Country report, gender equality : how are EU rules transposed into national law? : Croatia 2024.
Date: 2024-08-01
Institutions: Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers
Subjects: Croatia, age discrimination, application of EU law, equal pay, equal treatment, gender equality, maternity leave, national law, parental leave, paternity leave, pension scheme, report, sexual discrimination, sexual harassment, social security

Croatia 

2024 

 
 
 
 
 
 
EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers 
Directorate D — Equality and Non-Discrimination 
Unit D.3 Gender Equality 

European Commission 
B-1049 Brussels 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Country report  

Gender equality 

How are EU rules transposed into 
national law? 

Croatia 

Adrijana Martinović 

Reporting period 1 January 2023 – 1 January 2024 

2024  Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2024 

© European Union, 2024 

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ISSN 2600-0164  

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Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

CONTENTS 
1 

2 

3 

4 

Introduction ............................................................................................... 5 
Basic structure of the national legal system ............................................ 5 
List of main legislation transposing and implementing the directives .......... 6 
Sources of law .................................................................................... 6 
  Main surveys, reports on gender equality and other issues ....................... 7 
General legal framework .......................................................................... 10 
Constitution ...................................................................................... 10 
Equal treatment legislation ................................................................. 10 
Implementation of central concepts ......................................................... 12 
Sex/gender/transgender .................................................................... 12 
Direct sex discrimination .................................................................... 14 
Indirect sex discrimination .................................................................. 16 
  Multiple discrimination and intersectional discrimination ......................... 20 
Positive action ................................................................................... 22 
Harassment and sexual harassment ..................................................... 28 
Instruction to discriminate .................................................................. 33 
Other forms of discrimination .............................................................. 33 
Evaluation of implementation .............................................................. 34 
  Remaining issues ............................................................................... 34 

Equal pay and equal treatment at work (Article 157 of the Treaty on the 
Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and Recast Directive 2006/54)
 ................................................................................................................. 35 
General (legal) context....................................................................... 35 
Equal pay ......................................................................................... 36 
Access to work, working conditions and dismissal .................................. 43 
Evaluation of implementation .............................................................. 46 
Remaining issues ............................................................................... 47 

5  Work-life balance issues: pregnancy, maternity, family-related leave and 

flexible working arrangements (Directive 92/85, relevant provisions of 
Directives 2006/54, and Directive 2019/1158) ....................................... 49 
General (legal) context....................................................................... 49 
Pregnancy and maternity protection .................................................... 50 
  Maternity leave ................................................................................. 55 
Paternity leave .................................................................................. 59 
Adoption leave .................................................................................. 61 
Parental leave ................................................................................... 62 
Child-related leave in relation to surrogacy ........................................... 68 
Carers’ leave ..................................................................................... 68 
Time off for force majeure .................................................................. 71 
  Flexible working time arrangements (FWAs) ......................................... 72 
  Evaluation of implementation .............................................................. 75 
  Remaining issues ............................................................................... 75 
Occupational social security schemes (Chapter 2 of Directive 2006/54) .. 76 
General (legal) context....................................................................... 76 
Direct and indirect discrimination ........................................................ 77 
Personal scope .................................................................................. 78 
  Material scope ................................................................................... 78 
Exclusions ........................................................................................ 78 
Laws and case law falling under the examples of sex discrimination 
mentioned in Article 9 of Directive 2006/54 .......................................... 78 
Actuarial factors ................................................................................ 79 
Difficulties ........................................................................................ 79 
Evaluation of implementation .............................................................. 79 
  Remaining issues ............................................................................... 79 
Statutory schemes of social security (Directive 79/7) ............................. 80 
General (legal) context....................................................................... 80 

6 

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Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

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9 

Implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women in 
matters of social security .................................................................... 83 
Personal scope .................................................................................. 84 
  Material scope ................................................................................... 84 
Exclusions ........................................................................................ 84 
Actuarial factors ................................................................................ 84 
Difficulties ........................................................................................ 84 
Evaluation of implementation .............................................................. 86 
Remaining issues ............................................................................... 87 

