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Croatia: Foreign Law Before Croatian Authorities – At the Crossroads?

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Treatment of Foreign Law - Dynamics towards Convergence?

Part of the book series: Ius Comparatum - Global Studies in Comparative Law ((GSCL,volume 26))

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Abstract

Mandatory application of conflict of law rules seems undisputable in the Croatian legal system. Principle of iura novit curia is embodied in relevant legal sources (Constitution, PIL Act, sectoral laws), confirmed by legal writings and rulings of Supreme Court and Constitutional Court. Despite the compulsory character of the choice of law rules, first instance courts are rather reluctant in application of choice of law rules. Foreign law is considered a “law”, whereas court is obliged to ascertain the content of foreign law ex officio. Establishing the content of foreign law is most often done through the Ministry of Justice. Case law however confirms that parties can play an active and supporting role in judge’s efforts to establish foreign law as well. It is conceived that establishing foreign law can endanger procedural efficiency, as it is time consuming and costly (due to translations). Data on application of bilateral or multilateral regimes (EJN, HIJN) that provide framework for direct judicial cooperation in establishing the content of foreign law have not been reported yet. Non-application of foreign law may be justified on the grounds of public policy. Future PIL Act provides additional devices for departure of foreign law application: lois de application immediate and general escape clause. If the content of foreign law is not established, lex fori is applied.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Ustav Republike Hrvatske, (Constitution of the Republic of Croatia, consolidated text), Croatian Official Gazette (Narodne novine) no. 56/90, 135/97, 8/98, 113/00, 124/00, 28/01, 41/01, 55/01, 76/10, 85/10.

  2. 2.

    Croatian PIL act dates back to 1983, when it was enacted in former Yugoslavia. It was adopted to Croatian system in 1991 The Law on Resolution of Conflict of Laws with Regulations of Other Countries, (Službeni list SFRJ No. 43 of 23 July 1982 with corrigenda in No. 72/82, adopted in Croatian Official Gazette (Narodne novine) No. 51/91.

  3. 3.

    Article 1 (1) of Croatian PIL Act: “This law contains rules for determination of the applicable law with respect to status, family and pecuniary relations, as well as other substantive legal relations with an international element.”

  4. 4.

    Article 8 Draft PIL Act (https://esavjetovanja.gov.hr/ECon/MainScreen?entityId=3787).

  5. 5.

    Article 3 of Croatian PIL Act states: “The provisions of this law shall not apply to relations mentioned under Article 1 of this law if these relations are regulated by another law or international treaty.”

  6. 6.

    Article 2 of the Croatian PIL Act, as well as Article 7 of the Draft PIL Act of 2016.

  7. 7.

    Some of them were fully superseeded by EU regulations, such as The Obligations and In Rem Relations in Air Traffic Act Croatian Official Gazette (Narodne novine) No. 132/98; Maritime Code Croatian Official Gazette (Narodne novine) No. 118/204, 76/2007. The Consumer Protection Act (Croatian Official Gazette (Narodne novine) No. 79/07, 125/07, 79/09, 89/09, 133/09, 78/12, 56/13.)

  8. 8.

    Croatian Official Gazette (Narodne novine) No. 74/94.

  9. 9.

    Croatian Official Gazette (Narodne novine) No. 74/94.

  10. 10.

    Croatian Official Gazette (Narodne novine) No. 88/2001.

  11. 11.

    See Vesna Tomljenović and Ivana Kunda „“Conflict of Laws Conventions and their Reception in National Legal Systems: The Croatian National Report“, in: Jorge Sánchez Córdero (eds)., The Impact of Uniform Law on National Law. Limits and Possibilities/L’incidence du droit uniforme sur le droit national. Limites et possibilités(Mexico City, Instituto de investigationes Juridicas, 2010) p. 1024–1069.

  12. 12.

