Company & Commercial- Croatia On April 26 2007 amendments to the Court Register Act came into force in order to bring Croatian legislation further into line with EU law, and in particular the amended First Council Directive and Directive 2003/58/EC.
The amendments introduce the following changes:
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In accordance with the provisions of the First Council Directive, in addition to a company's main registry book, the amendments provide for the retention and public disclosure in electronic form of other documents required for entry in the Court Register. This will enable anyone to inspect electronic copies of relevant documents and data without having to demonstrate a particular legal interest.
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The amendments provide for electronic communication between the registry courts and notaries public. This will speed up the entry process and increase protection of economic and legal dealings.
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In order to comply with the EU standards requiring unified document and data management, the amendments oblige companies to deliver financial data to the registry court. This data is then entered in the Court Register, thus ensuring that the principles of completeness and transparency of the Court Register are observed. The amendments further provide for the imposition of penalties on those who (i) fail to deliver to the registry court the financial statements for a period of three consecutive years, and/or (ii) do not deliver the financial documents by the prescribed deadline.
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In accordance with Council Regulation 2157/2001 on the Statute for a European Company and Council Regulation 2137/85 on the European Economic Interest Grouping, under the amendments both societas Europaea and European economic interest groupings can be entered in the Court Register . However, the application of these provisions has been delayed until Croatia's accession to the European Union, since the Croatian Companies Act does not yet provide for these types of entity.
The new methods for managing court registration and the registration procedure itself should lead to better protection of, and increased transparency in, economic and legal dealings.
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