Zakon o ratifikaciji Sporazuma med Vlado Republike Slovenije in Vlado Švicarske konfederacije o sodelovanju pri usposabljanju Slovenije za posodobitev njenega javnega upravnega sistema (BCHJUS)

The Government of the Republic of Slovenia and the Government of the Swiss Confederation intending to reinforce the ties of friendship between the two countries and with the objective of developing their cooperation, have agreed as followed:

ARTICLE 1

FIELD OF COOPERATION

The Government of the Swiss Confederation, represented by the Cooperation Office for Eastern Europe (hereinafter referred to as the “Swiss Office”), shall provide Technical Assistance to the Government of the Republic of Slovenia in its efforts aimed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of central public administration and public services and the performance of civil servants.
    This cooperation shall be known as Slovenian–Swiss Administrative Modernisation Project, hereinafter referred to as the “Project”. A detailed description of the Project is contained in the jointly elaborated Project Document “Developing Slovenia’s Capacity to Modernise its Public Administrative System”, adopted by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia on january 26, 1994.

ARTICLE 2

OBJECTIVES

2.1 The general objective of the Project is to institutionalise modern administration and management methods in Slovenia, resulting in continuous performance monitoring and evaluation of the public sector and timely provision of trainig and development measures for civil servants.
    2.2 The immediate objectives of the Project are:
    – developing institutional capability for an Organisation and Management Unit (O&M) at central governmental level so that it can conduct management and organisational studies within the public sector of Slovenia;
    – developing instutional capability for a Training and Development Unit (T&D) at central governmental level so that it can carry out action-oriented management training and development activities for senior civil servants within the public sector of Slovenia.
    2.3 The expected results of the Project are:
    – an organisation and management (O&M) unit and a training and development (T&D) unit established and functioning within the Slovenian government with appropriate legal status, funding, rules and regulations, premises and staff;
    – a stock of O&M and T&D specialists trained and certified;
    – O&M methodology developed and several O&M studies completed;
    – several management training modules developed, management case studies prepared, preliminary training needs analyses completed and a preliminary training master plan developed for the T&D unit’s first three years of operation;
    – several comparative study reports of policy, structure, organisation and practices of Swiss and Slovenian organisations completed.

ARTICLE 3

DURATION

The Project shall be carried out within two and a half years.

ARTICLE 4

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

4.1 The Project shall be a joint effort of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia and the Government of Switzerland.
    4.2 The Project shall be under the supervision of a steering group, the National Project Council in Slovenia (hereinafter called the “NPC”), consisting of:
    From the Slovenian side:
    – Minister of Internal Affairs (Chairperson)
    – Minister of Justice
    – Minister of Economic Affairs
    – Minister of Science and Technology
    – Director of the Government Office for Legislation
    – General Secretary of the Chancellery.
    From the Swiss side:
    – one or two representatives of the Swiss Office
    – the Senior Adviser to the Council
    – two Chief Advisers.
    The Project Manager will also attend the meetings of the NPC as needed.
    4.3 The NPC shall:
    – Have the overall responsability of establishing the necessary institutions which will take care of the O&M and the T&D functions;
    – recruit the national Project staff as well as the trainees;
    – review progress in the establishment of the Project structure and the implementation of the Project activities;
    – guide and facilitate the Project’s coordination;
    – provide guidance and support in finding solutions to important implementation problems.
    4.4 The NPC shall meet four times during the first year of the Project and two times in the second year. Additional meetings may be initiated on an ad hoc basis as seen needed.
    4.5 The members of the NPC shall always endeavour to act in a spirit of cooperation and make their decisions by consensus.
    4.6 The implementation of the Project shall be carried out by the Swiss Programme Management Team, consisting mainly of the two Chief Advisers, the Senior Adviser to the Council, the Project Manager and two Academic Counselors, and the Project Implementation Personnel in Slovenia, consisting mainly of the National Project Director, two National Academic Heads and two National Associate Experts. A small Project management secretariat shall be established in both Switzerland and Slovenia to handle all the administrative details of the Project.

ARTICLE 5

CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE SWISS GOVERNMENT

The Swiss contribution to the Project will be made in the forms of consulting and training inputs and other resources available to the Project. Specifically, they are:
    – consulting and training inputs by the Swiss/International Experts, including travel, honorarium and per diem;
    – salary for the Swiss Project Manager in Slovenia including travel and per diem;
    – top-off honorarium for National Experts, National Associate Experts and Project staff In Slovenia;
    – hosting charges for organising the management training seminars in Switzerland of three-week duration;
    – per diem in Switzerland for 40 Slovenian trainees;
    – per diem and travel in Switzerland for the Slovenian teams to carry out comparative studies;
    – travel, honorarium and per diem for the final Project evaluation mission;
    – secretarial support in Slovenia for the Swiss Project Manager and Swiss Project team and Swiss/International Experts in Slovenia;
    – programme management support and technical backstopping in Switzerland;
    – equipment for national Project office in Ljubljana, namely 2 PCs, 2 printers, 4 projectors, 4 flip charts, 2 metaplans, 1 photocopier, textbooks and expendables.

ARTICLE 6

CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE SLOVENIAN GOVERNMENT

The Slovenian government will provide the following inputs:
    – salary of 40 trainees for the duration of the Project;
    – travel and per diem for the National Experts and national Project staff in Slovenia;
    – basic salary of the National Project Director;
    – basic salary of the two Academic Heads;
    – basic salary of the two National Associate Experts;
    – salary for one Project secretary to work for the National Project Director;
    – travel costs for 40 trainees from Slovenia to Switzerland and within Switzerland;
    – two-months pre-training of 40 trainees in English and one-week training in computer programmes (word processing and computer graphics) in Slovenia;
    – office premises for Project staff in Slovenia;
    – training facilities, additional training equipment, 2 PCs and consumables;
    – duplication and distribution of training materials of the trainees.

ARTICLE 7

STATUS GRANTED TO SWISS AND INTERNATIONAL EXPERTS

The Government of the Republic of Slovenia shall:
    – Exempt the Swiss and international experts from taxation and other fiscal charges in respect to any emoluments;
    – grant free of charge and without delay the visas requested by the Swiss authorities or their representatives for the Swiss and international experts and their families;
    – grant to the Swiss and international experts and their families the same status as provided for the officials in the Convention on the privileges and immunities of the United Nations of February 13, 1946 (Article V).

ARTICLE 8

MATERIAL AND ASSETS TO BE USED ON THE PROGRAMME

The Government of the Republic of Slovenia shall exempt the material and assets provided by the Swiss Government from custom duties, taxes and other charges.

ARTICLE 9

CONFIDENTIALITY

The Parties will ensure that their respective consultants, experts and trainees respect the customary confidentiality concerning internal programme information.

ARTICLE 10

EVALUATION

The Project’s implementation shall be reviewed and evaluated continuously, covering both the quantitative (efficiency) and qualitative (effectiveness) aspects of the output at both individual and institutional levels. After completion the Project shall be assessed in regards to the achievement of the objectives and the efficiency and effectiveness of means employed.

ARTICLE 11

FINAL PROVISIONS

The present Agrement shall enter into force on the date when the Government of the Republic of Slovenia will inform the Government of the Swiss Confederation that the consitutional conditions required for the entry into force of the Agreement in the Republic of Slovenia have been fulfilled, and shall be applied provisonally from the date of its signing until this moment. It shall remain into force until the end of the Project, but in any case for not more than three years. Each Party may terminate the Agreement upon three month’s prior written notice.
    Done in duplicate in Ljubljana on the 2nd December 1994, in the English language.