Croatian Law Research Articles

Public and Private Ports in Croatian Law

Existing classification of the Croatian seaports does not fit the level and meet the needs of the economic development of the Republic of Croatia, particularly after the Republic of Croatia joined the European Union. Equalizing public service offered by a port with the purpose of the port itself (general purpose – port open for public traffic, special purpose – port not open for public traffic) limits the economic development and aggravates the implementation of the basic market policies of the EU. Therefore, modernisation of the basic classification of ports in the Croatian legislation is suggested. Basic categorization of ports should be as follows: public service ports, private service ports and private ports for private needs of an entrepreneur.

Disciplinary sanctions for police officers in Croatia and in Serbia

The authors in the paper give a review and a description of legally proscribed disciplinary punishments for police officers in the legislations of the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Serbia. With certain institutes the authors give the point of view of legal doctrine and case law, and the statistical data. In the introduction the terms police officer and disciplinary responsibility are defined, and the purpose of disciplinary punishments is explained, as the authors point out that imposing punishments ensures proper functioning of the service, and the effect of the punishment has a special and general prevention. Following are legal provisions which regulate obligations of police officers and the rules for determining their responsibility for violations of official duty. In the chapter on disciplinary punishments the term disciplinary punishment is defined, and afterwards particular punishments for certain minor or severe violations of official duty are listed and described. The authors point out the punishment of conditional termination of civil service, which is imposed for particularly severe violations of official duty, when it makes sense to give the police officer one last chance to improve their behaviour and attitude towards the official duty. The following chapter describes the rules for determining disciplinary punishments, competent persons and deadlines for the execution of disciplinary measures, as well as the deadlines and reasons for deleting the executed disciplinary sanctions from the files of the police officers. After the analysis and comparison of the legal solutions in both countries, in the conclusion the authors give a critical review of the existing legislation and solutions for their improvement as refinements of existing and prescribing additional disciplinary sanctions for police officers, as well as proscribing disciplinary sanctions for the retired police officers. Thus the authors note that by proscribing two punishments for minor and six for severe violations of official duty in Croatia, and two punishments for minor and five for severe violations of official duty in Serbia, the legislators enabled individualization of sanctioning for particular violations and violators; however, they suggest also proscribing other disciplinary measures for the purpose of individualization of punishing. The authors propose proscribing the possibility of punishing retired police officers for violations committed while they were in the service, which would be modelled on the German Federal Disciplinary Law. Furthermore, they point out that it is not clear what purpose would be achieved in the Croatian law by imposing a punishment of relocating to another position with the same complexity of work, as well as suggest changing disciplinary punishment of prohibiting professional promotion and advancement in the service into the legal consequences of disciplinary punishments for police officers in Croatia, according to the Croatian Law on Civil Servants.

What Prior Judicial Scrutiny of Secret Surveillance Stands For

Case of Dragojević v Croatia, App no 68955/11, ECtHR, 15 January 2015 Prior judicial scrutiny of secret surveillance measures cannot be circumvented by allowing courts to justify measures retrospectively. In a case about the tapping of telephone conversations of a drug-trafficking suspect, the European Court of Human Rights found that the Croatian law requiring reasoned prior judicial authorisation of secret surveillance measures could not be interpreted as allowing a court of first instance to merely justify the authorised measures a posteriori, in the context of a dispute around the admissibility of the evidence, when the authorising judge had failed to provide any compelling grounds for authorisation in due time and as required by domestic law. Article 180 § 1(1) of the Croatian Code of Criminal Procedure Article 6 of the ECHR (right to a fair trial) Article 8 of the ECHR (right to respect for private and family life, home and correspondence)

Education Challenges and Developments in Foreign Language Teaching in Croatian Law Schools Education Challenges and Development for the Future

In the modern world of global economic and political associations, the knowledge of foreign languages and communication skills represent essential factors in all professions. In this respect, knowledge of English language as lingua franca of international communication is an indispensable prerequisite for communication within the legal profession worldwide. This paper is a case-study of teaching foreign languages in Croatian Law Schools, presented on the case of the Faculty of Law, University of Osijek. In the introductory part of the paper, a short description of the status and the position of foreign language courses in the Higher Education System of the Republic of Croatia is offered. In the main part the author presents new developments in the foreign language teaching in Croatian law faculties as answers to current challenges of Croatian membership in the EU. On the example of the Faculty of Law, University of Osijek, new projects on teaching foreign languages to practicing lawyers and law students are presented, with an emphasis on the Lifelong Learning Programme for Lawyer-Linguists. This programme, as well as specific foreign language courses in Legal English, Legal German and Legal French, have been developed within the lifelong education projects for lawyers, by which young lawyers are offered an opportunity to learn and/or to improve their knowledge of the three working languages of the EU. These developments in foreign language teaching within the Croatian Higher Education System are one of the responses to current challenges of the internationalization of the modern world. DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2015.v5n1s1p87

