Croatia: Business Environment

Accounting Rules

Tax Year

The fiscal year begins on January 1st and ends on December 31 of the same year.

Accounting Standards

In Croatia, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are mandatory for big companies and for those that have their bonds on the stock exchange market. All the others can also report respecting the rules set by Croatian Committee for Financial Reporting Standards, a 9-members professional body appointed by the government.

Accounting Regulation Bodies

Croatian Committee for Financial Reporting Standards (in Croatian only)

Accounting Reports

These documents must contain: a balance sheet, a profit and loss account, a cash-flow report, a review of the changes of the authorized capital, comments and annexes.

Publication Requirements

The Croatian entrepreneurs are subjected to the obligation of information about their financial situation. The documents of financial information must be drafted in Croatian and expressed in the national currency (the Croatian kunas) usually once per calendar year. A business year can be different from the calendar year only if there is an exception or if the activity is a seasonal one. The account book and the ledger must be kept up to date and then kept during at least 11 years.

Professional Accountancy Bodies

Croatian Association of Accountants and Financial experts , (in Croatian only)

Certification and Auditing

The financial documents of firms with more than 30 million croatian kunas (approx. 4.3 mil. EUR) annual sales should be checked by an independent external auditor who will have the responsibility to guarantee the sincerity and the accuracy of the given information.

Deloitte, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young.

The State Audit Office

Croatian Auditing Chamber (in Croatian only)

Accounting News

IAS Plus
Tax-Fin-Lex provides information on Taxes, Finances and Legislation (in Croatian only).

Tax Rates

Intellectual Property

National Organizations

The body responsible for industrial property is the State Office for Intellectual Property.
Croatia signed the Agreement of Paris concerning the protection of industrial property and the agreement which establishes the World Intellectual property Organization (WIPO). They are a part of the Agreement of Madrid, on the international register of the trademarks.

International Membership

Membership to the TRIPS agreement - Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)

Legal Framework

Independence of Justice

The judicial system suffers from numerous problems, most notably inefficiency. Judicial personnel shortages have led to a huge backlog of cases, though it decreased in the last years. Excessive trial length and a lack of enforcement of judicial decisions, especially in cases related to the repossession of property owned by Serbs, plague the system. Despite some improvements, a lack of impartiality among the local courts remains a problem.

Equal Treatment of Nationals and Foreigners

Yes, the law prohibits discrimination based on gender, age, race, disability, language, or social status. However, some cases of discrimination against women, ethnic Serbs, and Roma are still reported.

The Language of Justice

Official language also in justice is Croatian. The exception are officially recognized ethnical minorities: Serbs, Bosnians, Italians, Hungarians, Albanians, Slovenes and Roumanians. They have right to use their language in the local courts where their minority rights are officially recognized.

Sources of the Law and Legal Similarities

The main source of the law is the constitution of 1990 (revised in 2001) which is based on civil law system. However, due to the strong will to enter the EU and based on the agreements with the EU, the Croatian legislation has been widely harmonizing with the EU legislation in order to be prepared to enter the EU in 2010 or later, according to estimations.

Checking National Laws Online

Official Gazette of Croatia publishing all legislation (in Croatian only).
A database on national laws

Standards

National Standards Organizations

Croatian Standards Institute
State Office for Metrology

Integration in the International Standards Network

Croatian Accreditation Agency is a full-member of European Co-operation for Accreditation (EA) and associate member of International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC). The rules of accreditation are in line with European standards 45000 and international standards 17000 according to the rules and guidelines of EA, ILAC and IAF.

 

Croatian Standards Institute is a member of: International Organisation for Standardization (ISO), International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), European Committee for Standardization (CEN), European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC), European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).

Classification of Standards

Accreditation is done according to the international (ISO) and European (EN) standards that are recognized as Croatian (HRN) ones.

Online Consultation of Standards

Catalogue of Croatian Standards

Certification Organizations

Croatian Accreditation Agency
State Office for Metrology

Business Practices

General Information

Brochure by Communicaid, general basic remarks on Croatian business culture and habits.
Kwintessential , Brief overview on Business customs and etiquette in Croatia.

Opening Hours and Days

Banks open from Monday to Friday usually from 8.00 AM to 7.00 PM, on Saturday from 8.00 AM to 12.00 AM
Public administrations are opened Monday to Friday from 9.00 AM to 5.00 PM
Shops are opened Monday to Friday from 8.00 AM to 8.00 PM and on Saturday from 8.00 AM to 3.00 PM

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