Croatia

Name of law: Right of Access to Information Act
First adopted: 2003
Last modified: 2015-07
RTI Rating last updated: 2015-08

Introduction

Similar to many of the other Southern European states that formed following the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia, Croatia has a very strong RTI law. Due to its comprehensive scope, the Croatian law obtained a perfect rating for that category. This is supplemented by a regime of exceptions that is very largely in line with international standards, with appropriate primary exceptions which are all harm-tested and subject to a mandatory public interest override. The system of appeals also garners high points. Possible areas for further improvement would be to extend the system of protection for Commission staff to all officials and to oblige public authorities to produce and publish a list of all of the documents they hold. Furthermore, there is some ambiguity regarding the procedures and timelines for responding to requests.

The amendments are also available in its Croatian original and on their own here.

The law is also available in its Croatian original (with amendments) here.

Local Experts: Sasa Segrt, Alen Rajko