The Managers' Association of Slovenia, the Association of Supervisory Boards' Members and the Ljubljana Stock Exchange have prepared the consolidated text of the first Slovenian Corporate Governance Code which is to take effect as at 18 March 2004. During the compilation, the authors have taken into consideration the experiences of other European countries and the OECD principles relating to corporate governance. Based on the surveys conducted and with important contributions of various prominent Slovenian experts, the new Code reflects also certain particularities of the Slovenian-specific corporate governance practices.
The Corporate Governance Code for Slovenia, with the legal nature of a recommendation, has been compiled in order to encourage the corporate executives to follow its principles and make use of the recommended rules of conduct. Thus, the Code would facilitate establishment of a functional corporate governance system and provide favourable conditions for the companies' sustainable development as well as preservation and further increase of their value. At the same time, the Code is to motivate the shareholders and other important interest groups, to be more actively involved and deal with the issue of their rights more responsibly.
The recommendations of the Code should serve in particular to the public joint-stock companies but may provide a useful guideline for other companies as well. The issuers of securities which are listed on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange official market have been already summoned to publish their statements regarding the compatibility of their individual corporate governance systems with the recommendations of the new Code, not later than 30 September 2004, following the principle "Comply or explain". The public statement is to become an obligatory enclosure to an annual report, due to be published on the publication date for the summary of the report at the latest.
At the occasion, the three institutions also signed a Memorandum on Cooperation related to corporate governance, thereby establishing their intention for a long-term collaboration in advocating the new Code in the Slovenian corporate environment.
The adoption and enforcement of the Corporate Governance Code represent an important move towards the development of a quality corporate governance system in Slovenia.
