Gradualism or Gradual Slowness of Changing the General Administrative Procedure Act (ZUP)

General Administrative Procedure Act (Zakon o splošnem upravnem postopku – ZUP) is a key framework statute within Slovenia’s legal order. The Slovenian ZUP was adopted in 1999, and has so far been amended unevenly and often only in a piecemeal manner. The amendments that have successfully made it through the legislative process were often merely cosmetic (especially the amendments ZUP-A, ZUP-D, ZUP-F and ZUP-G and mainly ZUP-C and ZUP-E) and adopted mainly due to political expediency. ZUP-I as the Act on Amendments and Supplements to the ZUP (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 85/25), published on 6 November 2025 and will enter into force on 7 February 2026, was prepared in 2024 and adopted in the legislative procedure in September 2025 and again in October 2025 due to the veto of the National Council. The purpose of this amendment is multifaceted, with the anti-bureaucratic dimension being emphasised, for example in simplifying the service of documents. The authors believe that the Slovenian ZUP is too conservative rather than progressive when compared to good foreign models. They therefore see considerable potential for a more modern codification in Slovenia, and they also believe that there are sufficient arguments for a systemic overhaul of the Slovenian ZUP. In their opinion, it would be appropriate to create a completely new codification of general administrative procedure, which would substantively cover most of the spirit of the current law, but would also revise important principles and other rules, and also regulate newly emerging dimensions, such as alternative dispute resolution and digitalisation, including artificial intelligence and automated administrative decision-making.

Key words: ZUP, general administrative procedure, administrative decisionmaking, changes, bureaucracy, systemic reform, artificial intelligence, digitalisation.