SLOVENIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Bojan Brežan, Marko Frantar, Maks David Osojnik and Špela Lovšin, Schoenherr Slovenia
2.2 Scope of Areas of Law to Which the Legisla- tion Applies ). If the conditions are met, the court then: • registers the collective action in the publicly avail- able collective actions register; and • serves it to the defendant. Certification Stage (Compensatory Only) In the certification stage, the court tests whether the claim is suitable for a collective proceeding and whether the plaintiff is suitable to duly represent the members of the class. The collective action can be certified if the following criteria are met: • the claims under the collective suit are: (a) of the same type; (b) brought on behalf of an identifiable group of individuals; (c) concern the same, similar, or related factual or legal issues; (d) relate to the same case of mass harm; and (e) are suitable for consideration in a collective procedure; • common legal and factual issues for the entire group prevail over issues that relate only to indi- vidual members of the group; • the group is so numerous that asserting claims through separate lawsuits or a different form of association of its members (eg, joinder or consoli- dation of litigation) would be less effective than filing a collective action lawsuit; • the filing entity fulfils the conditions regarding rep- resentativeness; • the claim is not manifestly ill-founded; • in case of third-party litigation funding, the con- ditions regarding agreements on the costs and financing of the procedure are met; and • the agreement on contingency fees (if applicable) is reasonable. The defendant, as well as other qualified entities (as defined in 3.3 Standing ), have a chance to submit a written submission regarding the certification criteria, and a court hearing is held.
If the court decides to certify the collective action, it simultaneously determines the: • criteria according to which the individuals may identify themselves as class members (opt in) or exclude themselves from the action (opt out); • deadline within which individuals are allowed to opt in or out; and • deadline for the defendant to file an answer to the collective action suit on the merits. Much like the 2013 Recommendation, the Collective Actions Act puts broad emphasis on the certification stage of the compensatory proceedings, with a view to avoiding abuse of the collective actions system and guaranteeing sound administration of justice. Opt-In/Opt-Out Stage (Compensatory Only) The opt-in/opt-out stage may last between 30 and 90 days, within which period the individuals may iden- tify themselves as or exclude themselves from being members of the class (as applicable). Once such statement on opt-in or opt-out is given, it cannot be withdrawn. Individuals may be invited to opt in or out by differ- ent means of communication. Should potential mem- bers of the class be known to the court, they may be informed directly via (electronic) mail; however, in cases of larger groups, the court may have potential members of the class informed by means of public media or websites, which must be set up by the rep- resentative entity. At the end of this stage, the court forms a list of all the members of the class that is served to both parties in the proceedings. Merits Stage (Injunctive and Compensatory) After the compensatory collective action has been certified – or, in the case of injunctive collective action, is not dismissed as inadmissible – the proceedings enter the merits stage. The merits stage proceeds in a manner broadly similar to that of a regular civil proce- dure. Within this stage the members of the class have the right to submit written statements and be heard in court, subject to the court receiving prior notification.
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