SLOVENIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Bojan Brežan, Marko Frantar, Maks David Osojnik and Špela Lovšin, Schoenherr Slovenia
Injunctive Collective Proceedings See 3.11 Remedies for the content of a court deci- sion in injunctive collective proceedings. In consumer protection cases where the court rules in favour of the plaintiff, the law specifies a particular provision: a final and binding judgment in such injunctive col- lective proceedings is also binding on any later court considering individual claims from consumers against the same defendant. This applies specifically to the finding of unlawfulness in the defendant’s conduct, as determined in the previous collective injunction proceedings. 4. Legislative Reform 4.1 Policy Development No policy developments or initiatives are being pub-
• one (or more) person who undertakes to pay the compensation. The agreement is then presented to the court for con- firmation and, if approved by the court, comes into effect. The settlement procedure begins at the request of both parties presenting the settlement proposal to the court. If the submitted proposal contains all the necessary elements as set out by law, the court holds a hearing for review of the settlement proposal. The law sets out several grounds on which the court can deny the settlement proposal, including: • lack of representativeness of the qualified entity; • unreasonableness of the settled compensation; and • failure to sufficiently safeguard the interests of the individual members of the class. Should it find the proposal acceptable, the court issues a decision on the approval of the settlement. Individuals affected by the settlement then have between 30 and 90 days to either opt in or opt out of its effects (as applicable). Such members of the class may then claim the compensation agreed within the approved settlement from a designated compensation administrator. 3.13 Judgments and Enforcement of Judgments In line with the two types of collective mechanisms, the injunctive and compensatory actions, there are also two types of judgments that can be delivered. Compensatory Collective Proceedings The judgment in compensatory collective action pro- ceedings is binding on any individual class member who opted in or did not opt out of the class (as appli- cable). If the judgment already sets out a list of names of the individuals entitled to compensation and their corresponding compensation (see 3.2 Overview of Procedure ), the judgment provides for an enforce- ment title for each of those listed individuals.
licly discussed at present. 4.2 Legislative Reform
On 22 December 2023, the Slovenian Parliament adopted the amendment of the Collective Actions Act – ZKolt-A. The amendment entered into force on 26 January 2024.
5. Key Trends 5.1 Impact of Key Trends
The vast majority of collective actions brought in Slo- venia have focused on consumer litigation, and this trend is expected to continue. At the same time, col- lective actions are anticipated to expand into other areas, such as employment and environmental law. In terms of financing, collective actions have so far relied mainly on law firm funding, but a broader shift in the market is expected toward more diverse funding sources, including professional third-party funders.
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