CROATIA LOBBYING LAW: NOT YET ON THE HORIZON

There is no regulation or a job description for lobbyists in any official document issued by the Croatian government. Professional lobbyists in Croatia have thus been working under dubious conditions for the last 20 years, some of them as business consultants and others as lawyers under the protection of Croatian labour law.

In Croatia, lobbying is considered as ”selling influence” and this causes lots of problems in the not-yet-defined lobbyist profession.

A lobbying law and its implementation would enable the profession to develop, protect Croatian lobbyists and their clients, and inform the public about who lobbies, why and for whom.

The Croatian Lobbyist Association is one of the strongest advocates for the adoption of a lobbying law, a lobbyist register and accreditation of lobbyists in Croatia (since 2008), claiming that it would define:

• A mandatory registration of everyone who wants to influence government bodies;
• Accreditation of interest representatives in the form of a badge for entering the Parliament's premises;
• Sanctions for those who want to influence public policy and government decisions but do not want to register.

Regulation of lobbying in Croatia would lead to greater transparency as it would eliminate shadow lobbying in various industries.

Strong support for a lobbying law has come from the former Croatian President Ivo Josipovic, Croatian Chamber of Trades and Crafts, Croatian Peasant Party, American Chamber of Commerce in Croatia, various Croatian and foreign experts in policy and decision-making processes, as well as from certain Members of the Croatian Parliament. Political will in Croatia is what is missing at the moment.