The Court of Justice of the EU has hit Slovenia with a €800,000 fine over the delayed transposition of an EU directive that creates a legal framework to ensure the freedom to provide electronic communications networks and services at EU level into national law.

The deadline to introduce the directive establishing the European Electronic Communications Code into national law passed in December 2020, but Slovenia only adopted the new electronic communications law in September 2022, two months after the European Commission took the country to court.

Two previous attempts to pass the law in parliament failed, including due to provisions allowing the exclusion of Chinese provider Huawei from the Slovenian telecoms market and provisions curtailing the independence of the Agency for Communication Networks and Services.

A much amended version of the original bill was eventually passed, with the amended provisions for instance prohibiting the use of equipment that could threaten national security as opposed to banning certain "high-risk providers" from the market.

In the decision announced on 14 March, the EU court said Slovenia had failed to take the necessary measures to ensure transposition of the directive by the deadline.

The court stressed that Slovenia could not justify its failure to comply by referring to events during the legislative process, the new convocation of parliament or the request for a consultative referendum.

It thus found it appropriate to impose a lump sum penalty of €800,000 on Slovenia. The measure is intended to effectively prevent similar infringements of EU law from recurring in the future. In addition to bearing its own costs, Slovenia will also cover the European Commission's costs of the procedure.

As the law was being adopted in September 2022, Minister for Digital Transformation, Emilija Stojmenova Duh said that the originally proposed bill, in addition to its many benefits, had contained a number of irregularities, which were highlighted by the European Commission, the Slovenian Agency for Communications Networks and Services and the Slovenian parliament's legal service.

The issues were addressed and the adopted act aiming to increase the connectivity and use of high-capacity networks across Slovenia to make it easier for consumers to switch service providers, which is now free of charge, to set up a public notification and alert system, and to strengthen the security of electronic services.