Self-employed workers (Directive 2010/41/EU and some relevant 
provisions of the Recast Directive) ........................................................... 88 
Implementation of Directive 2010/41/EU .............................................. 88 
Personal scope .................................................................................. 88 
  Material scope ................................................................................... 89 
Positive action ................................................................................... 89 
Social protection ............................................................................... 90 
  Maternity benefits.............................................................................. 91 
Occupational social security ................................................................ 91 
Prohibition of discrimination ................................................................ 92 
Evaluation of implementation .............................................................. 92 
  Remaining issues ............................................................................... 92 
Goods and services (Directive 2004/113) ................................................ 94 
General (legal) context....................................................................... 94 
Prohibition of direct and indirect discrimination ..................................... 95 
  Material scope ................................................................................... 95 
Exceptions ........................................................................................ 96 
Justification of differences in treatment ................................................ 97 
Actuarial factors ................................................................................ 97 
Interpretation of exception contained in Article 5(2) of Directive 2004/113 
 ....................................................................................................... 98 
Positive action measures (Article 6 of Directive 2004/113) ...................... 98 
Specific problems related to pregnancy, maternity or parenthood ............ 99 
  Evaluation of implementation ............................................................. 101 
  Remaining issues .............................................................................. 101 

10  Violence against women and domestic violence in relation to the Istanbul 

Convention ............................................................................................. 102 
  General (legal) context...................................................................... 102 
  Ratification of the Istanbul Convention ................................................ 109 

11  Compliance and enforcement aspects (horizontal provisions of all 

directives) .............................................................................................. 110 
  General (legal) context...................................................................... 110 
  Victimisation .................................................................................... 111 
  Access to courts ............................................................................... 112 
  Horizontal effect of the applicable law ................................................. 113 
  Burden of proof ................................................................................ 113 
  Remedies and sanctions .................................................................... 115 
  Equality body ................................................................................... 116 
  Social partners ................................................................................. 117 
  Other relevant bodies........................................................................ 117 
  Evaluation of implementation ............................................................. 118 
  Remaining issues .............................................................................. 118 
12  Overall assessment ................................................................................ 119 
Bibliography ................................................................................................... 123 

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Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

1 

Introduction 

  Basic structure of the national legal system 

Croatia  is  a  unitary  and  indivisible  democratic  and  welfare  state  (Article 1  of  the 
Constitution).  The  Croatian  legal  system  is  a  civil  law  system  and  the  government  is 
organised according to the principle of the separation of powers into legislative, executive 
and judicial branches, but is also limited by the constitutionally guaranteed  right to local 
and regional  self-government. The legal  system is characterised by a hierarchy  of legal 
norms,  whereby  laws  must  comply  with  the  Constitution,  and  other  regulations  must 
comply with laws and the Constitution. International agreements that have been concluded 
and ratified and that have been published and entered into force are part of the internal 
legal order and have primacy over laws. The Croatian Parliament adopts laws, usually by 
a majority vote, provided that a majority of its representatives are present at the session. 
Organic laws regulating the rights of minorities are adopted by a two-thirds majority of all 
representatives  and  other  organic  laws,  for  example  those  elaborating  constitutionally 
established human rights and fundamental freedoms (including anti-discrimination laws), 
are adopted by a majority vote of all representatives. Organic laws are thus laws whose 
adoption  requires  a  special  majority  of  votes.  The  adoption  of  this  category  of  laws  is 
stipulated  in  the  Constitution  (Article 83).  Anti-discrimination  legislation  is  organised 
around three main levels of protection: the Constitution (the prohibition of discrimination 
and the guarantee of gender equality), special horizontal anti-discrimination (organic) laws 
and  other  laws  containing  anti-discrimination  provisions.  Anti-discrimination  laws  in 
general and gender equality legislation in particular are adopted at national level. 

