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Title: Croata - Public-Private Partnership Institutional Framework

Language: English

Type: Document

Nature: Laws and Regulations

Published: January 1, 2024

Region: Europe and Central Asia (ECA)

Country: Croatia

Topic: Legal Framework

Keywords: Legal Framework *, Legislation and Laws **, PPP Law ***, Croatia

Document(s):

Document Summary:

Croata - Public-Private Partnership Institutional Framework

Document Details:

Croatia PPP Law/Concessions Law/Public Procurement Act

The Croatia (PPP Act 2008) regulates procedures for the preparation, approval, award, and monitoring of proposals for PPP projects.  An independent public body, the PPP Agency is entrusted with the task of selecting and approving PPP projects proposed by the Croatian administration.

The Concessions Act 2008 specifies the types of concessions, provides general principles and rules applicable to Concessions, in particular to Concession awards, Concession contracts and termination of Concessions.

The Public Procurement Law regulates public procurement procedures, the competencies of the State Commission for the Supervision of Public Procurement Procedures, and legal protection concerning public procurement procedures.

 

Background and lawyer’s analysis

As to the actual 2008 Croatian law on concessions, it's radically different from the 2002 Draft. That notwithstanding, the background/context for the 2002 draft appears to have been (i) a desire for alignment with EU practices and procedures and (ii) the will of the Croatian Government to promote private financing of public infrastructure and the delegated management of public utilities -driven by the World Bank and the GOC.

More specifically, the following points provide a better understanding of the draft law:

  • The advice to the World Bank and the Croatian Ministries involved the review of the 1992 Concessions Law and other laws and regulations with a view to ensuring that they are consistent with international legal standards, having particular regard for potential European Union integration
  • The fact that the then-current concession law (1992) was outdated and extremely brief and no other legislation/regulations currently exist which could even partly mitigate its deficiencies
  • Croatia's desire to align its practice and procedures with EU rules and directives, the requirements to remove barriers to the entry of private investors and to increase competition, indicating areas where there are differences and where improvements could be made
  • According to the consultancy firm, "the Concession Law is considerably less detailed than its equivalent in neighboring EU accession countries, as demonstrated in Chapter 8 of this Report. Although complemented by specific chapters on concessions in other sectoral laws (see Chapters 3 – 6), the detail and consistency of application is perhaps not as extensive as it should be (See part II)."
  • According to the consultants, "the existing Concession Law of 1992, which is too brief and insufficient in its scope to comply with the objectives stated in the TOR, will have to be amended or preferably replaced by a new concession law. Such a move would strongly reaffirm the will of the Croatian Government to promote private financing of public infrastructure and the delegated management of public utilities."
  • Need for the new law to define the concept of the concession and license in line with international practice and the recent EU Interpretative Communications. This would precisely limit the scope of the law as far as economic activities are concerned, with a view to reducing regulated activities
  • The new law would also determine the level of government concerned (State, County, Municipality) and give a clear division of power between the various levels for each type of contract or authorization.

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