Meeting with the Ministry of Justice

On 13 April, 2017, AmCham met with Ms. Anja Sršek Crnković and Ms. Andreja Sobota from the Ministry of Justice to discuss AmChams’ Position paper ‘Recommendations for Improving the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Protection in Croatia’.

Croatia is a transit route for counterfeits connecting the East and West. During negotiations to join the European Union, enforcement of the IPR legislation was much better than the present situation. Currently, there are a number of issues regarding the IPR, including: inadequate warehousing space for confiscated counterfeits, lack of education and specialization programs for judges and other judiciary stakeholders on IPR, and lack of legal procedure for assessment of the value of counterfeit goods. Issues of intangible assets have never been a high priority for authorities in Croatia regardless of the fact that they were, and still are, causing great damage to the economy. AmCham asked if there were any plans to select specialized courts to deal with criminal proceedings of the IPR in Zagreb, Split, Rijeka and Osijek, and a specialized court dealing with patents in Zagreb. Representatives of the Ministry are aware of the issues regarding the IPR and AmCham’s recommendations will be considered with upcoming legislation changes. An initiative to regulate warehousing space for confiscated counterfeits was launched. The Ministry of State Property will work together with the Ministry of the Interior and the Tax Authority to find a comprehensive solution. Finally, there is a proposal for the creation of a committee or a governmental body to tackle enforcement of IPR. This would enable political support to the efforts of civil servants working on the issues of the IPR.