Slovenia: Laws on the national flag and arms

Last modified: 2002-07-05 by ivan sache
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• Law of 21 October 1994
  • National flag
  • Coat of arms
  • Flag of the Slovene nation
• Constitution of 24 June 1991
• Attempts to change the flag, 1995

See also:

• Slovenia
• Slovenia: Construction sheets for the flag and arms
• Slovenia: Law on the naval flags

Other site of interest:

• Slovenian Constitution of 1991

Law of 21 October 1994

I received the law on the Slovenian flag from Tomaz Pisanski from the Slovenian Genealogical and Heraldical Society.

The law is entitled Zakon o grbu, zastavi in himni Republike Slovenije ter o slovenski narodni zastavi (The law on the coat of arms, flag and anthem of the Republic of Slovenia and on the flag of Slovene nation), and was published in Uradni List (Official Gazette) # 67/1994 of 27 October 1994, under number 2392.

The law was proclaimed by Milan Kucan, the President of the Republic of Slovenia on 21 October 1994, based on decisions of Slovenian Parliament of 20 July 1994 and 20 October 1994.

National flag

The flag is described and pictured in an addition to the law, that makes integral part of it, entitled Geometrijsko, likovno ter barvno pravilo za oblikovanje zastave Republike Slovenije (Geometric, artistic and colour rules for the shape of the flag of the Republic of Slovenia).
The flag construction sheet pictured there determines the overall proportions of the flag as 1:2, with stripes of equal width white over blue over red. The centerpoint of the coat of arms is defined to be in intersection of 1/4 of flag length to the hoist and borderline of white and blue. The height of the coat of arms should be 1/3 of the flag height. According to the picture the tops of the two lower mountains of the arms are in the line with the border of white and blue stripes.
The colours are defined according to a 'mysterious' SCOTDIC CODE 777 - INTERNATIONAL COLOR CODIFICATION SYSTEM (2034) as:

• white N-1 N95
• blue N-46 N722509
• red N-23 No74014
• golden yellow N-6 N197512

Coat of arms

There is also a construction sheet of the coat of arms.

Flag of the Slovene nation

The law also defines the Slovenska narodna zastava, litterally 'Slovene national flag'. A better translation would be 'the flag of Slovene nation'. The flag is the same as the national flag but without the arms, that is the tricolour of white over blue over red, 1:2 in proportions, using the same colour standards. Art. 3 of the law says:

The flag of Slovene nation signifies the belonging to the Slovene nation.

In Art. 13 and 14 the use of this flag is defined. The flag can be used beside the flag of the Slovene Republic on national holidays, mourning days when it is halfmasted, and other occasions defined by law, and on local holidays, public manifestations important for the Slovene Republic and other occasions, if the use of the flag is not in confrontation with this law.
Besides that, it is stated that in the areas where Italian and Magyar national communities live, the flags of Italian and Magyar national community are hoisted.

In Slovene, the ethnic sense of nation would be narod, and people is ljudje* as in Ljudska Republika Slovenija, People's Republic of Slovenia 1947-1963.
Anyway, I was asking Tomaz, who sent me the Official Gazette, about this flag, but he did not remember having seeing it, and assumed that the flag was only provided in the law as a continuation of the 1848 tradition. I am still inclined to believe that this flag is intended to represent Slovenes, but this proves that it is not much used.

Zeljko Heimer, 30 April 1997

*Ljudje means people as individuals (not necessarily denoting their ethnicity) whereas ljudstvo is a word for 'a people' (meaning a group of people of common ethnicity). Maybe in this case ljudstvo would be a better translation.

Kris Killer, 25 June 2002

Constitution of 24 June 1991

The flag and coat of arms of Slovenia were described as Constitutional Amendment 100, which was published 25 June 1991 in Uradni List Republike Slovenije (Official Gazette). I received an English translation from the Ministry of Information of Slovenia on 27 September 1991.

Constitutional Amendment C (100)

1. The coat-of-arms of the Republic of Slovenia has the form of a shield. The center of the shield is made of the shape of Triglav in white color, on a background of blue color. Underneath the image of Triglav are two blue wavy lines, representing the sea and the rivers. Above the shape of Triglav are three golden six-pointed stars, forming an inverted triangle. The shield is outlined in red color. The coat-of-arms is designed according to specific geometric and color regulations.
2. The flag of the Republic of Slovenia is a white, blue and red Slovene national flag, containing the coat-of-arms of Slovenia. The proportions between the width and length of the flag are one to two. The colors of the flag are arranged in the following order: white, blue, red. Each color field covers a third of the surface area of the flag in the lengthwise direction. The coat-of-arms is placed in the upper left corner of the flag, with its upper half extending over the white field and the lower half over the blue field of the flag.
3. The use of the coat-of-arms and the flag is regulated by law.
4. This Amendment replaces Articles 8 and 9 of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia.

St. 001-02/89-2/74, Ljubljana, 24 June 1991.

Jos Poels, 10 July 1995

Attempts to change the flag, 1995

There are serious attempts to change the current flag. The flag is too similar to those of Russia and Slovakia. Heraldica Slovenica, the heraldic and vexillological society of Slovenia, proposes a flag without coat of arms and the bars vertical instead of horizontal. There are political organizations and individuals who send their own proposals. Later this year the parlament of Slovenia shall decide about the flag.

Jos Poels, 10 July 1995