Slovenia

1. Under what circumstances can a stolen vehicle be seized in your country?
   Under Slovenia’s Law on Penal Procedure, a vehicle can be seized in our country if there are grounds for suspecting that it was acquired illicitly, either in Slovenia or elsewhere.
2. What channels are used to notify the owner of the vehicle’s location (Interpol or other)?
   If the owner of the stolen vehicle does not live in Slovenia, our country’s NCB will send a message through Interpol channels to the appropriate police authorities of the owner’s country of residence. The Slovenian NCB will also take all the necessary procedural measures following seizure of the vehicle (e.g. verifications in the country concerned through that country’s Interpol NCB).
3. Who is responsible for the storage of seized vehicles?
   The seized vehicle is storage under police at the time of police procedure, after that it was handed over to the authorized company for storage of seized vehicle till that time as long as the competent judicial authority take a decision to whom it will be return.
4. Are there any costs associated with storage of a seized stolen vehicle and who is responsible for these costs?
   At time of police procedure there are no any costs. The costs begins by the authorized company for storage of seized vehicle.
5. How does a stolen vehicle get restored to its legal owner?
   The Police service is an institution, which seizes a vehicle. If the seized vehicle origins from EU, it’s seized by the Slovenian police, which also file a criminal charge or report to the competent judicial authority, which than decides, about its return.
   If the Slovene police doesn’t file the criminal charge or report (in the case when the user is not perpetrator of a criminal offence), the vehicle is returned by the Slovene police (according to Schengen and the Slovenian law).
   If the seized vehicle doesn’t origin from EU and the Slovene police doesn’t pass the criminal charge or report, than the competent judicial authority decides to whom the seized vehicle will be returned.
   If the vehicle is seized by our police and the criminal charge or report is passed to the competent judicial authority (the investigating judge), the decision is taken by the competent Public Prosecutor’s Office.
   If the vehicle is returned by the police or by a court, the owner must provide documents to prove his/hers ownership and also a statement by the police or other authority confirming, that the vehicle had been stolen.
6. Are there any time limits associated with recovery of the vehicle? (i.e. after a certain period of time the vehicle becomes the property of the state or police, etc)?
   Within two months following the date of this message you are expected to inform us of the keeper’s intention regarding the take over of the vehicle. In case you fail to reply in due time, we shall act in accordance with Article 9 of Order on a Procedure on Handling seized objects, property and security deposit. A competent district public prosecutor’s office shall be informed of the result, and it may suggest to the Court that the vehicle in question should either be sold, or destroyed or donated to public benefit.
7. Please give details of relevant legislation
   Legislation on civil procedure.
   Legislation on criminal procedure
8. If the law in your country precludes the restitution of a stolen vehicle to its original owner, please give the reasons why
   No law formally precludes restitution of a stolen vehicle.
9. Does your country have any bilateral treaties, conventions, or agreements with other countries dealing with the recovery of stolen property? If so, please describe how they operate and give details of the countries concerned?
   Slovenia has not signed any agreements or conventions on the restitution of stolen vehicles.
10. Reference point, for assistance in case of difficulties
    Ministry of the Interior,
    General police directorate,
    NCB Interpol Ljubljana,
    Stefanova 2, 1000 Ljubljana
    Contact: Interpol Ljubljana
    Telephone: 00 386 1 428 47 80
    Fax: 00 386 1 2517 516
    E-mail: Interpol.ljubljana@policija.si
    Last Update: January 2007