Entering Slovenia through distributors: hospital buyers, one procurement portal and the proof Slovenian buyers expect

Slovenia is a small market with a short chain between manufacturer and buyer. One national procurement portal and a handful of large hospital buyers mean that a few distributors hold most of the relationships in a professional category. A manufacturer that finds the right one early gets the whole country, and often a conversation about the neighbouring markets as well.

Putting it simply: Slovenian professional demand runs through local distributors that bid in Slovenian, invoice locally and service what they sell. The largest public buyers of supplies are the university medical centres in Maribor and Ljubljana, and the state bundles many categories through one ministry acting as central purchasing body. Buyers expect proof before the pitch: conformity evidence, Slovenian documentation, a company they can check by registration and VAT number, and electronic invoices for public work. Demand is visible on the Portal javnih naročil, on e-JN and, above the EU thresholds, on TED. A first e-mail to a company is lawful if you identify yourself and offer a working opt-out.

How the market buys

Local distributors

Slovenian public buyers usually award to companies that can bid in Slovenian, invoice locally and provide service within the country. In our analysis of TED award notices for supplies (September 2026), 98% of the winners in the 1,748 notices from buyers in Slovenia were companies registered in the country; those local winners include distributors and dealers as well as manufacturers' own local subsidiaries (methodology). For a foreign manufacturer the route in is to be listed with them, not to compete with them.

Some distributors also serve Croatia or the wider region. Ask for the territory in writing and check which categories the distributor actually wins, not only which brands it lists.

Hospitals at the top of the list

In the TED award notices for supplies from Slovenian buyers that Cresques holds (January 2024 to early November 2026, about 5,900 notices), the two buyers with the most notices are both hospitals: the Univerzitetni klinični center Maribor with 342 and the Univerzitetni klinični center Ljubljana with 305. Next come the Ministry of Defence, the port of Koper and the general hospital in Nova Gorica. This is our own count of notices, not of contract value. For medical, laboratory and hospital supplies it means two buyers set much of the pace, and a distributor with a record at either of them is worth meeting first.

Joint procurement through one ministry

The state buys many categories centrally. Under the government's decree on joint public procurement (Uredba o skupnem javnem naročanju), the Ministry of the Interior and Public Administration acts as central purchasing body and runs 24 subjects of joint procurement, among them energy, postal services, property insurance, and medicines, medical devices and medical equipment. Ministries, bodies within ministries, government services and administrative units must buy through it, as must public institutes founded by the state for procurement in their fields; other contracting authorities can join a specific procurement with an authorisation. The list of completed joint procurements, with the framework agreements and their validity dates, is published on e-JN. If your category is on it, the selected bidders are the companies to approach.

Municipalities, schools and health centres run their own procedures under the same Public Procurement Act (ZJN-3).

The proof Slovenian buyers expect

Conformity: CE and the EU responsible person

Slovenia applies EU product legislation directly. Where your product falls under harmonisation legislation, CE marking and the declaration of conformity are the baseline, and professional buyers will ask for test reports against the standards named in the tender. For consumer products the General Product Safety Regulation (EU) 2023/988, which applies from 13 December 2024, requires an economic operator established in the Union for each product (Article 16); a manufacturer outside the EU needs an importer, an authorised representative or a fulfilment service provider in that role.

Documents in Slovenian

The Public Use of the Slovene Language Act (ZJRS) is explicit. Under Article 15(1), when products are labelled and presented, the information a consumer needs about their characteristics, terms of sale, use and purpose must be given in Slovenian or in a language easily understood by consumers in Slovenia; generally understood symbols and pictures are allowed and foreign brand names are not affected. Article 15(2) goes further for food, medicines and plant protection products: the declaration, instructions for use and other necessary data must be printed on the packaging in Slovenian. Article 14 requires businesses to deal with customers in Slovenia in Slovenian. The GPSR points the same way (Article 9(7)).

Tenders add their own rule. Under Article 36 of ZJN-3 the procurement procedure runs in Slovenian; a buyer may allow parts of an offer, especially technical documentation such as prospectuses and technical material, in a foreign language, and may ask for an official translation at the bidder's cost. In practice your distributor wants technical sheets, instructions, declarations and a price list in Slovenian, ready to attach to a bid. Have a native speaker check them.

A company that can be checked

Slovenian counterparties can be checked in the Slovenian Business Register (Poslovni register Slovenije), kept by AJPES. It records each business entity with its registration number (matična številka), full name, business address and legal form; it can be searched online through ePRS, and a list of entities with the basic public data is published as open data twice a month. The Financial Administration (FURS) publishes daily-updated lists of taxpayers, and states that the VAT identification number is the tax number (davčna številka) with the prefix SI. Expect a distributor to check you the same way: have your own register extract ready and make sure the VAT number on your first quotation is valid and matches your company name and address.

Invoicing: e-invoices for public buyers, and for business from 2028

Public invoicing in Slovenia is electronic. The Government states that everyone doing business with budget users must send e-invoices for goods delivered and services performed, and that budget users have been required to use e-invoices since 2015. Under the Payment and Public Finance Services Act (ZPJS), which replaced the earlier act on payment services for budget users (ZOPSPU-1) in November 2025, the Public Payments Administration (UJP) is the single entry and exit point (Article 43), suppliers issue budget users only e-invoices (Article 44), and e-invoices are exchanged with budget users only through UJP (Article 46). Suppliers can send through providers contracted with UJP, through the UJPeRačun web portal for small volumes (up to 100 e-invoices a year), or through Peppol, where UJP is the certified access point; domestic and foreign companies can use their own Peppol access point.

