US tech giant Apple will have to offer Slovenian among its operating system language choices if it wants to continue selling its devices here under a proposed new law that mandates all manufacturers of electronic consumer devices offer the local language.

The proposed bill, unveiled by the Culture Ministry on 29 June, states that Slovenian must be among the operating system languages, except if the devices are not meant for mass consumer use, or the provider has a market share of less than 10% in Slovenia.

Slovenia has spent years trying to convince Apple, the only major mobile phone manufacturer without a Slovenian language interface, to include Slovenian among the language choices.

Meetings have been held with Apple representatives and officials have made repeated appeals to the company, to no avail.

The proposed bill also targets Slovenian-based providers of online content by requiring that they provide their services in the Slovenian language.

The requirement does not apply to providers which generate more than 90% of their revenue outside Slovenia, but the law "urges" such providers to include Slovenian among the language options as well.

The provision means that large corporate platforms such as Netflix and Disney will not be affected, despite facing much criticism for not offering Slovenian subtitles,

The Slovenian authorities have acknowledged that the state does not have the power to regulate that since large streamers are not based in Slovenia.

The bill is now in public debate. Stakeholders can submit comments until 30 July.