    Ivana Kunda/Carlos Manuel Goncalves de Mel Marinho, Practical Handbook on European Private International Law (2010) (http://ec.europa.eu/justice/civil/files/practical_handbook_eu_international_law_en.pdf); Vilim Bouček, Evropsko međunarodno privatno pravo u eurointegracijskom procesu i harmonizacija hrvatskog međunarodnog privatnog prava (Zagreb, 2009).

  13. 13.

    Vesna Tomljenović, „Tumačenje kolizijskih pravila međunarodnih konvencija – primjer tumačenja kolizijskih odredbi Haške konvencije o prometnim nezgodama“Zbornik Pravnog fakulteta u Zagrebu, Vol. 62 No.1–2/2012, p. 103.

  14. 14.

    Eisner Bertold, Međunarodno privatno pravo (Zagreb 1953).

  15. 15.

    Natko Katičić, Ogledi o međunarodnom privatnom pravu (Zagreb 1971) p. 404.

  16. 16.

    Željko Matić, “The Yugoslav act concerning private international law”, Netherlands international law review, vol. 30 (1983), p. 220–239.

  17. 17.

    Davor Babić, “Izbor stranog prava za ugovor bez međunarodnog obilježja“, Pravo u gospodarstvu 42(2003)2, p. 18–31.

  18. 18.

    Krešimir Sajko, Hrvoje Sikirić, Vilim Bouček, Davor Babić, Nina Tepeš, “Teze za hrvatski zakon o međunarodnom privatnom pravu“, in: Krešimir Sajko, et al. Izvori hrvatskog i europskog međunarodnog privatnog prava (Zagreb 2001)

  19. 19.

    Damir Klasiček, “Primjena stranog prava: kako i kada?“, Pravo u gospodarstvu 40(2001)4, p. 231–233; Damir Klasiček, „Primjena stranog prava“, Zbornik Pravnog fakulteta u Zagrebu, 51(2001) 3/4, p. 535–555, at. p. 539–540.

  20. 20.

    Tomljenović/Kunda, supra note 12, p. 1024–1069.

  21. 21.

    Ines Medić Musa, “Dokazivanje u međunarodnom privatnom pravu”, Zbornik radova Pravnog fakulteta u Splitu 1–2 (2004), p. 139–150.

  22. 22.

    Krešimir Sajko, „Kako i kada primjenjivati strano pravo“, Pravo i porezi 11(2002)1, p. 27–33.

  23. 23.

    Hrvoje Sikirić, “Primjena kolizijskih pravila i stranog prava u sudskom postupku”, Zbornik Pravnog fakulteta u Zagrebu, 56 (2006), 2/3, p. 617–686, at. p. 619.

  24. 24.

    Petar S̆arc̆ević, “The Modernization of private international law after World War II”, in: C. Von Bar (ed.), Perspektiven des Internationalen Privatrechts nach dem Ende der Spaltung Europas (Carl Heymanns Verlag, Köln etc. 1992) p. 21.

  25. 25.

    Tomljenović/Kunda, supra note 12, p. 1047.

  26. 26.

    Mirela Župan, “Dijete u međunarodnom privatnom pravu”, in Branka Rešetar (ed.), Dijete i pravo (Osijek, 2009) p. 223–255, at. p. 223–224.

  27. 27.

    Krešimir Sajko, Međunarodno privatno pravo (Zagreb 2009) p. 92.

  28. 28.

    Courts are eager to application of Hague convention on traffic accidents. Recent ruling of Supreme Court on that matter states that application of foregn law deriving from application of Conventional coice of law rules, is obligatory. Rev. x 470/14–2, Croatian Supreme Court of 1.4.2015.(available at: www.iusinfo.hr).

  29. 29.

    See more infra.

  30. 30.

    Mirela Župan/Senija Ledić “Cross-border family matters – Croatian experience prior EU accession and future expectations”, Pravni vjesnik 30(2014) 3/4, p. 49–76.

  31. 31.

    Sajko, supra note 28, p. 229.

  32. 32.

