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Croatia has made great strides in strengthening its regulatory policy framework and implemented a broad set of regulatory reforms to support more effective law-making and reduce administrative burdens for businesses. The recently introduced RIA law and the law on access to information set out requirements to conduct impact assessments and public consultations and accompanying guidance documents have been provided to regulators to help them implement practices as set out in the OECD 2012 Recommendation on Regulatory Policy and Governance.
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The OECD Regulatory Policy Review of Croatia assesses the country’s regulatory management capacity by taking stock of regulatory policies, institutions and tools, describing trends and recent developments, and identifying gaps in relation to good practices. Improving the entire regulatory policy cycle will ensure that regulations are built on a foundation of solid evidence and public participation and are designed to improve the security, health and well-being of citizens at a reasonable cost.
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This chapter describes the main governance reforms of Croatia since its independence in 1991 up until it joined the EU in 2013. It also describes the current economic context of regulatory reform efforts and points to the specific economic challenges that the country faces that hinder investment, economic growth, and well-being.
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This chapter describes the administrative and legal environment for regulatory reform in Croatia and assesses the communication with stakeholders on strategy and policies. It also looks at the policies, processes and institutions for evaluating the efficiency and effectiveness of programmes aimed at improving the regulatory environment. The role of e-government in support of regulatory policy and governance is briefly reviewed. Finally, it provides recommendations for Croatia to develop a formal and explicit regulatory policy.
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Chapter 4 sheds light on the processes in place for consultation and dialogue with affected stakeholders and the general public and to what extent the outcomes can influence policy makers. It describes and evaluates the regulatory and institutional framework for stakeholder engagement, the practices in place for e-consultations, and the role of stakeholder engagement in ex ante and ex post regulatory impact assessment. In doing so, the chapter assesses the level of transparency of the legislative process in Croatia, which is one of the central pillars for effective regulation.
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This chapter focuses on how the Croatian government rationalises its existing stock of regulations, including how it undertakes reforms to improve regulation in specific areas or sectors to reduce administrative burdens and other compliance costs associated with regulation or evaluate the overall effectiveness of a regulation.
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This chapter reviews Croatia’s strategy for regulatory compliance, enforcement and inspections, including the appeals process. It points to the opportunities and challenges for the implementation of the new law on the State Inspectorate. Finally, the chapter makes recommendations for how Croatia could improve its enforcement and compliance regime.
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This chapter looks at the interface between the national and the sub-national level of government in Croatia. It explains the organisation of regulatory attributions and the oversight mechanisms in place for regulation at the sub-national level and points to challenges and opportunities for regulatory policy in Croatia’s municipalities, counties and cities. Finally, it gives recommendations for improvement of the multilevel regulatory governance set-up.
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Chapter 9 assesses the interface between the EU and the national level of government in Croatia, which is a core element of effective regulatory management in all EU countries. The chapter describes and evaluates the processes in place for negotiating the national position, transposing EU directives into national law and ensuring consistency with national legislation in Croatia. The chapter also briefly addresses the mechanisms in place to prevent gold-plating. Finally, it gives recommendations for improvement of the multilevel regulatory governance set-up.
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This chapter looks at the taxation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Croatia. It starts by providing some background on the SME sector and the tax system in Croatia and discusses conceptual issues in the taxation of SMEs, including the use of special tax rules for small businesses. The chapter then assesses the tax treatment of SMEs in Croatia – including both self-employed sole traders and incorporated small businesses.