Article 5

In territories inhabited by members of Hungarian and Italian ethnic communities, municipalities shall be formed that give effect to the special rights of ethnic communities.

Article 39

In the ethnically mixed areas inhabited by the Italian or Hungarian ethnic communities and determined by law, the relevant ethnic community shall have at least one representative in the municipal council. Direct representation of ethnic communities in other municipal bodies shall be regulated by the statute of the municipality.

Within their jurisdiction, municipalities shall, with special acts, regulate issues related to the implementation of the rights of ethnic communities and the provision of financial means for them.

Regulations from the preceding paragraph shall be agreed to by the Council of the ethnic community through representatives of ethnic communities in municipal councils. If municipal bodies decide on other issues related to the implementation of the special rights of ethnic communities, they must acquire prior opinion of the self-governing ethnic community.

In ethnically mixed municipalities a commission on ethnic issues shall be established. Members of the ethnic community shall constitute one half of the commission�s members.

In areas autochthonously inhabited by the Romany community, the Roma shall have at least one representative in the municipal council.

Article 40

In municipalities where ethnic Slovenes are in the minority, the provisions of this law relating to the representation of the Italian and Hungarian ethnic communities in municipal bodies shall apply accordingly to them.

Article 72

Municipalities may integrate into regions to regulate and exercise local matters of wider interest.

A region shall be established in a wider geographically integrated area where an important part of the social, economic and cultural relations of the inhabitants of that area take place, and in which it shall be possible, with regard to the extent of the territory, number of inhabitants and the existing and potential economic capacities, to plan such development as would promote the economic, cultural and social balance of the region and the republic.

The territory of a region shall comprise the entire territories of individual municipalities.

Ethnically mixed municipalities and municipalities which are interested in integration among themselves shall integrate into a region where wider issues related to the implementation of certain rights and the status of ethnic communities determined by the constitution shall be addressed.

A region shall be a public legal person.

Article 77

The state may, with a law, vest certain matters in the original jurisdiction of a region, especially from the following fields: - environmental protection (protection of soil, air, water sources, sea, disposal sites, hydrogeological protection, waste water, etc);

Article 83

Each municipality shall have an equal number of representatives in the regional council.

Representatives of municipalities in the regional council shall be elected by the municipal councils.

In ethnically mixed areas inhabited by the Italian or Hungarian ethnic community and determined by law, each community shall have at least one representative in the regional council.

Article 85

In a region encompassing ethnically mixed municipalities, the provisions of Article 39 of this Law shall be applied accordingly.

Source: Report submitted by the Republic of Slovenia pursuant to Art. 25 Para. 1 of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
http://www.humanrights.coe.int/minorities/Eng/FrameworkConvention/StateReports/2000/slovenia/slovenia.html#annex2