Area: Okolje in prostor
Competent authority: .nan
EZU URL: .nan
Initiative ID: 18
Initiative accepted and completed: '2012-10-29'
Initiative classified in EZU: .nan
Initiative forwarded in response: '2012-01-19'
Initiative published: '2012-01-19'
Initiative submitted: '2012-01-19'
Response from the competent authority: "In the petition, an anonymous citizen states\
  \ that it is incomprehensible why the EcoFund, on the basis of its tariff rules,\
  \ charges entrepreneurs \u20AC60 for a credit application form with tender documentation.\
  \ She believes that in the age of advanced information technology, this should be\
  \ free of charge in Slovenia. He proposes that the above-mentioned tariff regulation\
  \ should be abolished and that the EcoFund has too many bureaucratic requirements\
  \ when granting credits and subsidies. The Fund's officials are said to be overly\
  \ suspicious of the documents delivered. They should trust the contractor's statement\
  \ on the original invoice that the service has been carried out and paid for, rather\
  \ than asking for a receipt and photographs of the renovated roofs, facades, heating\
  \ rooms, etc. The EcoFund is intended to promote and develop environmental protection\
  \ by providing loans or guarantees and other incentives for environmental investments,\
  \ not by imposing bureaucratic obstacles, and the way it operates should be reviewed\
  \ and made more user-friendly. We have requested the EcoFund's position on this\
  \ initiative, which is set out below: \"The EcoFund's operation is regulated by\
  \ the Environmental Protection Act (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia,\
  \ No 39/06, 70/08 and 108/09) and the Act on Public Funds (Official Gazette of the\
  \ Republic of Slovenia, No 77/08), as well as by the Act on the Establishment of\
  \ the EcoFund (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No 112/09 and 1/12),\
  \ which has been adopted by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia. Article\
  \ 145(3) of the Environmental Protection Act provides that the amount of compensation\
  \ for the Fund's services shall be determined by a tariff regulation adopted by\
  \ the Fund's Management Board with the consent of the Fund's Supervisory Board.\
  \ This provides the basis for the Fund to be reimbursed for the costs of providing\
  \ individual services on the basis of the tariff in force. The fee schedule usually\
  \ sets the level of fees for the preparation of more complex application documents,\
  \ for the conclusion of the credit agreement and also the reimbursement of the costs\
  \ of other service providers authorised by the Fund, such as the cost of credit\
  \ administration with a bank and repayment insurance with an insurance company.\
  \ The EcoFund normally authorises a bank each year to provide credit management\
  \ services for corporate and private credit and, in the case of loans to citizens,\
  \ to conclude credit agreements and to insure the repayment of loans with an authorised\
  \ insurance company. Authorised contractors are always selected as the most advantageous\
  \ bidder in accordance with public procurement rules.  There were several reasons\
  \ for the fee for the \"Entrepreneur's credit application form\" charged by the\
  \ EcoFund until the end of March 2012. The payment of the fee was intended to reduce\
  \ the number of speculative applications, thereby increasing the level of seriousness\
  \ of credit applications. At the same time, it meant better opportunities for all\
  \ serious applicants wishing to compete for the Fund's credit resources, since priority\
  \ is given to a complete application sent to the Fund earlier. It should be made\
  \ clear that this is not a simple form. For each call for proposals, the EcoFund\
  \ prepares a new application dossier, which has to be extensive, since the law and\
  \ the regulations binding it require the Fund to verify the environmental protection\
  \ investment in terms of its content and technical and financial capacity of the\
  \ applicant, who has to offer adequate collateral and demonstrate a satisfactory\
  \ creditworthiness in order to obtain the credit. For example, in assessing creditworthiness,\
  \ the Fund must apply, mutatis mutandis, the Bank of Slovenia's rules applicable\
  \ to banks. In addition, the Fund must manage earmarked assets in a way that preserves\
  \ their value. Notwithstanding the above, the EcoFund has abolished the obligation\
  \ to pay the above-mentioned remuneration by amending the EcoFund's Tariff Rules\
  \ published in Official Gazette No 24/12. The main purpose of the fee, i.e. the\
  \ seriousness of the credit applicant's application, will be ensured in another\
  \ way, namely by introducing a mandatory online application and the provision of\
  \ basic information on the environmental protection investment for which the applicant\
  \ is applying for a credit.As regards the petition's allegations that the Fund's\
  \ officials are overly suspicious of the documents delivered concerning the implementation\
  \ of investments made by citizens in residential buildings, the EcoFund notes from\
  \ three years of subsidy procedures that the checks on documentation and the requests\
  \ for proof of the implementation and payment of investments are necessary. Both\
  \ investors and contractors often provide false information and untrustworthy documents,\
  \ and this can only be established through appropriate evidence. Citizens are not\
  \ sufficiently aware of the importance of public funds, which these grants certainly\
  \ are. This is not a question of distributing funds, but of allocating them, in\
  \ which the EcoFund must follow the basic principles of public spending: transparency,\
  \ economy and equity. The EcoFund staff, who process applications in accordance\
  \ with the Environmental Protection Act and the Act on General Administrative Procedure\
  \ and prepare decisions, assess applications solely on the basis of objective facts\
  \ and any subjective decision-making is completely inadmissible. In order to be\
  \ granted financial incentives from public funds, which the Fund allocates on the\
  \ basis of public calls for proposals, all the conditions laid down must be met.\
  \ These conditions cannot be verified except by means of credible evidence."
Text file: 18.txt
Title: Charging of the form by the ECO Fund
URL: https://www.stopbirokraciji.gov.si/pobuda/?st=18
