The existing concession system, put in place in 2004, divided Slovenia into concession zones, creating impenetrable local monopolies. It is to be phased out by January 2017.

It will be replaced by a system of licences that will be nation-wide and granted indefinitely, with households free to choose their service provider.

The Environment and Spatial Planning Ministry says that the new system will be user-friendly in allowing households to replace their provider whenever they like.

The government also expects that competition will drive down prices. Price caps will be set, but Environment Minister Irena Majcen expects some will lower their prices to outbid competitors.

The new bill on chimney sweep services has been a year and a half in the making, with the previous draft, unveiled in late 2015, withdrawn as inappropriate due to many shortcomings.

The new system has been greeted with similar criticism from business associations representing chimney sweeps.

The main complaint by chimney sweeps is that households will be given too much freedom; if they change the providers too frequently, it is unclear who will be held accountable in case something goes wrong.

"Under the new bill a household can choose a different provider for every scheduled furnace inspection. Nobody at the ministry can explain who will be responsible in the event of fire," Aleksander Županek of the chimney sweep association at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS) told Dnevnik newspaper on Monday.

The situation could be even worse in blocks of flats, where every furnace owner will be free to choose their chimney sweep for their furnace, whereas the chimney is classified as shared property, said Simon Dovrtel of the Chamber of Craft and Small Business (OZS).

The businesses also complain about a provision determining that chimney sweeps may not reject customers for whom they are the geographically closest provider.

They say, according to Dnevnik, that this will lead to the relocation of providers to densely populated areas, leading to higher prices for rural customers.

"Within six years, the sector will be destroyed," said Županek.