The  general  and  special  jurisdiction  of  the  courts  is  prescribed  in  the  Judiciary  Act  and 
other  special  laws  (such  as  the  Civil  Procedure  Act,  the  Criminal  Procedure  Act,  etc.). 
Judicial  powers  in  the  Republic  of  Croatia  are  exercised  by  regular  and  special  courts 
(Article 14(1) and (2) of the Judiciary Act). The regular courts are the municipal and county 
courts. The highest judicial authority is the Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia. The 
municipal  courts  are  vested  with  a  general  and  broad  open-ended  catalogue  of 
competences. In civil proceedings, they adjudicate in the first instance in disputes relating 
to  civil,  family,  labour,  housing  and  other  areas  of  law,  which  are  not  part  of  the  first 
instance  jurisdiction  of  other  courts  in  accordance  with  special  laws  (Article 34(2)  Civil 
Procedure  Act).  Pursuant  to  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act,  municipal  courts  have  subject-
matter  jurisdiction  in  litigation  based  on  special  legal  action  for  protection  against 
discrimination  (Articles 17(1)  and  18(1)  of  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act).1  County  courts 
adjudicate in the first instance in disputes prescribed by law and decide on appeal against 
decisions of the municipal courts. In the field of equality law, county courts have subject-
matter jurisdiction  regarding joint legal actions (representative  or associational  actions) 
for protection against discrimination.2 The Supreme Court is responsible for ensuring the 
uniform  application  of  laws  and  the  equality  of  all  before  the  law  (Article 116  of  the 
Constitution of the Republic of Croatia). 

In civil proceedings, the Supreme Court’s competences include deciding on appeals against 
first-instance  decisions  of  county  courts  and  revisions  as  extraordinary  legal  remedies 
against (final and binding) second-instance decisions, in cases prescribed by law. 

1   Apart from special legal action for protection against discrimination, the Anti-Discrimination Act authorises 
any person who claims that their rights have been violated as a result of discrimination to seek protection 
in proceedings dealing with that right as the main issue (Article 16(1) Anti-Discrimination Act). The Gender 
Equality Act authorises any party who considers that their rights have been violated due to discrimination 
as described in that act to file a legal action with the regular court of general jurisdiction (Article 30(1) 
Gender Equality Act); in other words, to initiate litigation before a municipal court. 

2   Pursuant to Article 24(1) of the Anti-Discrimination Act, associations, bodies, institutions or other 

organisations established in line with the law and having a justified interest in protecting the collective 
interests of a certain group, or those which within their scope of activities deal with the protection of the 
right to equal treatment, may bring a legal action against a person who has violated the right to equal 
treatment. Representative action is a form of collective redress available under the Gender Equality Act as 
well, but the general conditions are prescribed in the Anti-Discrimination Act. 

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Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia decides on the compliance of laws with 
the Constitution, the compliance of other regulations with the Constitution and laws, and 
on constitutional claims against individual decisions taken by government bodies, bodies 
of local and regional self-government and legal persons vested with public authority where 
such  decisions  violate  human  rights  and  fundamental  freedoms,  as  well  as  the  right  to 
local  and  regional  self-government  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution  of  the  Republic  of 
Croatia (Article 125 of the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia). Every individual or legal 
person has the right to propose the initiation of proceedings to review the constitutionality 
of the law and the legality and constitutionality of other regulations (Article 38(1) of the 
Constitutional Act on the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia).3 Everyone may 
lodge  a  constitutional  complaint  with  the  Constitutional  Court  if  they  deem  that  the 
individual  act  of  a  state  body,  a  body  of  local  and  regional  self-government,  or  a  legal 
person  with  public  authority  that  decided  on  their  rights  and  obligations,  or  on  the 
suspicion  or  accusation  of  a  criminal  offence,  has  violated  their  human  rights  or 
fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution, or their right to local and regional 
self-government guaranteed by the Constitution (Article 62(1) of the Constitutional Act on 
the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia). 

  List of main legislation transposing and implementing the directives 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

