Establish an Online Shop in Slovenia

Updated on Saturday 24th November 2018

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It can be a great business idea to open an online shop in Slovenia as the e-commerce sector expanded at a steady rate in the last years. Statistics show that persons with an age between 10 and 74 years have access to internet in Slovenia, which is also available for companies registered in this country that have more than 10 employees. The increasing trend of shopping through the online environment had a positive effect on using credit cards for online transactions.

Businessmen who want to open a company in Slovenia as an e-commerce business can receive legal assistance on the procedures that are involved in this case from our team of Slovenian lawyers, who may also advise on the main rules of law that regulate the activity of any online company registered in this country.

Are there any regulations for online shops in Slovenia?

Yes, the activity of online shops in Slovenia is regulated under the Electronic Commerce Directive (2000/31/EC), set out by the European Commission. As a member state of the European Union (EU), Slovenia also applies this regulation. Furthermore, such companies also have to respect the Slovenian legislation concerning the protection of the customer, and our team of lawyers in Slovenia can offer in-depth assistance regarding this matter.

Investors who want to expand their business activities in Slovenia should know that the registration of an online business does not require any special permits, but in order to operate in the online environment it will be necessary to register a company following the standard registration procedure available under the local legislation.

What are the main types of e-commerce activities in Slovenia?

The online sector in Slovenia registered the highest growth for the sale of food and beverages, automotive and the sale of pets. It is also necessary to know that online companies that have registered websites in this country have also set up webpages that are compatible with mobile devices (76% of the total number of online companies). Some of the most developed areas are the following:

• domestic e-commerce – most of the Slovenian citizens purchase their products and services from online businesses registered in this country;
• cross-border e-commerce activities – the cross-border activities for online shopping is mainly driven by transactions with other companies located in the EU;
• business-to-business e-commerce – its most representative activity is registered in the automotive sector;
• e-commerce services – in the area of online services, the highest development is available for the IT sector.

What are the procedures for opening a Slovenian website?

In order to activate in the online sector in Slovenia, one of the first aspects that have to be concluded is to open a website, that has the possibility of integrating a secure online payment platform. In order to do so, it is necessary to purchase a domain name, with the country code top-level domain name ending in “.si”, which designates the fact that the respective website is registered under the jurisdiction of Slovenia; our team of Slovenian lawyers can offer in-depth legal assistance on the other legal requirements necessary when opening a website.

A valid website name in Slovenia can have minimum two and maximum 63 characters; hyphens are accepted, but they can’t be added at the beginning of name, nor at its end. The main institution which provides network services in this country is the Academic and Research Network of Slovenia (ARNES), but entities operating in the commercial sector will not have to apply for a domain name with the institution. Instead, they can request this from one of the official registrars available in this country.

Further on, since the website will be created to sell products or services, it will need an e-commerce platform, created especially to accommodate the needs of an online seller (some of the most popular e-commerce platforms are WordPress and Shopify). Also, any online shop should have a SSL certificate, which provides security measures as the website will collect important information from the clients, such as their credit card numbers and any other personal data; our law firm in Slovenia can assist with further advice.

The evolution of website registrations in Slovenia

As mentioned at the beginning of the article, the e-commerce sector in Slovenia is steadily increasing, a fact that is also sustained by the total number of domain names that were registered here over the years. For example, at the level of 2003, the total number of websites registered in Slovenia was less than 20,000, while in 2013, there were more than 100,000 websites.

In the last years, the number of new websites increased at a steady rate and in 2017 it reached more than 126,000. Up until now, Slovenia has a total of more than 130,000 websites and in October 2018, approximately 1,700 new ones were registered under the top domain “.si”. A website that will be set up as an online shop should provide a merchant account, and businessmen are invited to contact our law firm in Slovenia for in-depth advice on the documents that have to be provided in this case.