interest paid to the civil legal person or to the natural person acquiring the claim from unpaid old foreign-currency savings from the beneficiary on the basis of a valid legal transaction and within the scope of performing an activity.

It is recommended that the beneficiaries who are not citizens of the Republic of Slovenia address the tax authorities of their own country regarding the tax treatment of the aforementioned payments. In case the beneficiary needs further clarifications concerning the indicative calculation or more detailed explanations of the year-by-year interest before the tax authority of his/ her country, the Fund shall send him/ her a notification on the basis of his/her written request.