New Croatian Law On Protection of Persons with Mental Disorders in Comparison with Mental Health Acts Across Europe: Do We Have a Different View On Human Rights?

Introduction Croatia is introducing the new Law on Protection of Persons with mental disorders on January 1, 2015. Major changes are related to the terms of involuntary admissions, thus aiming to improve protection of persons with mental disorders within psychiatric care. Aim Aim of this paper is to compare mental health legislation and position of mentally ill people in five EU countries, namely Croatia, Germany, Spain, Sweden and UK. Methods Methods of descriptive analysis are employed to explore similarities and differences among countries in relation to the four following indicators - involuntary admission procedure, forms of involuntary treatment, maximum duration of involuntary treatment and patients' legal right to complain. Results Despite all being in the EU, countries included in the study vary substantially in their legislation for the practice of involuntary hospital admission which will be presented in details. Conclusion How involuntary treatments should be legislated and regulated is highly controversial. We believe that EU countries should join forces to create a common understanding of this issue because legal differences could lead to substantial discrepancies in human right protection practices regarding persons with mental disorders.

Croatian and EC Competition Law: State and Problems of the Adjustment Process

The purpose of this article is to introduce and briefly analyse Croatian competition law in the light of EC competition law standards. The analysis will be kept at a general level, essentially offering an overview of Croatia’s legislative framework in the field of competition law, including the Competition Law that was in force from 1995 until October 2003 and the new Competition Law that was enacted on 21 July 2003 and entered into force on 1 October 2003. An independent Croatian competition authority, the Agency for the Protection of Market Competition, was created in 1995 and began its work in 1997. The Agency is directly responsible to the Croatian Parliament.

THREATENED FISHES OF THE WORLD: Delminichthys krbavensis (Zupan�i� and Bogutskaya, 2002) (Cyprinidae)

Krbava minnow, Delminichthys krbavensis, is freshwater fish species of endemic to the Adriatic watershed in Croatia. It lives only in karstic springs, streams and subterranean waters in Krbavsko polje. This species is protected by Croatian law and it is listed on IUCN Red List as Critically Endangered (CR). D. krbavensis has very limited distribution what makes it vulnerable to different kinds of threats such as water extraction, exploitation of karstic springs and streams, agricultural pollution, road construction and introduction of nonindigenous fish species. Suggested conservation actions for this species are detailed study of biology, ecology and distribution as well as bans on watercourse regulation and road construction, reduction of pollution and restriction of introductions of nonindigenous fish species. Also, conservation of this species should be ensured through implementation of management and action plans.

The Right to Paid Annual Leave: The Implications of Accession

The right to paid annual leave is a particularly important principle of EU social law that is regulated by the provisions of Article 7 of the Working Time Directive (WTD), where it enjoys a privileged status as the only non-derogable right. Significantly, Article 7 of the WTD Directive has been interpreted by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) as a directly effective provision. In Croatian law, this right has been implemented by means of the Labour Act. In this article, we examine three aspects of national regulations regarding paid annual leave against which might raise doubts as to the proper implementation of Article 7 WTD. First, we look at the regulation on minimum periods of employment as a precondition for the entitlement to paid annual leave. Here, we shall argue that the national regulation is not consistent with EU law, as it triggers the accrual of the right to paid annual leave only after half a month of employment. After that, we examine the regulation on the overlap between paid annual leave and other types of leave. We shall claim that national rules regulating overlaps between paid annual leave and maternity, parental, adoption, sick and other paid leave are not in violation of EU law. However, in the case of the overlap between paid leave and unpaid leave stemming from the Maternity and Parental Benefits Act, we raise certain doubts as to the adequacy of national regulations. Our last point of interest is the regulation concerning the carrying-over of untaken paid annual leave into the following calendar year, where we argue that national provisions on the carry-over period are not consistent with Article 7 WTD.

