STA, 3 March 2021 - The National Assembly passed on Wednesday legislation designed to end fictitious registrations of residence, a widespread practice uncovered in recent months.
The amendments to the residence registration act will crack down on fictitious registrations at addresses that are not residential, or residential addresses where the size of the living quarters clearly precludes the registration of a large number of people.
This will be done in several ways, for example with the requirement that individuals may register residence only at the administrative unit where the address is located.
At each registration, the public official conducting the procedure will have to check the actual use of the building and the number of persons already registered at the address. There will be a minimum per person requirement in terms of square metres.
If the conditions for registration are not satisfied, officials will be able to reject such applications using a simplified procedure.
The legislation comes after a series of reports showed there were apartments and sometimes even commercial premises where dozens and sometimes over a hundred persons, mostly foreigners, were registered.
MPs also rejected a separate amendment, proposed by the opposition National Party (SNS) and adopted by the Home Policy Committee, that would have required individuals to provide information about their ethnicity and religious affiliation when reporting their residence.
The provision, criticised by the Office of the Information Commissioner as discriminatory, was overridden with amendments tabled by both the coalition Modern Centre Party (SMC) and New Slovenia (NSi), and the opposition Left.
