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(Zsta-1), Official Journal of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 59/1999, Effective from 7 August 1999

I. GENERAL PROVISIONS

ARTICLE 1

This Act lays down the objectives and principles of the Slovenian national standardization; specifies the status of the Slovenian national standards body, its assignments, membership and funding; and regulates the preparation, adoption and issuance of the Slovenian national standard, and its application.

ARTICLE 2

The terms used in this Act, or those most frequently used in connection with standardization, shall mean:

standardization is the activity of establishing, with regard to actual or potential problems, provisions for common and repeated use, aimed at the achievement of the optimum degree of order in a given context;

- international standardization is standardization in which involvement is open to relevant bodies from all countries;

European standardization is standardization in which involvement is open to relevant bodies from the European countries;

- national standardization is standardization that takes place at the level of one specific country;

standards body is standardizing body recognized at national, European or international level, that has as a principal function, by virtue of its statutes, the preparation and adoption of standards that are made available to the public;

- national standards body is standards body recognized at the national level, that is eligible to be the national member of the corresponding international and European standards organizations;

international standards organization is standards organization whose membership is open to the relevant national body from every country:

ISO International Organization for Standardization,
IEC International Electrotechnical Commission,
ITU International Telecommunication Union;

- European standards organization is standards organization whose membership is open to the relevant national body from the European countries:
CEN European Committee for Standardization,
CENELEC European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization,
ETSI European Telecommunication Standards Institute;

standard is a document, established by consensus and approved by a recognized body, that provides, for common and repeated use, rules, guidelines or characteristics for activities or their results, aimed at the achievement of the optimum degree of order in a given context;

- international standard is standard that is adopted by an international standards organization and made available to the public;

- European standard is standard that is adopted by a European standards organization and made available to the public;

- national standard is standard that is adopted by a national standards body and made available to the public.

II. OBJECTIVES AND PRINCIPLES OF THE SLOVENIAN NATIONAL STANDARDIZATION

Article 3

The Slovenian national standardization shall pursue the following objectives:

- Promotion of quality of products, processes and services, by defining their characteristics which determine their capacity to meet given needs;
- Promotion of improvements in the quality of life, safety, health and the protection of the environment;
- Promotion of economy in human effort, materials and energy in the production and exchange of products;
- Promotion of industrial efficiency through control of variety, compatibility and interchangeability;
- Promotion of international commerce by preventing or eliminating the barriers to trade deriving from unjustified differences in business operations at the national level;

Article 4

The Slovenian national standardization shall be based on the observance of the following principles:

The right of voluntary participation and contribution by all interested parties in the preparation and adoption of the Slovenian national standards, and voluntary use of the Slovenian national standards;
Consensus, meaning general consent of a significant part of interested parties to the contents of the Slovenian national standards;
- Preventing predomination of individual interests over common interest of the interested parties;
- Transparency of work and public availability of the Slovenian national standards;
- Coherence of the Slovenian national standards;
- Taking into account the state of the art and the rules of the International and European standardizations;

III. SLOVENIAN INSTITUTE FOR STANDARDIZATION

1. Assignments of the Institute and its foundation
Article 5

In pursuance of the objectives laid down in Article 3 hereof, the Republic of Slovenia shall found the Slovenian Institute for standardization (hereinafter referred to as "the Institute") as a Slovenian national standards body. The Institute shall have the following assignments:

- Preparing, adopting, issuing and maintaining the Slovenian national standards and other documents of the Slovenian national standardization;
- Keeping a register of the Slovenian national standards;
- Representing the interests of the Slovenian national standardization in the International and European standards organizations;
- Collecting, filing and providing standards and other standardization documents, in accordance with the work programme;
- Maintaining data bases on standards and other standardization documents, in accordance with the work programme, and providing information from the data bases;
- Publishing a bulletin intended for publication of the adopted Slovenian national standards and for providing information on other standardization documents;
- Promoting application of the Slovenian national standards;
- Performing other assignments in accordance with the regulations and international treaties concluded by and binding on the Republic of Slovenia.

Within the framework of its activities, the Institute shall also perform other tasks and provide services laid down in the Institute's Foundation Document and in its Statutes, provided that these activities are not aimed at making profit.

The Institute shall have the exclusive right to perform the assignments stated under indents one to six of paragraph one of this Article.

Article 6

For the needs of preparing regulations and for public procurement, the Institute shall, upon instruction of the Republic of Slovenia, prepare, adopt, issue and maintain the Slovenian national standards and other documents of the Slovenian national standardization aimed at assuring safety, protecting health and life, as well as protecting the environment and the consumers' interests.

Article 7

The Institute shall be a legal person under the public law and shall be registered at court.