Treatment of landfill leachate by membrane processes of nanofiltration and reverse osmosis

Landfill leachate from Jakuševec, Zagreb, Croatia was treated by membrane processes of nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO). Different types of membranes were selected to obtain the parameters of leachate contaminants below maximum concentration levels (MCLs), defined by the Croatian law and EU directive. As a pretreatment of landfill leachate, coagulation and filtration were used. Parameters of total carbon, total organic carbon (TOC), inorganic carbon, chemical oxygen demand (COD), pH, turbidity, conductivity, concentration of different inorganic ions, heavy metals, etc., were analyzed in all steps. The landfill leachate was relatively low loaded with organic substances and ammonia; COD, TOC, and NH4+-N of real sample were 1,720.0 mgO L−1, 1,260.5 mgC L−1, and 1,147.6 mg L−1, respectively. Their concentrations decreased after coagulation for 27.9, 58.6, and 7.9%, respectively. RO/NF membranes (NF270, NF90, and XLE) additionally decreased COD and TOC for >94.6% and >92.5%, respectively. Ammonium ions decreased in the range of 37.1% (NF270)–88.9% (XLE).

10.5937/zrpfns48-6139 = System of punishment by the new Hungarian Criminal law and its comparison with the Serbian and Croatian laws

The author in this study gives an overview of the system of punishment under the new Hungarian criminal law and also compares some of its solutions with the Norm of Serbian and Croatian criminal laws. The choice of these three criminal laws is logical considering the similar geographical proximity and the shared past (Croatian and Vojvodina in the composition of Hungary, and Serbia and Vojvodina within the Croatian Yugoslavia), as well as approximately the same time period in which the laws were adopted, and almost identical problems that legislation seeks to solve: increased crime rates, increasingly arrogant offenses, an increase of juvenile delinquency, drug use and psychotic agents, and the emergence of new criminal offenses in particular in relation to economic crime and the use of modern information systems. Media presentation of offenses, gives a chaotic picture of the situation in the society and thus influences the society and citizens. On one hand the fear of crime is getting stronger, and on the other hand the need of the citizens for general security increases. In response to the needs of its citizens new Hungarian law from the 2013 is trying to establish order in the society, to restore confidence in the law and the judiciary, as well as in the government. The aim of the new Code was to create simple, efficient, modern and strict standards in order for the perpetrators of crime as well as for the judiciary. Part of it is done by stricter punishments, and by introducing the actual punishment of life imprisonment, which is applied to the most serious perpetrators of crimes, mainly returnees, not allowed to be released on probation, but to serve the whole sentence. Unlike those convicts who were given life sentence, some of them can be released on probation, which can be solved only after serving at least 25 years of the prison sentence (instead of the previous 20 years). The legislator has paid special attention to those offenses that largely harass citizens and pose the greatest threat to the Hungarian society. Consequently, in many segments a lot of improvements were made with regard to offenses against public order, sexual offenses, criminal acts against children and public morality, as well as criminal offenses in connection with financial operations.

THREATENED FISHES OF THE WORLD: Telestes turskyi (Heckel, 1843) (Cyprinidae)

Tursky dace, Telestes turskyi , is a freshwater species endemic to the Adriatic drainage. This species is found only in two rivers in Croatia, the River Krka and River Cikola, and is protected by Croatian law. Major threats for this species are extremely limited distribution, river regulation, water extraction and pollution. Suggested conservation actions for this species are: habitat protection, bans on regulation and alteration of watercourse and restriction of introduction of alien fish species.

Disciplinary responsibility of civil servants in the Croatian law

This paper gives a review of regulating disciplinary responsibility of civil servants in the Republic of Croatia, and with certain concepts it presents the standpoints of legal theory and jurisprudence. In the introduction the author gives legal definition of the term civil servant and defines official duty and disciplinary responsibility. In the central part of the paper the author describes violations of official duty, disciplinary penalties, rules of disciplinary proceedings, process of suspending civil servant from duty, and judicial protection against the decisions of the disciplinary proceedings. The author concludes that it is necessary to regulate more precisely disciplinary responsibility for misbehavior of civil servants off duty, to supplement the catalog of penalties with probation suspension from civil service, proscribe the possibility of punishing the retired civil servants, allow discussion in absence of a civil servant after the first unexcused absence, and condition suspension from service by reasonable expectations that a civil servant could be sentenced to termination of civil service.

