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Slovenia's investment promotion and FDI screening framework is governed by the Zakon o spodbujanju investicij (ZSInv, Act on the Promotion of Investments), first enacted in 2018 (Uradni list RS No. 13/18). The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a series of emergency amendments in 2020 (ZIUOPDVE) and 2021 (204/21) that grafted a temporary, time-limited FDI screening regime onto ZSInv. That temporary regime was set to sunset at the end of June 2023.
ZSInv-C: conversion to a permanent horizontal regime. ZSInv-C (Uradni list RS No. 65/23) removes the sunset clause and restructures the FDI screening title of ZSInv as a standing, open-ended mechanism. The permanent framework aligns Slovenia's screening perimeter directly with EU Regulation 2019/452 Article 4, covering:
1. Critical infrastructure — energy, water, transport, health, financial system, space, defence installations. 2. Critical technology and dual-use goods — semiconductors, AI, robotics, cybersecurity, aerospace, nuclear technology, as per Council Regulation (EC) 428/2009 and its successors. 3. Supply of critical inputs — including critical raw materials and food security chains. 4. Sensitive data — personal data, health data, and industrial data that could be used to affect security or public order. 5. Media — freedom and pluralism of the media (EU Reg 2019/452 Art. 4(1)(e)). 6. Health and AI/robotics — expanded under the 2021 amendment cycle and retained under ZSInv-C.
Notification trigger and threshold. Any non-EU (third-country) investor seeking to acquire or increase a holding to ≥10% of voting rights in a Slovenian entity, or to acquire effective control (irrespective of the percentage), must submit a pre-closing notification to the Ministry of Economy, Tourism and Sport (MGTŠ). The ministry conducts a mandatory preliminary review and, if security concerns arise, escalates to a full review with the power to approve, approve with conditions, or prohibit the transaction. Transactions completed without notification may be unwound ex post.
Procedural enhancements introduced by ZSInv-C. The amendment introduced:
requirements (standardised notification templates, narrowing the scope of submissions the ministry may demand before accepting a filing as complete).
transaction during the suspension period.
(structural remedies, governance conditions, information-sharing obligations) with the post-2022 EU Member State practice.
ZSInv-C sits within the EU Reg 2019/452 cooperation mechanism. As a permanent regime compliant with EU Reg 2019/452, Slovenia now participates fully in the multi-member-state consultation process: transactions in Slovenia affecting critical sectors may trigger cooperation notifications to other Member States and to the Commission under Article 6 and 7 of the Regulation. Prior to ZSInv-C, the temporary regime's legal basis was contested as to whether it fully satisfied the Regulation's structural requirements.
2024 scope-broadening amendment (Uradni list RS No. 31/24). A subsequent amendment in 2024 redefined "corporate entity" to explicitly include indirect investments channelled through branches of foreign legal entities established in other EU member states. This closed a structuring gap where a non-EU investor could establish an EU-registered subsidiary or branch — formally a "European" entity — and use it to acquire a Slovenian target below the radar of the non-EU investor definition. The 2024 amendment makes the beneficial-ownership analysis determinative: the nationality and control chain of the ultimate investor governs screening applicability regardless of the corporate vehicle used. The consolidated text incorporating this amendment is available via PISRS (primary source above).
First SI filing in the IPTM register. A 2026-Q1 discovery tick had initially deferred Slovenia on the erroneous assumption that SI was still operating under the temporary ZIUOPDVE 2020 regime. ZSInv-C (in force 1 July 2023) reverses that deferral: Slovenia has operated a permanent horizontal FDI screening statute for nearly three years.
is structurally peer to the Austria (IKG 2020), Finland (Act 172/2012 updated), Czechia (Act 34/2021), Netherlands (Wet Vifo 2022), Belgium (Cooperation Agreement 2022), Slovakia (Act 497/2022), Estonia (VUHS Act 2023), Romania (Law 164/2023), Sweden (Act 2023:560), Bulgaria (IPA amendment 2024), Latvia (NSL amendments 2024), Lithuania (NSU Act XIV-2985 2024), Greece (Law 5202/2025), Croatia (Act 136/2025), and Hungary (Act L/2025) cohort of EU Member States with permanent, EU-Reg-2019/452-aligned FDI screening.
EU FDI Screening Regulation revision political agreement will impose mandatory screening across all EU Member States. Slovenia's ZSInv-C ensures SI is not starting from scratch — its permanent regime is already structured to slot into the mandatory-cooperation architecture the revised Regulation will require.
proximate to Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and North Macedonia. A hardened Slovenian screening perimeter reduces the ease of using Slovenia as a transit hub for non-EU investment seeking onward access to the single market via EU-internal M&A chains.
structuring involving Chinese or Russian investors using EU-incorporated holding vehicles to access Slovenian targets in critical-infrastructure or critical-technology sectors. Legal structuring that pre-dates the 31/24 amendment should be re-evaluated against the revised beneficial-ownership definition.
31/24 (the 2024 scope-broadening amendment) should be confirmed via PISRS or the Uradni list archive for precise amendment-date documentation.
FDI screening decisions; the number and outcome of notifications under ZSInv-C since July 2023 is not publicly available, unlike the Austrian IKG or UK NSI annual reports.
mandatory-screening obligations (2025-12-11 political agreement; expected transposition 2026-2027) may require a further ZSInv-D amendment to align thresholds and sectoral definitions once the revised Regulation is finalised.