The laws and regulations governing public institutions shall apply to the Institute, when not otherwise regulated by this Act with respect to particular issues.

The Republic of Slovenia shall be the Institute's Founder. The Foundation Document of the Institute shall be adopted by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia.

The funds necessary for the Institute to start working shall be assured by the Founder.
For the performance of the assignments under paragraph 1 of Article 5, as well as those under Article 6 hereof, the Institute shall have the right to use the coat of arms of the Republic of Slovenia in its seal and stamp, or on its documents.

2. Membership of the institute

Article 8

Any citizen of the Republic of Slovenia or any legal person established under the law of the Republic of Slovenia and based in the Republic of Slovenia, may, in order to materialize its interests regarding the Slovenian national standardization, become a member of the Institute.

A member shall be entitled to participate in the Institute's work and management in compliance with this Act, the Foundation Document and the Statutes.

Article 9

A member shall pay a membership fee to the Institute, which shall be fixed with regard to the nature of the member's activity, his annual income or budget, and number of employees.
The amount of membership fee as well as the method of payment shall be specified by a general act adopted by the Institute's Council.

Article 10

Membership shall terminate subject to notice by, by ceasing of existence, or by expulsion of a member. A member shall be expelled upon decision of the Institute's Assembly, for non-payment of the membership fee, or for seriously breaking the regulations or general acts of the Institute. Membership shall terminate on the date a member files the notice, on the date of his ceasing of existence, or on the date the decision of expulsion is final.

The contents of an application for membership or a notice, as well as other issues regarding the commencement and termination of membership, shall be laid down in the Institute's Statutes.

3. The institute's bodies

Article 11

The Institute's bodies shall be:
The Assembly;
The Chairman of the lnstitute;
The Council;
The Director;
Two Technical Boards.

Article 12

The Institute's operations shall be steered and managed by the Assembly consisting of all the members and of the Founder's representatives appointed by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia.

The Assembly shall perform the following tasks:
- Adopting the Statutes;
- Adopting the Institute's annual work programme and other programme acts;
- Electing the Institute's Chairman from among its members;
- Appointing its representatives in the Council;
Performing other tasks laid down in this Act, the Foundation Document and the Statutes.

Article 13

The Institute's Chairman shall represent the Institute, summon and chair the Assembly meetings and perform other tasks laid down in the Foundation Document and the Statutes.

The term of office of the Institute's Chairman shall be 4 years, with the possibility of re-election when this term has expired.

Article 14

The Council shall consist of: representatives of the Founder, representatives of the members, representatives of the Institute's employees, and by position, the Institute's Chairman. The number of the Founder's, employees' and members' representatives shall be laid down in the Institute's Foundation Document.

Article 15

The tasks of the Council shall be as follows:
- To be in charge of implementation of the annual work programme and other programme general acts of the Institute;
- To adopt the Institute's general acts, except when provided by this Act, the Foundation Document or the Statutes that a particular general act should be adopted by some other body;
- To adopt a general act which lays down the procedure of adopting the Slovenian national standards;
- To adopt a general act defining the rates of the Institute's services;
- To make the Institute's business decisions ;
- To approve the Institute's financial plan and closing balance;
- To define the amount of membership fee for the current year;
- To appoint the members of the Institute's Technical Boards;
- To nominate and release the Director;
- To decide on the Institute employees' demands for protection of rights;
- To propose to the Assembly decisions that are within its competence, and to be in charge of preparing the Assembly meetings;
To perform other tasks laid down in this Act, the Foundation Document and the Statutes.

Article 16

The Director shall: organize and manage the Institute's work and business operations; represent the Institute as a legal person; be accountable for the legality of the Institute's work and business operations; and perform other tasks laid down in this Act, the Foundation Document and the Statutes.

Article 17

The Director shall be nominated and released by the Council.

The term of office of the Director shall be 5 years from the date of nomination, and can be renewed after this term has expired.

The terms and conditions for the nomination and release of the Director shall be laid down in the Foundation Document and the Statutes.

Article 18

For providing guidance in expert work the Institute shall have two Technical Boards, namely:

- a Technical Board for the general field; and
- a Technical Board for the electrotechnical, information technology and telecommunications fields.

The number of members of each Technical Board shall be specified in the Statutes.

The members of each Technical Board shall be appointed by the Council from among recognized experts in the field or fields for which the Technical Board has been set up. Also a representative of the Founder appointed by the Republic of Slovenia Government shall be a member of the Technical Board.

The term of office of the Technical Board's members shall be four years, starting on the date of appointment, and can be renewed after the term has expired.

