Both at the border and inland, the Slovenian police have recently discovered a number of vehicles stolen in other countries and then registered in Slovenia. In such cases, when the police find that a vehicle is marked as stolen in records (including the Schengen Information System), the police must act in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Act. This means that they seize the vehicle and inform the responsible district state prosecutor's office about it.

A vehicle stolen in another country cannot possibly have appropriate original documents for registration. It is registered on the basis of forged or altered documents, which means that already when the vehicle is imported and registered a criminal offence of Forging of Documents under Art. 256 or Certification of Untrue Contents under Art. 258 is committed.

It is the judicial authorities and not the police that decide on the return of a vehicle stolen abroad.

The police can only decide on the return of a vehicle when there is no basis for criminal prosecution of the holder of the vehicle, according to art. 39 and 100 of the Schengen Implementing Convention.

In case of a hit in the SIS the police check with the law enforcement authorities of the country that issued the alert if the alert is still ongoing. If not, the police do not react, i.e. do not seize the vehicle. A vehicle is seized only when it is established that an alert in the SIS is still valid.

All buyers of such vehicles, which were seized and returned to another country based on a decision of judicial authorities, are advised to demand the refund of the purchase price paid in a civil procedure.

From 1. 9. 2007 to 11. 2. 2008 the Slovenian police seized 246 vehicles based on SIS checks. The number of stolen vehicles thus discovered is expected to be even higher in 2008 as the vehicles are being checked against SIS when they are registered.

Everybody thinking of buying a vehicle from abroad is advised to visit the website of the Police: Stolen vehicles, where they can check the status of vehicles for certain countries.