For business invoices, the National Assembly adopted the Act on the Exchange of Electronic Invoices and Other Electronic Documents (ZIERDED) on 23 October 2025. Under Article 7(1), business entities exchange only e-invoices for supplies of goods and services between them in Slovenia, and the act covers recipients with their seat in Slovenia (Article 1(2)); it applies from 1 January 2028, except the rules for e-invoice service providers, which apply from 1 April 2027 (Article 28). Invoices to consumers stay on paper unless the consumer agrees (Article 8), and according to the Government paper also remains allowed with foreign companies, and a PDF does not count as an e-invoice. A foreign manufacturer is not the main target, but its distributor is, and will expect structured data. Check how the rules apply to your own invoices with your tax adviser.

Payment terms

The Prevention of Late Payments Act (ZPreZP-1) sets the limits. Between businesses the payment term may not exceed 60 days from receipt of the invoice (Article 10); a longer term is possible only exceptionally, if agreed in writing and not manifestly unfair. Where the debtor is a public body, the term may not exceed 30 days from receipt of the invoice unless another law provides otherwise (Article 11). One such law matters for hospital suppliers: under Article 25 of the Act on Additional Intervention Measures in Health (ZDIUPZ), public health institutions founded by the state that provide secondary and tertiary care, such as the university medical centres, may pay within at most 60 days, until 31 December 2027. A creditor may claim a flat €40 in collection costs when the debtor is late (Article 14). Quote 30 days for public work, expect up to 60 days from state hospitals, and agree longer distributor terms in writing; check the contract terms with your adviser.

Where public demand is visible

All notices go through one place. ZJN-3 requires buyers to publish on the Portal javnih naročil every procurement whose value without VAT reaches the national thresholds in Article 21: on the general field, €40,000 for supplies and services and €80,000 for works (€50,000 and €100,000 in the utilities field). Above the EU thresholds the notices also go to the Official Journal of the EU; under Article 22(3) buyers apply new EU thresholds from 1 January after their adoption, which from 1 January 2026 means €140,000 for supplies and services bought by central government bodies and €216,000 for other public buyers. Communication, and in particular the submission of offers, is electronic (Article 37); in practice through e-JN, where anyone can browse current procurements without registering.

Below the national thresholds there is still a record. Under Article 21(2) each buyer must publish on the portal, by the end of February, a list of the contracts it awarded in the previous year with a value from €10,000 to the threshold, with the subject, value and name of the company that won.

Above the EU thresholds award notices appear on TED, the online version of the Supplement to the Official Journal of the EU. Slovenian notices are detailed: in the supply notices Cresques holds, a Slovenian award notice carries on average about six and a half award lines (lots and winners), against about two in Germany and fewer than two in Austria, so each one shows precisely who supplies what.

Lawful first contact

Slovenia is one of the countries where a first e-mail to a company is lawful, provided the sender plays fair. Article 226(1) of the Electronic Communications Act (ZEKom-2) requires prior consent for marketing e-mail, but Article 226(4) limits that rule to subscribers who are natural persons. An e-mail to a Slovenian distribution company therefore does not need prior consent. Article 226(5) applies to every message: it must not hide the sender's identity and must give a valid address to which the recipient can send a request to stop. AKOS supervises these rules (Article 229).

A sole proprietor (s.p.) is a natural person and needs consent, unless a legal person published the address as its own contact address (Article 226(6)). Use the contact address the distributor publishes on its website or in its company details, identify your company fully, keep to what the distributor sells, include a working opt-out and honour a refusal at once. Writing in Slovenian, or opening in Slovenian with an English version below, helps the message get read. This is a summary, not legal advice; check your outreach plan with your adviser. Our Slovenia market page covers the rule in detail.

What this means for a manufacturer

• Find the distributors that already win your category in Slovenian award notices, and check the hospitals and the joint-procurement list if you sell into health or the state administration.
• Prepare a Slovenian proof pack: CE documents and test reports, technical sheets, instructions and safety information, declarations and a price list.
• Make your company easy to check: register extract, valid VAT number, and the same name and address everywhere.
• Be able to send e-invoices through UJP, for example over Peppol, if your distributor resells to budget users, and expect structured invoicing between Slovenian businesses from 2028.
• Quote 30 days for public work (up to 60 days for state hospitals until the end of 2027) and agree any distributor term above 60 days in writing.
• Make the first contact by e-mail to the published company address, with your identity and an opt-out, and treat sole proprietors as natural persons.

Where Cresques fits

When you create a market for Slovenia in Cresques, the award notices on TED for your CPV categories are what the market view is built from: which companies win, for which buyers, and how often. Opening a company profile shows its awards and, where it has been researched, whether it acts as a distributor or a manufacturer, with the quotes behind that answer. The first message for a Slovenian company is drafted in Slovenian with an English version, for e-mail to the published company address, and built on the awards that company has won.