The Labour Inspectorate of the RS is an administrative body within the Ministry of Labour, the Family and Social Affairs. The sphere of operation of the body is specified in the Labour Inspectorate Act (Ur.l.RS, no. 38/1994, 32/1997 and 39/2000), which is supplemented by the Inspection Act (Ur.l.RS, no. 56/2002). The two acts regulate the general principles of inspection, the organisation of inspection, the position, rights and duties of inspectors, the authority of inspectors, the procedure of inspection, inspection measures and other questions connected with inspection.

The Labour Inspectorate of the RS thus supervises the implementation of laws, other regulations, collective contracts and general acts that govern employment relations, pay and other receipts from employment, the employment of workers at home and abroad, worker participation in management, strikes and the safety of workers at work, unless otherwise specified by regulations. The Labour Inspectorate of the RS also supervises implementation of regulations that specifically determine this.

A Chief Labour Inspector heads and represents the Inspectorate, organises and coordinates the work of inspectors and, within the framework of his authorities, is answerable for the legality, quality and effectiveness of inspection work. Inspectors operate within the framework of inspectorates organised for individual administrative spheres. The area of employment relations is supervised by the employment inspectorate, and the area of health and safety at work by the health and safety at work inspectorate.

The basic laws in the area of supervision today are the Employment Act (Ur.l. RS no. 42/2002) and the Health and Safety at Work Act (Ur.l. RS no. 56/99, 64/01), which newly define the rules of relations between workers and employers.

In accordance with the amendments to the National Vocational Qualifications Act (Ur.l. RS no. 83/2003) the Labour Inspectorate also supervises the compliance with law of the work of those who conduct procedures for verifying and certifying vocational qualifications and the compliance with law and professionalism of the work of commissions. Monitoring is carried out within the framework of inspection of employment relations.

Within the context of the third administrative field, i.e., within the framework of the social inspectorate, the Labour Inspectorate of the RS also carries out inspection supervision of the work of public social protection institutes, concession holders and other legal entities and natural persons that provide social security services on the basis of a work permit, supervision of implementation by local communities under the Social Assistance Act (ZSV-UPB1- Ur.l. RS no. 36/2004) and supervision of the work of other providers of supplementary, developmental and preventive programmes in the area of social welfare and protection of children and families under special co-funding contracts. Supervision is carried out by social affairs inspectors.

INSPECTION PROCEDURE AND MEASURES

An inspector deals with declarations, appeals, announcements and other applications in cases within his own jurisdiction and informs applicants about his measures at their request. An inspector also deals with anonymous denunciations, unless circumstances give rise to a suspicion that the declarations are untrue or malicious.

In a procedure conducted by an inspector, the person liable has the position of a party. A person submitting an initiative, denunciation, communication or other application does not have the position of a party.

In cases in which, in performing inspection, an inspector finds that the law or other regulations or acts, the implementation of which he supervises, have been violated, he has the right and duty to order measures for remedying the irregularity or deficiency within a time limit that he determines himself, to carry out procedures in accordance with the General Offences Act, to lay a charge for a criminal offence, which is prosecuted ex officio, to propose to a competent body the adoption of measures, to order other measures and to perform acts for which he is authorised by law or other regulations.

EXPERT ASSISTANCE

The Labour Inspectorate provides employers and workers with expert assistance in connection with implementing laws and other regulations, collective contracts and general acts within its jurisdiction. It cooperates in its work with other inspectorates, employment institutes, health insurance and pension and disability insurance, as well as with trade unions or professional associations of workers and employer associations. It also cooperates with research and educational organisations and with experts in the labour field.

REPORT ON WORK

The Labour Inspectorate of the RS submits to its parent ministry a report of its work for the past calendar year, in which are given general statistical data, stating laws and other regulations that govern inspection, data on the number of employers by activity in which inspection was carried out, the number of workers, data on the number of violations and crimes found, measures ordered by activity and data on fatal injuries at work, collective accidents at work, serious injuries and on findings of professional illness by activities, and proposed measures for solving questions in this area. The report is dealt with by the Government RS and submitted to the National Assembly RS. After having been debated, the report is communicated to the International Labour Office.

