Originally from Handbook on Third-Party Funding in International Arbitration, Second Edition

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PART I.  THE THIRD-PARTY FUNDING LANDSCAPE

1.  The TPF market in Slovenia

1.1.  Please shortly describe the TPF market in your Jurisdiction.

Third-Party Funding (“TPF”) is a concept that is still being developed in Slovenia,   particularly in regard to relevant legislation, as well as case law. As a result, TPF is currently only regulated by individual acts and regulations, such as the Slovenian Collective Actions Act (“CAA”)   and the Arbitration Rules of the Ljubljana Arbitration Centre (“Ljubljana Arbitration Rules 2023”).

In practice the most common forms of TPF of disputes in Slovenia are legal expenses insurance (“LEI”), in particular before-the-event insurance (“BTE”), and financing provided by law firms in the form of contingency fee arrangements.

At least in theory, despite its relatively small size, the Slovenian market has some of the key prerequisites for establishing Slovenia as a TPF-friendly jurisdiction, such as:

•           an existing inclination towards the external financing of disputes;

•           no major regulatory obstacles (e.g., rules, oversight etc.); and

•           the absence of concepts preventing TPF.

1.2.  Is it dominated by local or international Funders? Which Funders are active? Which cases typically get funded?

Given the size of the market and the relatively low value of disputes (i.e., disputes below not exceeding EUR 10 million), Slovenia is less interesting to international Funders,   meaning local funding by law firms and LEI providers is (still) prevalent. A harmonized legal framework for the financing of third-party dispute resolution in the EU is expected to encourage investors to cooperate internationally. As a result, we can expect that demand for financing of certain disputes also in smaller markets (including Slovenia) will also increase among financiers operating in multiple markets. 

According to the available public information, class actions have been funded by TPF in Slovenia. However, regarding TFP in arbitration proceedings exact figures are missing, since there is no obligation to disclose TPF under Slovenian arbitration law and most arbitrations taking place in Slovenia remain confidential.