Gifts and public employees

The clients often want to express their appreciation to a public employee for processing their applications by giving them a gift. In the case of accepting gifts, the public employees are obliged to act according to the provisions of the Regulation on restrictions and duties of public employees in respect of the acceptance of gifts (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 53/2003).

Please, allow me to inform you about the content of the regulation.

A public employee performing public tasks may not accept gifts in connection with the performance of a service.

The exceptions of the general prohibition on accepting gifts are as follows:

• A public employee may accept an occasional gift of lower value not exceeding EUR 62.59
• In a calendar year, a public employee may receive several occasional gifts of negligible (up to EUR 20.86) or lower value, up to a total value of EUR 125.19, from the same person.

Gifts valued over EUR 62.59 or EUR 125.19 respectively when received from the same person in one year, become the property of the Agency.

For each received gift exceeding EUR 20.86, a public employee must fill in the registration form for the gift list, which is kept by the Agency. The information provided includes:

• name, surname and address of the donor,
• if the gift is delivered on behalf of the authority or legal person, the statement of that authority or that legal entity,
• a description of the gift,
• the estimated value of the gift,
• the reason or the circumstances in which the gift is given,
• the date of delivery of the gift,
• signature of a public employee.

When donating a gift exceeding EUR 20.86, the donor must communicate:

• his or her name, surname and address,
• the name of the authority or legal person, if the gift is given on its behalf,
• the estimated value of the gift,
• the reason or the circumstances in which the gift is given.

If the donor does not provide all the information or if the information is clearly untrue, the public employee is obliged to refuse the gift or, in case of already accepted gift,to invite the donor to take the gift back.

After accepting the gift, the public employee may find out that the gift is not of lower value, because it exceeds the amount of EUR 62.59, or that the received gifts of negligible value or gifts of lower value exceed the total amount of EUR 125.19 and were given by the same person within a calendar year. In this case, the public employee shall inform the donor about the issue and the consequences of the donation. If the donor insists on presenting the gift or the public employee cannot avoid receiving the gift, the public employee is obliged to hand them over to the employer.

The public employee may not accept any gifts in connection with the performance of the service, not even gifts of negligible value (not exceeding EUR 20.86) in the following cases:

• if delivery or acceptance of such a gift constitutes a criminal offense (giving or taking bribes, abuse of position, etc.)
• if this is explicitly prohibited by law or regulations issued on its basis,
• if money or a security is given as gift.

A gift in the form of a service in connection with the provision of a public service may be accepted by a public employee only if it does not exceed the value of EUR 62.59 or up the total amount of EUR 125.19 respectively for services given by the same person within a calendar year.

We thank you for complying with the provisions of this regulation.

dr. Franci Demšar, Director