10.5937/pravzap0-5988 = Limitation of minimum price of immovable property in the enforcement procedure in the law of Republic of Serbia and in the law of Republic of Croatia

The provision of Article 97 paragraph 6 of the Law on Enforcement and Security, Official Gazette of RS, no. 31/11, 99/11, 109/13, provides that the immovable property of the enforcement debtor, after two failed public auctions, may be sold without limiting the minimum price. The Croatian Law contained a provision with the same substance. The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, acting on constitutional petitions, proclaimed that rigid application of the Croatian provision had violated debtor's right on fair trail. Author will compare standpoint of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia with standpoints of the highest Serbian judicial instances regarding mentioned provision of Serbian law. This stand of domestic courts, as well as the stand of the Croatian Constitutional Court is based on the prohibition of disposals of parties that are contrary to enforceable statutes and rules of decency. The legal solution, which provides that immovable property in the enforcement proceedings be sold without limitation of minimum prices in Croatia has been abandoned. The stands of the highest courts of the Republic of Serbia, as well as the Croatian example show the manner in which mentioned provision of Serbian law should be interpreted, but also the direction in which it should be changed.

TEACHING AND LEARNING FOREIGN LANGUAGES FOR LEGAL PURPOSES IN CROATIA

Abstract In accordance with the Bologna Declaration, modern languages and communication skills have a growing importance in all professions. With the prospect of Croatian membership of the EU and taking into consideration the conditions of the growing internationalization of law in general, knowledge of foreign languages represents an indispensable prerequisite for international com- munication within the legal profession. Thus, teaching foreign languages in the field of law, especially English and German, is necessary not only for the pro- fessional education of Croatian law students, but also for their mobility within the network of European universities. This paper presents a case-study of the current situation in teaching Legal English and Legal German in Croatian Law Schools. First, the status of foreign languages for specific purposes (FLSP) in the Higher Education System of the Republic of Croatia in general is analyzed. The main part of the paper is dedicated to teaching Legal English and / or Legal German as compulsory courses within the curricula of Croatian law faculties (status, syllabus design, teaching methods). Then some projects on teaching foreign languages to practicing lawyers will be presented. With the prospect of Croatian membership of the EU, specific education programmes for lawyer- linguists have been introduced by the Law Faculties of Zagreb and Osijek. These programmes, developed within the lifelong education project for lawyers, offer an opportunity for Croatian law students and young lawyers not only to im- prove their knowledge of Legal English and Legal German, but also to learn other languages of the EU, like French or Italian. These new programmes are the response of Croatian foreign language teachers to the current requirements of the European labour market and the challenges of the internationalization of the modern world.

Measurements and Estimation of the Extremely Low Frequency Magnetic Field of the Overhead Power Lines

Paper reports the simple model to estimate the value of the Extremely low frequency magnetic field of the overhead power line. The model is based on the application of the Biot-Savart law, considering the actual pillar head geometry and the conductors mutual position as well as their catenary shape. Additionally, it is shown that influence of the catenary on the location of the sag maxima can be neglected. The accuracy of the proposed model is verified by measuring the magnetic field of 110 kV and 400 kV overhead power line. Moreover, statistical analysis of the overhead power line current has been performed in order to determine accurate current magnitude and consecutive radiation dose. The obtained results are compared to limits directed by corresponding Croatian laws.

Disclosure of Beneficial Ownership – From EU Major Shareholdings Directive to EU New Transparency Directive – What Needs to Be Changed in Croatian Securities Markets Act?

Disclosure of beneficial ownership is a powerful mechanism for protection of the investors on the capital markets. Through the duty to disclose beneficial ownership issuers, being listed companies, and other participants on capital market (individual investors, institutional investors, competent authorities), can obtain valuable information for creation of their portfolios. The Admission and Information Directive 2001 and the Proposal for a Transparency Directive 2003 are focused in this point. In Croatian Law the disclosure of beneficial ownership is regulated by the Securities Market Act 2002. The following paper takes its starting point in the provisions of the Directive, which is in force, but it gives also information on how Admission Directive was implemented in the laws of some member states given the fact that some countries have rules which are more stricter or more widely applicable that those in the Directive. While having in mind that Croatian law is generally harmonized with Admission Directive reference is given to the diverging points, and especially what needs to be changed in order to comply to the standards contained in forthcoming Transparency Directive.