Article 19

The Technical Board shall perform the following tasks:

- Being responsible for implementation of the annual work programme and other programme general acts of the Institute which apply to the preparation and adoption of the Slovenian national standards;
- Adopting the Slovenian national standards;
- Making decisions on expert issues within the Institute's framework of activities;
- Preparing expert bases for annual programme and other Institute's programme general acts;
- Giving to the Council and the Director its proposals and opinions concerning organization of work;
- Setting up the necessary technical working bodies for the implementation of annual work programmes;
- Performing other tasks laid down in this Act, the Foundation Document and the Institute's Statutes.

4. Funding of the institute

Article 20

The Institute shall obtain the funds necessary for its work through:

- membership fees;
- the sale or standardization documents and the Institute's bulletin
- payments for the Institute's services;
- the State budget; and
- other sources.

The Institute may only obtain funds from other sources upon the Founder's consent.

Article 21

The State budget shall provide the funding for implementation of the assignments under paragraph 1 of Article 5, and those under Article 6 hereof.

The amount of funds provided by the State budget shall be defined with reference to the scope of assignments referred to in the previous paragraph, as stated in the annual work programme. The anticipated amount of membership fees, payments for the Slovenian national standards, and funds from other sources, shall also be taken into account when specifying the scope of funding from the State budget.

As soon as the state budget has been adopted, the scope of assignments planned in the annual work programme and referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall be adjusted, if necessary, to the scope of funding for the current year. The Assembly may authorize the Council to carry out such adjustments of the annual work programme.

IV. PREPARATION, ADOPTION AND ISSUANCE OF THE SLOVENIAN NATIONAL STANDARDS

Article 22

The Slovenian national standard is a national standard which is adopted by the Institute, taking into account the principles laid down in Article 4 hereof and in accordance with its own rules, and marked with the abbreviation "SIST".

The Slovenian national standard (hereinafter referred to as "SIST") may also be prepared on the basis of an international standard, a European standard, a foreign national standard, or other standardization documents. A SIST prepared in this way may be adopted in Slovene or in a foreign language.

The information on an adopted SIST shall be published in the Institute's bulletin.

SIST shall be issued as a separate publication and shall have the copyright in accordance with the copyright regulations. Reproduction and distribution of complete SIST or parts thereof without the Institute's consent shall be prohibited.

V. USE OF SIST

Article 23

Use of SIST shall be voluntary, except in the case where mandatory use of SIST is defined by a regulation.

The regulation defining mandatory use of a standard shall make reference to SIST.

Article 24

Conformity of a product, a process or a service with SIST can be confirmed by a declaration of conformity, a certificate of conformity, or a mark of conformity.

The declaration of conformity with SIST shall be given at the issuer's sole responsibility.

Article 25

The national mark of conformity with SIST shall be used in accordance with the rules drawn up by the Council. The national mark of conformity with SIST shall be protected in accordance with the regulations on industrial property.

VI. TRANSITIONAL AND FINAL PROVISIONS

Article 26

The Government of the Republic of Slovenia shall adopt the Foundation Document of the Institute within six months after the effective date of this Act at the latest, and shall appoint an acting Director of the Institute.

The acting Director of the Institute shall, within three months after the Foundation Document has been adopted, make an appropriate public call for natural and legal persons eligible to become members of the Institute, to make a written application for membership within three months after the publication of the call. If there are less than 15 applications for membership, the call shall be repeated.

Within six months at the latest after the term of a successful call has expired, the acting Director of the Institute shall summon the Institute's Assembly meeting that shall adopt the Statutes.

Article 27

The Founder shall provide suitable premises for the work of the Institute, and shall transfer into its unredeemable use the tangible assets and equipment of the Standards and Metrology Institute of the Republic of Slovenia intended for the performance of standardization tasks.
The scope of these assets and equipment shall be specified in the Institute's Foundation Document.

Article 28

The Institute shall take over from the Standards and Metrology Institute of the Republic of Slovenia the employees who are performing the standardization tasks.

Article 29

The regulations laying down the positions and salaries of employees in the public sector shall apply to the employees of the Institute.

Until the adoption of an Act laying down the positions of public officers, the regulations laying down the positions of employees in public institutes as well as the provisions and ratios of the Act on pay ratios in public institutes, government and local communities' authorities (Official Gazette of RS no. 18/94 and 36/96) applying to employees in public institutes, shall apply.

Article 30

On the effective date of this Act, the provisions of the Law on standardization (Official Gazette of RS No. 1/95) shall cease to apply.

Article 31

Until the Institute referred to in Article 5 hereof starts to work, its assignments shall be performed by the Standards and Metrology Institute of the Republic of Slovenia.

Article 32

This Act shall become effective on the fifteenth day after its publication in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia.

No. 314-01/93-1/8
Done in Ljubljana, 8 July 1999

Updated: 10. feb. 2003