    Siniša Triva/Mihajlo Dika, Građansko parnično procesno pravo (Zagreb 2004) p. 183.

  33. 33.

    Tomljenović/Kunda, supra note 12, p. 1047.

  34. 34.

    Exceptionally it may happen even before the second instance court. In audit procedure, after complex elaboration of several Croatian substantive law provisions disputed before the first and second instance courts, The Supreme Court warned:”… due to the fact that loan contract was concluded in Germany it should have been questioned weather to this case Croatian or foreign legislation is applicable.” Supreme Court of Republic of Croatia, No. VSRH Rev. 2981/1993–2, judgement of 26 March 1997. (available at: http://www.iusinfo.hr).

  35. 35.

    High Commercial Court No. Pž 5292/02–3, judgement of 4 May 2005(available at: .http://www.iusinfo.hr).

  36. 36.

    “Because the trial court failed to establish the material facts relevant to the application of relevant substantive law, the impugned judgment can not be questioned because it is incomprehensible and does not contain reasons concerning the decisive facts, which yielded absolutely essential violation of civil procedure described in Article 354 Paragraph 2 Item 13 CAP. “High Commercial Court, judgement of 9 July 2005., “File data reveals that in this case we face a dispute with an international element, and the trial court failed to establish the material facts decisive in the dispute with an international element for proper application of substantive law.“– judgements of High Commercial Court: No. Pž-254/03–3, judgement of 15 February 2006; No. Pž 632/03–3, judgement of 19 July 2005; No. Pž 2039/03–3, judgement of 4 November 2006 (available at: http://www.iusinfo.hr). For many examples see Mirela Župan, Pravo najbliže veze u hrvatskom i europskom međunarodnom privatnom ugovornom pravu (Rijeka, 2006), p. 190–199

  37. 37.

    “First of all, this Supreme Court founds that this was a dispute which has international elements, as the plaintiff is a foreign person domiciled abroad, and the assessment regarding the misapplication of substantive law poses the first question, whether the lower courts found that such relevant substantial law has to apply to this dispute. Lower courts haven’t made any statement to this issues, but it is apparent they went from the perspective that lex fori applies, therefore Croatian substantive law; moreover, as in their decisions application of foreign law was not invoked. According to the provisions of Article 356 CAP misapplication of substantive law exists when the court failed to apply the provisions of substantive law that should have been applied, or when such a provision was not correctly applied. As lower courts did not discuss and determine which substantive law was to be applied in this dispute with an international element, for that reason this audit court could not assess whether the substantive law was correctly applied to the dispute.

    ”…. “For these reasons, by reference to the provision of Article 395 (2) Civil Procedure Act, audit has been accepted, both lower-instance decisions have been abolished and the case returned to the court of first instance for retrial .…” Supreme Court of Republic of Croatia, No. VSRH, II Rev.-61/99–2, judgement of 12 March 2003 (available at: http://www.iusinfo.hr).

  38. 38.

    High Commercial Court, No. Pž. 3473/2001, judgement of 10 March 2003, in Župan, supra note 37, p. 202.

  39. 39.

    High Commercial Court, No. Pž 385/03–3, judgement of 8 March 2006 (available at: http://www.iusinfo.hr).

  40. 40.

    “Part of the decision on the defendant’s objection on statute of limitation is incomprehensible, since the court for reasons of judicial economy decided not to obtain the content of foreign law in order to assess the merits of the complaint (because it found that the plaintiff did not prove that the defendant caused him harm). However, the plaintiff submitted the content of foreign law for statutory limitation, which the trial court did not take into account nor was it valued in accordance with the provisions of Article 13th Croatian PIL Act. “High Commercial Court, No. Pž-5414/04, judgement of 4 July 2007 (available at: http://www.iusinfo.hr).

  41. 41.

