EY Law News, October 2024

NEW PROPOSED CHANGES IN THE FIELD OF GENERAL PRODUCT SAFETY AND EUROPEAN DATA GOVERNANCE 

In the October Law News, we would like to inform you about the Proposal of Act on the Implementation of Regulation on General Product Safety Regulation (EU) and the Proposal of Act on the Implementation of Regulation (EU) on European Data Governance.

PROPOSAL OF ACT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF REGULATION (EU) ON GENERAL PRODUCT SAFETY (ZIUSVP)

The proposed Act on the Implementation of Regulation (EU) on General Product Safety will replace the current General Product Safety Act (ZSVP-1) and also transpose Regulation (EU) 2023/988 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 May 2023 relating to general product safety into Slovenian legislation.

The key innovations regulated by the Act are:

• Introducing obligations for economic operators and providers of online marketplaces to ensure product safety in accordance with the Regulation, including the establishment of internal product safety procedures and one-stop-shops for communication with control authorities and consumers.
• All product safety information required by the Regulation must be available to consumers in Slovenian.
• Enabling consumers and other interested parties to submit a product safety notification to the competent authorities where, at the time of product recall, the economic operator does not provide the consumer with an effective, free and timely remedy.
• Economic operators are provided with special information on the implementation of the Regulation by the Slovenian Institute for Standardization (SIST) free of charge and upon request.
• Laying down rules on penalties for infringements by Member States for infringements by manufacturers, infringements by authorised representatives of manufacturers, infringements by importers and distributors, infringements by online marketplace providers, etc.  

PROPOSAL OF ACT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF REGULATION (EU) ON EUROPEAN DATA GOVERNANCE

On 30 May 2022, EU Regulation 2022/868 on European Data Governance was adopted, on the basis of which the National Assembly is currently considering the Proposal of Act on the Implementation of Regulation (EU) on European Data Governance. The Proposal will transpose into Slovenian Law the provisions of the above-mentioned Regulation, which regulate the conditions for the re-use of certain categories of data held by EU public sector bodies, the notification and supervision framework for the provision of data intermediation services, the framework for the voluntary registration of entities that collect and process data made available for altruistic purposes, and the framework for the establishment of the European Data Innovation Board.   

The key innovations regulated by the Act are:

• The requirement to designate competent supervisory and enforcement authorities to provide technical support to public authorities in data processing, provide guidance on data structuring and storage, facilitate pseudonymisation and ensure data privacy, confidentiality, integrity and accessibility, as well as guide the acquisition of consent for the re-use of data.
• The Ministry responsible for digital transformation will act as the only competent authority of Slovenia for protected public sector data in all sectors.
• An electronic single information point containing metadata and conditions of use of databases will be integrated into the national open data portal.
• The Information Commissioner will decide on the right to appeal of any natural or legal person who is directly affected by the decision on the application for the re-use of protected data of public sector bodies.
• Public authorities must process applications for re-use within two months, taking into account the terms of the Regulation and national legislation.
• The proposal clarifies fees for the re-use of data and details of data sharing services, including the registration of providers and organizations.
• The Information Society Inspectorate will supervise compliance.