VIOLATIONS PROCEDURE

The new General Offences Act (Ur.l. RS, no. 7/2003) envisages the transfer of some tasks performed to date by judges for general offences to so-called violations bodies, among which is included the Labour Inspectorate of the RS. The authorised person of the violations body must have a suitable level of education and be trained for exercising the new authorities.

A violations procedure before a body for violations is initiated ex officio when the body for violations performs for this purpose any kind of act within its jurisdiction or on the written proposal of an injured party, the state prosecutor or state body, holder of public authority or local government community. Under the terms of this act, the prescribed sanction or warning is handed down for an offence committed.

KEY DATES, EVENTS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

Adoption of Labour Inspectorate Act (Ur.l. RS, no. 38/1994, 32/1997, 36/2000)

Adoption of Inspection Act (Ur.l. RS, no. 56/2002)

Adoption of Health and Safety at Work Act (Ur.l. RS, no. 56/1999, 64/2001)

Adoption of Employment Act (Ur.l. RS, no. 42/2002)

Adoption of General Offences Act (Ur.l. RS, no. 7/2003)

In June 2004 we celebrated the centenary of the first office of the Imperial Artisan Supervisory Body with a permanent staff in Slovenia

5. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

The Labour Inspectorate of the RS has long (practically since 1994) been included in various formal European institutions, which have decisively contributed to the operation and formation of the Labour Inspectorate of the RS in processes of integration with the EU. These are in particular the Senior Labour Inspectors Committee (SLIC), the International Association of Labour Inspectors (IALI, functions within the ILO), and various services operating within the International Labour Organisation. All these organisations have often involved us in various working groups. In this connection, they prepare various reports and expert contributions, staff of the Inspectorate attend and actively participate at various professional seminars and meetings in the different EU countries. SLIC has planned an evaluation and judgement of the work of individual labour inspectorates of EU member states in relation to effectiveness and successful supervision in the sense of the general principles of labour inspection in connection with health and safety at the workplace. In order to realise this task it will be necessary actively to cooperate both in the role of representatives of SLIC who will prepare and carry out this evaluation and judgement for individual member states, as well as in the role of a member state in which this evaluation and judgement will be carried out.

A great deal of our activity is also connected with Slovenia's obligations in implementing adopted international obligations deriving from ILO Convention no. 81 on labour inspection in industry and trade, together with the European Social Charter and a series of Directives in the sphere of health and safety at work and working conditions, adopted within the framework of the EU. These mainly relate to providing data and reporting in connection with these documents.

Within the framework of our competencies, we carry out tasks in connection with market supervision in the Republic of Slovenia and thus cooperate in realising one of the basic principles of the EU, i.e., the free flow of goods in the common European market. This is primarily supervision of the provisions of the General Safety of Products Act (Ur.l.RS, no. 101/2003) and the Technical Requirements for Products and Conformity Assessment Act (Ur. l. RS, no. 99/2004) and implementing regulations issued on their basis. The role of the Inspectorate is similarly important in realising the basic principle of the EU relating to the free flow of labour within the EU.

MAIN DOCUMENTS FROM INDIVIDUAL THEMATIC AREAS

- The Labour Inspectorate of the RS submits to its parent ministry a report of its work for the past calendar year, in which are given general statistical data, stating laws and other regulations that govern inspection, data on the number of employers by activity in which inspection was carried out, the number of workers, data on the number of violations and crimes found, measures ordered by activity and data on fatal injuries at work, collective accidents at work, serious injuries and on findings of professional illness by activities and proposed measures for solving questions in this area. The report is dealt with by the Government RS and submitted to the National Assembly RS. After have been debated, the report is communicated to the International Labour Office.

(only in Slovene)

- Program orientations of the Labour Inspectorate of the RS (only in Slovene)

CONTACT FOR INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

Borut Brezovar

Chief Labour Inspector RS

e-mail:borut.brezovar@gov.si

telephone: +386 1 280 36 60

telefax: +386 1 280 36 77, 280 36 76