The  Constitution  of  the  Republic  of  Croatia  (Ustav  Republike  Hrvatske)  Narodne 
novine  (NN;  Official  Gazette  of  the  Republic  of  Croatia)  Nos.  56/1990,  135/1997, 
113/2000, 28/2001, 76/2010 and 5/2014; 
Anti-Discrimination  Act  (Zakon  o  suzbijanju  diskriminacije),  NN  Nos.  85/2008  and 
112/2012; 
Gender Equality Act (Zakon o ravnopravnosti spolova) NN Nos. 82/2008, 125/2011, 
20/2012, 138/2012 and 69/2017; 
Same-Sex Life Partnership Act (Zakon o životnom partnerstvu osoba istog spola) NN 
Nos. 92/2014 and 98/2019; 
Labour  Act  (Zakon  o  radu)  NN  Nos.  93/2014,  127/2017,  98/2019,  151/2022  and 
64/2023; 
Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits (Zakon o rodiljnim i roditeljskim potporama) 
NN No. 152/2022; 
Safety at Work Act (Zakon o zaštiti na radu) NN Nos. 71/2014, 118/2014, 154/2014, 
94/2018 and 96/2018; 
Pension  Insurance  Act  (Zakon  o  mirovinskom  osiguranju),  NN  Nos.  157/2013, 
151/2014, 33/2015, 93/2015, 120/2016, 18/2018, 62/2018, 115/2018, 102/2019, 
84/2021 and 119/2022; 
Act  on  Pension  Insurance  Companies  (Zakon  o  mirovinskim  osiguravajućim 
društvima) NN Nos. 22/2014, 29/2018 and 115/2018; and 
Act on Voluntary Pension Funds (Zakon o dobrovoljnim mirovinskim fondovima) NN 
Nos. 19/2014, 29/2018 and 115/2018. 

  Sources of law 

The  main  sources  of  gender  equality  law  in  Croatia  are  the  Constitution,  international 
treaties  that  have  been  signed  and  ratified  in  accordance  with  the  Constitution,  EU  law 
and national legislation. Laws have to comply with the Constitution. International treaties 
that are in force are part of the internal legal order and have primacy over national laws, 
but  are  subordinate  to  the  Constitution.  EU  legal  acts  and  decisions  are  applied  in 
accordance with the acquis communautaire. 

3   Constitutional Act on the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia (Ustavni zakon o Ustavnom sudu 
Republike Hrvatske), Narodne novine (NN; Official Gazette of the Republic of Croatia) Nos. 99/99 and 
29/2002. 

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Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

Decisions  of  national  courts  are  binding  only  upon  the  parties  to  the  proceedings  (intra 
partes effect). Constitutional Court decisions are binding for all natural and legal persons 
(erga  omnes  effect)  and  are  published  in  the  Official  Gazette.  The  Supreme  Court  is 
required to convene a meeting with the presidents of county courts at least once every six 
months, in order to discuss current legal issues important for appellate courts, with the 
aim of preventing discrepancies in case law.4 Conclusions from the meeting are published 
on the internet site of the Supreme Court. However, these conclusions should not in any 
way affect the independence and freedom of lower courts to adjudicate in individual cases. 
Legal  reasoning  adopted  at  the  session  of  all  judges  or  a  certain  department  at  the 
Supreme Court or other higher courts, including county courts, is binding for all appellate 
chambers or individual judges of that court or department.5 The Supreme Court’s ruling in 
a model procedure (ogledni spor) is binding on all courts.6 The model procedure can be 
initiated by any court if a dispute before it is similar to other multiple procedures where 
decisions  depend  on  the  resolution  of  the  same  legal  issue,  which  is  important  for  the 
uniform application of the law.7  

Opinions and recommendations of the Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (as well as all 
other ombudsmen) do not have a binding effect. 

  Main surveys, reports on gender equality and other issues 

Periodic research on the attitudes towards and perceptions of discrimination conducted by 
the People’s Ombudsperson shows how the public awareness of discrimination develops 
over time.8 It is primarily concerned with the public perception of discrimination in general, 
and  not  with  the  legal  definitions  and  issues  of  implementation.  Although  it  is  not 
specifically  focused  on  gender  equality  issues,  important  findings  indicate  that  the 
perception of discrimination, as well as general awareness of anti-discrimination concepts 
are  on  the  rise.  While  56 %  respondents  are  aware  of  the  existence  of  the  Anti-
Discrimination  Act,  only  3.9 %  correctly  identify  the  People’s  Ombudsperson  as  a 
designated  central  equality  body  under  that  Act,  which  is  a  persistent  trend  even  after 
15 years of application of the Act.  

Asked about their opinion on the protected characteristics, respondents rank nationality, 
religion or belief, social status, political or other opinion, sexual orientation, disability, and 
race  or  skin  colour  as  those  against  which  discrimination  is  mostly  likely  to  occur.  Sex 
follows after all of these characteristics. However, women are placed fourth when it comes 
to the question on which group is most discriminated against in society (after the Roma 
population, LGBT community and persons with disabilities). This leads to a conclusion that 
multiple and intersectional discrimination of women is present, but still not recognised as 
such in society.  

