The Humanitarian Organizations Act governs essential issues concerning status and operations of humanitarian organizations in the areas of social and health care. The Act defines conditions and criteria for obtaining the status of humanitarian organization; it thus provides for the identification of organizations with public significance that carry out professional programmes in the areas of social and health care. The fundamental objective of the new legal regulation is a higher quality of humanitarian social care. 

Pursuant to the Act, a Commission for the assessment of compliance with the criteria for granting the humanitarian organization status was appointed. When granting the status, the following features are considered:

• the application for the status of humanitarian organization may be made by the societies or their associations that pursued humanitarian activities in the areas of social or health care at least one year prior to the application
• charitable organizations and self-help organizations must explicitly define the area in which the predominant part of their humanitarian activity is carried out in their basic instrument, be it the area of social or health care
• the compliance with general criteria of open, voluntary and non-paying nature must be actually shown in the supporting documents (report on the work etc.)
• the existence and composition of the consultation body and its functioning must be shown as well.

Contact persons providing additional information about obtaining the status of humanitarian organization: 

• Ministry of Health: Damjan Jagodic, telephone:  00 386 1 478 68 67, e-mail: damjan.jagodic(at)gov.si 
• Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs: Mateja Ušlakar, telephone: 00 386 1 369 77 51, e-mail: mateja.uslakar(at)gov.si.