Croatia Adopts Law on Lobbying

Law of 18 March 2024 No. 36 «On Lobbying» (Zakon o lobiranju No. 36) entering into force on 1 October 2024 is aimed at ensuring transparency of participation of lobbyists in public and municipal decision-making with regard to drafting and adoption of legal acts and other strategic and planning documents.

The Law is applicable to:

Natural and legal persons of private law, including foreign ones, who intend to participate in public and municipal decision-making on behalf of the persons whose interests they represent, in particular, the employees, elected or authorized to represent interests, and professional lobbyists, representatives and professional interests, business interests or other sectoral interests, including interests of professional, sports, economic and other associations, non-governmental organizations and civil society organizations (hereinafter, lobbyists, representatives of interests);
Persons holding public positions, special counsellors, public and municipal servants and officials of organizations of the public sector who can participate in the preparation and adoption of a public/municipal decision (hereinafter, officials) due to their position.

Lobbying

Under the Law, representatives of interests are obliged to register in the Register of Lobbyists (Registar lobista, hereinafter, the Register) established by the Commission for Conflict-of-Interest Management (Povjerenstvo za odlučivanje o sukobu interesa, hereinafter, the Commission) to participate in public and/or municipal decision-making. To this end, they will have to file an application to the Commission containing their identity data and information on the area of activities and interests that they can represent. The registration in the Register should be renewed every two years.

Additionally, the lobbyists now have to:

Submit reports on their participation in public and/or municipal decision-making in the previous year to the Commission annually by 31 March;
File reports on their participation in public and/or municipal decision-making for the period starting from the submission of the last annual report preceding the exclusion from the Register within 30 days from the exclusion from the Register.

The annual report should contain:

Identity data of the lobbyist and the person whose interests they represent;
Information on the interest represented;
Information on the official participating in decision-making together with the representative of interests, including the name of the body (organization) and functions of the official;
Information on how the interests were represented;
Objective of participation of representatives of interests in public/municipal decision-making;
Materials provided by lobbyists to officials.

The Law also imposes a number of prohibitions on the representatives of interests, in particular:

Represent the interests of two or more persons if they contradict each other;
Provide officials with inaccurate, incomplete or misleading information;
Put inadmissible pressure on officials;
Incite to the violation of restrictions, prohibitions and obligations imposed on officials, in particular, offer or give gifts and/or other advantages to officials.

Activities of officials

Under the Law, an official can interact with a representative of interests provided only after the fact that he/she is registered in the Register is verified in a preliminary manner.

If an official finds out that a lobbyist violated provisions of the Law, including lacking registration in the Register, he/she must inform the Commission accordingly. If an official is not sure whether the conduct of a lobbyist violates the Law or not, he/she can ask the Commission to give its opinion.

The Law also establishes the prohibition for:

Former officials to represent interests in the body (organization) where he/she held a position within 18 months from his/her termination;
Officials to undertake lobbying activities and/or register as a lobbyist if they are subject to Law of 21 December 2021 No. 143 «On Preventing Conflicts of Interest» (Zakon o sprječavanju sukoba interesa).

Liability measures

The Law also contains the provisions on liability for failing to comply with the established requirements.

The lobbyists are subject to the following sanctions:

Failure to file a notification on a change of the data contained in the Register will result in a written warning;
Failure to provide a report on lobbying activities will entail a fine ranging between €500 and €3,000 and/or a written warning;
Failure to meet the requirements to file a notification on changes in the data contained in the Register listed in the written warning by the deadline set by the Commission is punished by a fine from €200 to €1,000;
Provision, by officials, of inaccurate, incomplete or misleading information, putting of undue pressure on officials, incitement to the violation of restrictions, prohibitions and obligations imposed on officials is punished by a fine between €400 and €2,000, prohibition to represent interests for a period between three months and two years or exclusion from the Register for two to five years;
Representation of interests without registration in the Register is subject to a fine from €2,000 to €20,000 for a legal person or from €500 to €5,000 for a natural person.

Officials (former officials) are subject to the following sanctions:

Representation of interests in the body (organization) where the official held a position within 18 months from his/her termination is subject to a fine from €700 to €6,630;
Lobbying in the exercise of duties if the official is subject to Law of 21 December 2021 No.143 «On Preventing Conflicts of Interests» is punishable by a fine from €2,000 to €6,630; besides the fine, the official can be prohibited from exercising certain functions or undertaking certain activities for a period between one month and one year.

The power to impose liability measures for violations of provisions of the Law rests with the Commission.