Meeting with Ms. Zrinka Bulić, Assistant Minister at the Ministry of Public Administration

On August 24, 2017 AmCham met with Ms. Zrinka Bulić, Assistant Minister, Ministry of Public Administration to discuss recommendations presented in AmCham’s position paper “Introducing Card Payment Operations into Public Administration”. Ms. Bulić was accompanied by Mr. Dražen Božić, Head of Infrastructure Sector and Ms. Leda Lepri, Head of Modernization and Informatization of Public Administration Sector.

AmCham presented the key messages laid down in the position paper. Cashless payments or card payments are widely accepted by the citizens and companies in Croatia and there is an indication of increasing of such trend, in line with general digital transformation of global society and economy. There are multiple positive effects of introducing card payments into public administration. The government would ensure additional tax revenues and automatically reduce gray economy. Citizens would be able to better plan their financial obligations and make payment in installments. Companies would have lower costs of cash management and conduct their business in line with laws and regulations. AmCham expressed willingness for future cooperation with Ms. Bulić and proposed an organization of a workshop that would include relevant public administration institutions and company representative of AmCham’s working group for card payments.

Ms. Bulić welcomed the discussion and agreed that some existing business models in public administration need to be changed and that they are outdated. There is no legislative obstacle for electronic payments of administrative fees, next step would be to come up with a system how to implement it. It is good to expand services offered by E-Citizens, including services that need to be paid for.  There are examples of good practice within Croatian public administration that can be used in other institutions such as mobile POS terminals used by Police and Mobile Customs Units. Ms. Bulić agreed a workshop on the issues needs to be organized, if possible in September at the premises of the Ministry of Public Administration. Possible stakeholders to be invited should include Tax Administration, Ministry of Justice, State Treasury (Ministry of Finance), Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Crafts, Police, Customs, Financial Agency (Fina) and Central State Office for the Development of the Digital Society. Ministry of Public Administration will send a list of possible time slots for the workshop and list of topics for discussion to AmCham. Finally, it was agreed that examples of good practice (including Slovenia) be prepared by AmCham’s member companies as they have access to relevant experiences due to their international character.