    Commercial court simply accepted the argument that a claim fell within the statute of limitation of timeline prescribed by the Croatian law and ended the trial. High Commercial Court corrects the fault and explains that statute of limitations is defined with different timeframes in various legal systems. If a case contains foreign element, the court must first establish which substantive law is applicable to a disputed question on statute of limitations, and it is only then that the court can take a position weather that period has expired or not. PŽ 3979/99–2, judgement of 16.11.1999., High Commercial Court (available at: www.iusinfo.hr).

  42. 42.

    Ivo Grbin, „Hrvatska sudska praksa u sporovima s međunarodnim obilježjem“, Zbornik Pravnog fakulteta u Zagrebu, Vol.62 No.1–2 / 2012, p. 154.

  43. 43.

    For example see High commercial court, No. Pž 2957/06–4, judgement of 3 February 2009 (http://www.iusinfo.hr).

  44. 44.

    For particular case law elaboration see: Župan/Ledić, supra note 31; also more recent cross-border family cases are uploaded on database of the project ‘Planning the future of cross-border families: a path through coordination’ (EUFam’s) (http://www.eufams.unimi.it/category/database/).

  45. 45.

    Some considerations are given in Sikirić, supra note 24, p. 618; Župan, supra note 27, p. 223.

  46. 46.

    Ted De Boer, “Facultative choice of law: the procedural status of choice of law rules and foreign law“, in Recueil des cours, 257(1996), p. 223–427, at. p. 244–245.

  47. 47.

    For example, parties to a distribution agreement made a choice of Swiss law in accordance with art. 19 of the Croatian PIL Act. The court made efforts to establish and apply its content. High Commercial Court, No. Pž 5292/02–3, judgement of 4 May 2005 (http://www.iusinfo.hr). For many examples see Župan, supra note 37, p. 202 et seq.

  48. 48.

    Sajko, supra note 28, p. 231.

  49. 49.

    Friedrich Carl von Savigny, Systems Des Heutigen Romischen Rechts (1894) p. 24–28.

  50. 50.

    Article 13 of PIL Act, Article 8 Draft PIL Act.

  51. 51.

    Doctrine questioned if the court could accept party agreement where parties waive the right of application of foreign law? Extensive interpretation would bear that parties are free to dispose in the domain that is in dispositive sphere. Yet, such standing would not stand the fact that Croatian choice of law rules are ius cogens. Sajko, supra note 27, p. 232.

  52. 52.

    “The fact that the plaintiff did not plead on the basis of which legislation he had paid out transitional compensation to the person insured by him, cannot be a reason for rejecting that part of the claim of the plaintiff, because the court was bound by the law to determine the content of the applicable foreign law.” County Court of Varaždin, No. Gžx.144/11–2, of 25 January 2012. (http://www.iusinfo.hr).

  53. 53.

    Article 4 Croatian PIL Act, Article 12 Draft PIL Act.

  54. 54.

    Article 4 of the Croatian PIL Act: “The law of a foreign State shall not be applied if its effect would be contrary to the basic principles of social organization laid down by the Croatian Constitution”. Mihajlo Dika / Gašo Knežević / Srđan Stojanović, Komentar zakona o međunarodnom privatnom pravu (Beograd, 1991), p. 41.

  55. 55.

    Krešimir Sajko, „Javni poredak – zaštita osnovnih pravnih načela domaćeg prava“, Pravo i porezi 1 (2003), p. 3–11, at.p. 8.

  56. 56.

    High Commercial Court, No. Pž 1574/04–6, judgement of 12. December 2006 (http://www.iusinfo.hr).

  57. 57.

    Supreme Court, No. VSRH Gž 36/2012–2, judgement of 4 January 2013 (http://www.iusinfo.hr); Supreme Court, No.VSRH Revt 74/2007–2, judgement of 7 November 2009. (http://www.iusinfo.hr).

  58. 58.