In  total,  60 %  of  respondents  who  had  actually  experienced  discrimination  did  not  do 
anything about it, convinced that it would not change their situation,  that it could even 
lead  to  further  aggravation  or  that  the  proceedings  would  be  too  complicated,  time-
consuming  and  expensive.  Earlier  research  on  the  implementation  of  the  Anti-

4   Judiciary Act (Zakon o sudovima), Article 27(3), NN Nos. 28/2013, 33/2015, 82/2015, 82/2016, 67/2018, 

126/2019, 21/2022 and 16/2023. 

5   Judiciary Act, Article 40(2). The session is convened if it is established that there are discrepancies in 

interpretation of a particular legal issue or if a judge or chamber departs from the previously adopted legal 
reasoning. 

6   The model procedure was introduced in 2019 with the Act on Amendments to the Civil Procedure Act 

(Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama Zakona o parničnom postupku), NN No. 70/2019. 

7   The first model procedure ruling was adopted in March 2020 in a case involving the question of validity of a 

consumer loan agreement. See Supreme Court, Gos-1/2019, Decision of 4 March 2020. 

8   Research was carried out in 2009, 2012, 2016, and the latest one in 2022. For more information see 

People’s Ombudsperson (2022), Istraživanje o stavovima i razini svijesti o diskriminaciji i pojavnim oblicima 
diskriminacije 2022. (Research on attitudes and the level of awareness of discrimination and the forms of 
discrimination for 2022). For a short summary see EELN (2023) Flash Report Croatia, 1 March 2023. For 
more information on previous research results see Country report Gender equality Croatia 2022, pp. 10-11. 

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Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

Discrimination Act before the Croatian courts,9 which revealed many inconsistencies in the 
application  of  central  concepts  in  practice,  might  explain  the  prevalence  of  negative 
perceptions of and attitudes toward institutional protection mechanisms. 

One of the most valuable sources for evaluating the implementation of the central concepts 
of gender equality are the annual reports of the Ombudsperson for Gender Equality, an 
independent body set up under the Gender Equality Act to monitor the application of the 
gender equality legislation and to act in cases of individual sex discrimination complaints. 
The  reports  are  focused  on  particular  fields  and  present  the  work  of  the  body  in  the 
preceding calendar year, including some practical cases handled by the Ombudsperson. 
The  Ombudsperson  for  Gender  Equality  periodically  conducts  more  comprehensive 
research  on  certain  issues.  However,  the  most  recent  general  surveys  on  the 
implementation and application of general gender equality concepts in case law date back 
to 2012 and 2010,10 so it is high time for a new survey about central concepts of gender 
equality law. 

The  fact  that  there  are  two  acts  explicitly  prohibiting  sex  discrimination  (the  Anti-
Discrimination Act and the Gender Equality Act) and the fact that they contain definitions 
of the same central concepts causes some confusion. The wording of the definitions of, for 
example, direct and indirect discrimination, harassment or sexual harassment in these two 
acts  is  overlapping  but  not  entirely  identical.  It  seems  that  the  judiciary  prefers  the 
application  of  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act  and  the  legal  concepts  defined  therein,  even 
where it is quite obvious that they are dealing with a case of gender equality.11 It is very 
hard  to  find  a  reasonable  explanation  for  such  a  situation.  Although  it  would  be  legally 
correct  and  more  precise  to  use  and  refer  to  the  specific  legal  basis  for  gender 
discrimination,  the  existing  practice  has  not  caused  substantial  differences  as  to  the 
outcome  or  finding  of  discrimination.  In  any  case,  the  two  acts  have  to  be  combined, 
because  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act  contains  more  elaborate  provisions  on  judicial 
protection,  especially  concerning  the  possibility  to  file  a  representative  (associational) 
action;12 or concerning justified exceptions from discrimination. 