Freedom to Provide Services in European and Croatian Law

Paper analyses the freedom of provide services, recent judicial practice and trends of developing since “ Bolkenstein directive” until today. Directive was suggested with purpose of eliminating obstacles in services area. It provoked controversies not only in EU member states but also in wider public. Previously to second reading of Directive on Services (July 2006) two year work preceded since the Committee published the draft of the Directive. Changes proposal is a balance between liberalization of services and preservation of “ European social model” . Directive determines general legal frame in which measures of harmonization are used, along with administrative cooperation and development of treatment codex in certain areas. Most important novelty brought by the Directive is changed principle of “ country of origin” in “ freedom to provide service” .

Recent Developments in Judicial Settlement of Disputes Involving Mass Shareholder Claims Towards Listed Companies: Global, European and Croatian Perspective

Croatian capital market is, from the beginning of the year 2009, governed by new Capital Market Act that introduces higher level of investor protection, by posing firmer rules on mandatory disclosure for listed companies. Based on the similar trends in comparative law it could be expected that disputes between investors and issuers are more likely to arise. Investors would more likely seek judicial protection, i.e. sue for damages, when issuers’ misstatements on the capital market such us false prospectuses, non-prompt disclosure of price sensitive information etc. occur. Because of dispersed corporate structure in listed companies, it is possible to have a large group of investors on the plaintiff’ s side, which opens various legal issues in handling such massive claims. National approaches to this problem are very different: from an American modeled class actions, to English group litigation, German model case procedure, etc. Aim of this paper is to analyze how mass shareholders’ / investors’ suits work out in regulatory environment of the US and some EU countries, as well as point out what procedural mechanisms are available in the Croatian law, and to suggest actions which should be taken in order to facilitate settlement of those disputes.

European Contract Law: Sublease

The model rules on sublease set out in the Draft Common Frame of Reference for a European Private Law (DCFR) are analysed and compared to the existing legal norms provided in the laws of various European countries, including Croatia. Noting that in several European jurisdictions there are at least two contractual types that correspond to what is referred to as “lease of goods” in the DCFR, the author identifies the common features and explores the differences regarding the substance of sublease in diverse types of lease contracts (e.g. “najam”, “zakup” and “leasing” in Croatian law, “Miete” and “Pacht” in German law). The limitation of the scope of application of DCFR model rules on the assets other than immovables is perceived as a probable obstacle to a broader implementation of the DCFR, taking into consideration that majority of the lease contracts refer to immovable property such as land, apartment and business premises. This article examines in particular how the national rules differ regarding the lessee's right to sublease without lessor's consent, the lessor's right to extraordinary termination of the lease if the lessee subleases without lessor's consent, the lessee's right to extraordinary termination of the lease if consent to sublease is withheld without sufficiently good reason, and the lessee's liability for the performance of the contract of lease. Although DCFR does not deal with the expiration of sublease at the termination of the lease nor with the lessor's right to direct action against sub-lessee, it is observed that in some countries these subjects are explicitly regulated. Finally, bearing in mind that one of the objectives of DCFR is to create a toolbox for the drafters of EU law rules, the author tries to answer whether the rules relating to the contract of sublease as defined in the DCFR may serve as specific guidelines to EU legislators.

The Approximation of Croatian State Aids Policy to the European Union Standards

The purpose of this paper is to analyze Croatian state aids policy and its transformation with respect to the negotiations with the European Union. The analysis is based upon collected data on public expenditure designated to the state aids measures. The paper also discusses present negotiating positions on state aid and competition policy of both parties with respect to the European Union positive regulation. The authors also analyze the approximation of positive Croatian regulation to the Union's regulation assessing the compliance of Croatian laws to the European standards. This analysis is based upon comparative method. Since the letter of a law does not give a clear insight to its application, the authors also research the practice of Croatian Competition Agency in approving or assessing specific state aids in the form of selective measures undertaken by Croatian Government and local authorities. The conclusion is that Croatian state aids policy is yet to be approximated to the European policy. This conclusion is not aiming to the amount of granted state aids in absolute terms since the Republic of Croatia has shown serious constraints and more fiscal discipline than some Member States over the past years. Croatian state aids policy has to change structurally.