    In the reported case of the law of the Constitutional Court of Croatia plaintiffs alleged their right to property as well as their right on equality before the law (guaranteed by Croatian Constitution) which was violated when the Municipal Court applied foreign law which was less favourable to their claim then Croatian one. Plaintiffs claimed that foreign law should have been set aside by public policy clause, as they argued that its application deprived them from the above mentioned Constitutional rights. Constitutional court of Croatia rejected their claim sticking to restrictive application of public policy clause, and defending the obligatory nature of foreign law. Constitutional court of the Republic of Croatia, No. U-III / 987 / 2007, judgement of 9 July 2007. (http://sljeme.usud.hr/usud/praksaw.nsf/Ustav/C12570D30061CE53C1257395003F96B0?OpenDocument).

  59. 59.

    Petar Šarčević, “Prisilni propisi i mjerodavno pravo s posebnim osvrtom na ograničenje autonomije stranaka”, Izvođenje investicijskih radova, 2 (Zagreb 1987) p. 127. Damir Klasiček,„Prisilni propisi u međunarodnom pivatnom pravu“, Pravni vjesnik 16 (2000) 3–4, p. 23–32.

  60. 60.

    Petar Šarčević, “The New Yugoslav Private International Law Act“, AJCL 33 (1985), at p. 131; Ivana Kunda, & Romana Matanovac Vučković, “Raspolaganje autorskim pravom na računalnom programu: materijalnopravni i kolizijskopravni aspekti”, Zbornik Pravnog fakulteta u Rijeci. 31 (2010), at p. 126.

  61. 61.

    Parties contested application of the foreign Austrian law which had been chosen among them to a part of an interest rate. Namely, as the amount of interest rate in Austrian law exceeded the maximum amount of the interest rate prescribed by the Croatian law, parties claimed foreign law was contrary to mandatory rules of the Republic of Croatia, and was therefore inapplicable. The County court of Varaždin, No. Gž 1246/2007–2, judgement of 28 December 2007 (http://www.iusinfo.hr).

  62. 62.

    Article 11 Draft PIL Act of 2016.

  63. 63.

    Natko Katičić / Željko Matić / Krešimir Sajko, „Teze za zakon o međunarodnom privatnom pravu“, Prinosi (1973) 6, p. 14.

  64. 64.

    Đuro Vuković / Eduard Kunštek, Međunarodno građansko postupovno pravo (Zagreb 2005), p. 209–210.

  65. 65.

    For all see Sikirić, supra note 24, p. 675.

  66. 66.

    Triva / Dika, supra note 33, p. 183.

  67. 67.

    In particular case a party claimed that a judge was obliged by Article 13 to seek for a foreign decree on liquidation procedure, what is clearly a matter of fact which is up to the parties having intererst in establishing such facts to a claim. High Commercial Court, No. Pž 7676/08–3, judgement of 3 March 2009 (http://www.iusinfo.hr).

  68. 68.

    Triva / Dika, supra note 33, p. 184.

  69. 69.

    Sajko, supra note 23, p. 28; Sikirić, supra note 24, p. 673; Triva / Dika, supra note 33, p. 183–184.

  70. 70.

    Petar S̆arc̆ević, “The new Yugoslav Private International Law Act”, The American Journal of Comparative Law 33(1985), p. 283–296, at. p. 288.

  71. 71.

    Article 13(2) Croatian PIL Act.

  72. 72.

    Dika et al., supra note 55, p. 50.

  73. 73.

    High Commercial Court refused the review of a party contesting the first instance judgements objecting on the applicable material law. A plaintiff claimed the first instance court had failed to properly apply the law as in the proceedings of a case the court had refused the request of a plaintiff to pose an inquiry on the content of the Italian choice of law rules. Verdict of High Commercial Court confirmed that “In a case where the court is familiar with legal norms of foreign law, the court has no duty to seek for a notice of content of foreign law from the competent authority in the field of justice. High Commercial Court, No. Pž-1936/82, of 12 April 1983. Sajko et al., supra note 19, p. 144–145.

  74. 74.

