A. The relevant act 

1

The antitrust law was introduced in Croatia for the first time in 1995. The Competition Act 1995 was replaced in 2003 by the new Competition Act which was mainly harmonized with the aquis communitare of the EU. The full harmonization was finally achieved by the final amendments of the said act, passed in 2009 and entered into force in 2010.

2

The Competition Act lays down the competition rules and establishes the competition regime as well as regulates the powers, duties, internal organisation and proceedings carried out by the Croatian Competition Agency as a competent authority entrusted with the enforcement of this act.

B. The authority in charge to monitor the compliance with antitrust law

3

The authority in charge of monitoring the compliance with antitrust law is the Croatian Competition Agency.

C. The preconditions for applying the Croatian Competition Act 

4

The Competition Act applies to all forms of prevention, restriction or distortion of competition by undertakings within the Croatian territory or outside, if such practices take effect in the Croatian territory. 

Therefore, there are three preconditions for application of Competition Act: 

• distortion of competition
• committed by an undertaking/s
• within the Croatian territory / with the effect in the Croatian territory. 

The following forms of competition distortion are forbidden by the Competition Act: 

• agreements between two or more independent undertakings, decisions by associations of undertakings and concerted practices, which have as their object or effect the distortion of competition in the relevant market (with the exception of the agreements which fulfil the requirements for the exemption from this general ban under the block exemption rules and the agreements of minor importance);
• abuse of dominant position;
• a concentration of undertakings which would significantly impede effective competition in the 
  market. 

D. Consequences of infringements

5

For infringements of the Competition Act the Competition Agency can impose fines on undertakings within the range of 1% up to maximum 10% of the total turnover of the undertaking realized in the last year for which financial statements have been completed. The possibility of the Competition Agency to impose fines is one of the most significant novelties introduced by the recent amendments of the Competition Act. Namely, under the old regime the said agency was only in charge for determining infringements of the Competition Act, while the Misdemeanour Court was authorized to impose fines for such infringements. This division of the procedure between two separate bodies led to extreme inefficiencies because companies would often succeed in avoiding fines in front of the Misdemeanour Court which made the actual enforcement of the Competition Act very questionable. For this reason, the said amendment represents one of the most significant improvements of the Croatian competition regime. 

As well as the most established competition laws, Croatian Competition Act incorporates a leniency regime whereby a company can obtain immunity or a reduction in fine by reporting an existing cartel to the Competition Agency. 

Finally, the act also provides for the judicial review of the Competition Agency's decisions.