    Trial court launched the procedure to establish the content of foreign Austrian law on 3 February 2005. As no response was recieved in due time, court repeated the request on 23 November 2005; 17 February 2006 and 22 March 2007. The notice on foreign law was delivered to the court on 7 February 2007. Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, No. VSRH Gzp 1289/2008–3, judgement of 20 August 2009. (http://www.iusinfo.hr).

  75. 75.

    Article 13 (2) of Croatian PIL Act, retained in Article 8(4) of the Draft PIL Act of 2016.

  76. 76.

    Triva / Dika, supra note p. 33, p. 184.

  77. 77.

    Dika et al., supra note 55, p. 50; Sikirić, supra note 24, p. 677; Triva / Dika, supra note 33, p. 184.

  78. 78.

    Dika et al., supra note 55, op.cit. p. 50.

  79. 79.

    Article 232 (2) of Civil Procedure Act, Zakon o parničnom postupku (Civil Procedure Act) Official Gazette (Narodne novne) No. 53/91, 91/92, 58/93, 112/99, 88/01, 117/03, 88/05, 02/07, 84/08, 123/08, 57/11, 148/11, 25/13

  80. 80.

    A party warned the court that the case has an international element and therefore the choice of law rules should have been used to establish the applicable substantive law. The court has not taken such objections into account and proceeded in accordance with the Croatian law. Second instance court returned a judgement to retrial. High Commercial Court, No. PŽ 3904/04–3, judgement of 23 January 2007. A party made efforts to obtain the relevant foreign legal norm to the court, but the trial court ignored it. High Commercial Court, No. Pž-5414/04, judgement of 4 July 2007. (http://www.iusinfo.hr).

  81. 81.

    High Commercial Court faced the same case with foreign element twice. In the first review procedure the High Commercial Court instructed the first instance court to have not properly established the amount of interest that was valid in specific period of time in Italy. To remedy this omission, the trial court was suggested to issue a formal diplomatic procedure towards Italy: Ministry of Economy and Finance of Italy should issue a confirmation of the interest rate that applied to the Republic of Italy on 5 March 1990 onwards. HCH further stated that in accordance to article 13 even the plaintiff could serve the court with that information. In the subsequent procedure a plaintiff delivered copies of the official newspaper of the Italian GAZZETA Ufficiale related to the amount of the default interest rate of 5 March in 1990 onwards translated into Croatian by a certified court interpreter. The defendant complained to the truthfulness of data delivered by the plaintiff as well as quality of its translation. Defendant actually lapsed to check truthfulness of delivered data and its translation but he objected merely to get an extension of a procedure – therefore the trial court judge punished the defendant for misuse of procedural dispositions! The plaintiff continued requiring a court to launch a diplomatic procedure to receive the relevant information through the Ministry of Justice. Since the court rejected this claim and delivered the judgement, the defendant complained on proper application of foreign law. High Commercial Court (now dealing with the case for the second time) explained that article 13 does not oblige the court to launch diplomatic procedure if it is confident with the relevant information on foreign law. High Commercial Court, No. Pž 778/07–3, judgement of 7 May 2007. (http://www.iusinfo.hr).

  82. 82.

    Particular sensibility of the Croatian Supreme Court for cases with application of foreign law was manifested in its ruling upon a request of a plaintiff to protect the right for a trial within reasonable time. The Supreme Court overturned the judgement of the County Court which had denied such a request. The Supreme Court clearly stated that circumstances such as obligation to apply foreign law cannot justify the procedure in inheritance matter to last more than 6 years and 8 months! The Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, No. Gžzp 212/07–2 of 20 December 2007,; The Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, No. Gzp 1289/2008–3, judgement of 20 August 2009 (http://sudskapraksa.vsrh.hr/supra/SearchResultsPublic.asp).

  83. 83.

    Triva / Dika, supra note 33, p. 184.

  84. 84.

    Such standing is supported with explicit wording of many PIL Acts that have been used as a role model in drafting our PIL Act. It is explicitely provided by Austrian, Italian and Swiss law, as stated by Sajko, supra note 23, p. 28.

  85. 85.

    High Commercial Court, No. Pž-1136/07–4, judgment of 4 April 2007.

  86. 86.

    See more infra.

  87. 87.

    Croatia joined full membership of European Union on 1 June 2013.

  88. 88.

    Kunda / Marinho, supra note Handbook on private international law, op.cit. p. 50.

  89. 89.

    Philippe Lortie, “Direct Judicial Communications and the International Hague Network of Judges under the Hague 1980 Child Abduction Convention” in Mirela Župan (ed.) Private International Law in the Jurisprudence of European Courts – Family at Focus (Osijek, 2015) (available at: http://www.pravos.unios.hr/knjiznica/fakultetska-izdanja-25-04-2016) p. 147.

  90. 90.

    Sajko, supra note 23, p. 28.

  91. 91.

    Župan / Ledić, supra note Cross-border family matters – Croatian experience prior EU accession and future expectations, op.cit.

  92. 92.

    Husband initiated a divorce lawsuit, whereas wife informed the court that there is a pending separation lawsuit in Italy. According to Regulation 2201/2003 “the court second seised shall of its own motion stay its proceedings until such time as the jurisdiction of the court first seised is established”. First instance court received a document proving that the case is pending before Italian court. Document was in Italian language. Appellate court return the case to renew trial, as it found that the application of foreign legal document without official translation is contrary to Article 232(2) of Croatian Civil Procedure Act. As it is clear from the wording of the Regulation that move is done ex officio by the court, the judge that understands a respective foreign language (Italian here) should not be obliged to rely only upon official translation of relevant document. Rijeka Gž-3397/2014, of 17.11.2014. (http://www.eufams.unimi.it/category/database/).

  93. 93.

    Croatian PIL Act states: “The law of a foreign State shall be applied according to its own sense and the terms that it contains.” what is retained with Article 8(4) of Draft PIL Act of 2016.

  94. 94.

    Dika et al. supra note 56, p. 41. Such standpoint is accepted in practice: The court explicitly states that whereas parties agreed on applicable English law, legal system should have been applied for its interpretation as well. High Commercial Court, No. Pž-5414/04, judgement of 4 July 2007. (www.ius-info.hr).

  95. 95.

    Dika et al. supra note 56, p. 33–34.

  96. 96.

    Renvoi is retained for pure status issues, personal name, conclusion of marriage and adoption. See Article 9 in conjunction to Articles 14, 17, 18, 31 and 44 of Draft PIL Act.

  97. 97.

    Sajko, supra note 28, p. 233.

  98. 98.

    Petar Šarc̆ević, “The new Yugoslav Private International Law Act”, The American Journal of Comparative Law; vol. 33 (1985), p. 283–296, at. p. 289.

  99. 99.

    Šarc̆ević, op.cit., p. 289.

  100. 100.

    Sikirić, supra note 24, p. 677–678.; Dika et al. supra note 55, p. 50; Sajko, supra note 28; p. 236–238.

  101. 101.

    Sikirić, supra note 24, p. 679–681.

  102. 102.

    Civil Procedure Act, Article 385 (1) point 3.

  103. 103.

    Sikirić, supra note 24, p. 682; Triva and Dika, supra note 33, p. 184; Dika et al. supra note 55, p. 50

  104. 104.

    See Léna Gannagé, „Le contrat sans loi en droit international privé“, Electronic Journal of Comparative Law, vol 11.3 (2007), (http://www.ejcl.org) p. 8.

  105. 105.

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    Croatian Ministry of Justice official website, http://www.mprh.hr/zakoni; Ministry of Social Policy and Jouth (http://www.mspm.hr/pravni_okvir).

  107. 107.

    Ministry of European and International Relations, (http://www.mvep.hr/hr/hrvatska-i-europska-unija/hrvatska-i-europska-unija0/prijevodi-pravnih-propisa-republike-hrvatske/).

  108. 108.

    https://e-justice.europa.eu/content_member_state_law-6-en.do

  109. 109.

    Mirela Župan “European judicial cooperation in cross border family matters“, in: Timea Drinoczi and Tamara Takacs (eds.) Cross-border and EU legal issues: Hungary – Croatia (Osijek-Pecs 2011) p. 621–647, at. p. 643.

  110. 110.

    Zakon o potvrđivanju europske konvencije o obavijestima o stranom pravu, NN MU br. 13/2013.

  111. 111.

    NN MU 2/2014.

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    “The Application of Foreign Law by Judicial and Non –Judicial Authorities in Europe” and “Basic Principles for a Future EU Regulation on the Application of Foreign Law”. (Project JLS/CJ/2007–1/03), (www.elra.eu/wp-content/uploads/file/Valencia.doc). The application of foreign law in civil matters in the EU member states and its perspectives for the future, Institute Suisse de droit comparé (project JLS/2009/JCIV/PR/0005/E4) (ec.europa.eu/justice/civil/…/foreign_law_iii_en.pdf).

  113. 113.

    Carlos Esplugues, “Madrid prinicples“, in: Espuluges et al.eds.Application of Foreign Law (Munich 2011).

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    Carlos Esplugues, “Harmonization of Private International Law in Europe and Application of Foreign Law: The Madrid Principles of 2010”, Yearbook of Private International Law, Vol. 13, 2011. pp. 273–297, at. p. 290 et. seq.

  115. 115.

    Standard provision on legal aid in foreign law matters is: “The Contracting States shall, on request, inform each other of the rules, which are valid and in force on its territory and will, if necessary, send the text of those provisions.

  116. 116.

    For all of endeavour of HCCH see Accessing the Content of Foreign Law And the Need For the Development of a Global Instrument in this Area – A Possible Way Ahead, Permanent Bureau, Prel Doc. No. 11 A, March 2009. (http://www.hcch.net/upload/wop/genaff_pd11a2009e.pdf).

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    See supra. Also see: Meeting report. Access to Foreign Law in Civil and Commercial Matters, European Commission and of the Hague Conference on Private International Law. (http://www.hcch.net/upload/xs2foreignlaw_rpt.pdf).

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    Sajko / Sikirić / Bouček / Babić / Tepeš, supra note 19, p. 255–340.

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    Scientific working group for new Croatian PIL Act consisted of scolars: Sajko Krešimir, Vesna Tomljenović, Hrvoje Sikirić, Vilim Bouček, Davor Babić, Vjeskoslav Puljko, Ivana Kunda, Ines Medić and Mirela Župan. Formal working group was formed by the Croatian Government in 2011. Several of these PIL professors were members of the formal working group. A draft of the Croatian PIL Act has been presented to public in July 2016, supra note.

  120. 120.

    Article 8 of the Draft of the PIL Act 2016.

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    Mirela Župan “The best interest of the child – a guiding principle in administering cross-border child related matters?”, in: T. Liefaard and J. Sloth-Nielsen (eds.) The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Taking Stock after 25 Years and Looking Ahead. (Brill | Nijhoff, 2017).

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    Michael Bogdan, Private International Law as Component of the Law of the Forum (Hague Academy of International Law, AIL-POCKET, 2012), p. 100.

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    Ian Curry-Summer, “Administrative Co-operation and Free Legal Aid in International Child Maintenance Recovery: what is the Added Value of the European Maintenance Regulation?” 3 Nederlands Internationaal Privaatrecht, vol. 28/2010, p. 611–621.

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  1. Faculty of Law, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, S. Radića,13, 31 000, Osijek, Croatia

    Mirela Župan (Associate Professor)

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    Yuko Nishitani

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Župan, M. (2017). Croatia: Foreign Law Before Croatian Authorities – At the Crossroads?. In: Nishitani, Y. (eds) Treatment of Foreign Law - Dynamics towards Convergence?. Ius Comparatum - Global Studies in Comparative Law, vol 26. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56574-3_3

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