Distinguishing  between  different  forms  of  discrimination,  particularly  direct  and  indirect 
discrimination, seems  rather automatic and is  not thoroughly explained or developed in 
existing  case  law.  In  anti-discrimination  cases,  the  Croatian  courts  have  a  tendency  to 
repeat,  literally,  the  definition  of  direct  and  indirect  discrimination  from  the  relevant 
legislation,  without  really  explaining  which  definition  applies  to  the  facts  of  the  case  in 
question and why.13 However, it appears that this approach has been slowly changing over 
the last decade, especially in cases involving direct discrimination, where a more detailed 

9   Kesonja, D., Šimonović Einwalter, T. (2017), Analiza sudske prakse u postupcima pred hrvatskim sudovima 
pokrenutima zbog diskriminacije (Analysis of case law in anti-discrimination claims before the Croatian 
courts), CES, pp. 18-20. 

10   Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2012), Učestalost antidiskriminacijskih predmeta u sudskoj praksi 
(Prevalence of Anti-Discrimination Case Law); Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2010), Istraživanje 
sudske prakse u području antidiskriminacijske zaštite (Analysis of anti-discrimination case law). 

11   See, for example, Supreme Court, Revr-384/2017; Supreme Court, Revr-685/2018; and Zagreb County 

Court in Zagreb, Gž-1225/2015. In a sexual harassment case Revr-384/2017 the Supreme Court 
established that the extraordinary dismissal of a claimant (in this case the harasser) was legal, based on 
the relevant provisions of the Anti-Discrimination Act, even though the provision of the Gender Equality Act 
on sexual harassment would have been a more obvious choice of applicable substantive law.  

12   Associations, bodies, institutions or other organisations established in line with the law and having a 

justified interest in protecting the collective interests of a certain group, or those which within their scope of 
activities deal with the protection of the right to equal treatment, may bring a legal action against a person 
who has violated the right to equal treatment, which. This is known by the name ‘representative’as 
representative or ‘associational’associational action (Article 24(1) of the Anti-Discrimination Act). If the 
existence of discrimination is determined in a judgment rendered in this type of proceedings, that 
determination and judgment are binding for all courts in any subsequent litigation initiated by natural 
persons and legal entities for the compensation of damages (Article 502.c of the Civil Procedure Act). 

13   See,  e.g.  Constitutional  Court  of  the  Republic  of  Croatia,  cases  U-III-7490/2014  and  U-III-1016/2011; 
Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, cases VSRH Revr-277/2007; VSRH Revr-650/2008; VSRH Revr-
350/2009; VSRH Revr-856/2012 and VSRH; Revr-1051/2013. and Revr-685/2018. In all of these cases the 
courts reached the conclusion that there had been ‘no discriminatory behaviour’ on any ground whatsoever. 

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Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

and  facts-based  approach  to  the  application  of  the  concept  in  particular  cases  is  being 
used.14 

14   See, e.g. Supreme court cases involving direct discrimination based on sexual orientation: Rev-300/2013 and 

Gž-10/2015. 

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Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

2 

General legal framework 

  Constitution 

2.1.1  Constitutional ban on sex discrimination 

Gender equality, along with freedom, equal rights, national equality, peace-making, social 
justice, respect for human rights, the inviolability of ownership, the conservation of nature 
and the environment, the rule of law and a democratic multiparty system, is one of the 
highest values of the Croatian constitutional order and form the basis for interpreting the 
Constitution (Article 3 of the Constitution). 

A general equality provision with a non-exhaustive list of prohibited discriminatory grounds 
is contained in Article 14(1) of the Constitution. It stipulates that everyone in Croatia shall 
have rights and freedoms, regardless of race, skin colour, sex, language, political or other 
opinion,  national  or  social  origin,  property,  birth,  education,  social  status  or  other 
characteristics.15 

2.1.2  Other constitutional protection of equality between men and women 

Apart  from  Articles 3  and  14,  the  only  remaining  constitutional  provision  protecting  the 
equality  between  men  and  women  is  to  be  found  in  Article 17,  which  regulates  the 
restrictions  of  fundamental  rights  and  freedoms  in  extraordinary  situations.  Individual 
constitutionally guaranteed rights and freedoms may be restricted during a state of war 
or any clear and present danger to the independence and unity of the Republic of Croatia, 
or in the event of any natural disaster (Article 17(1) of the Constitution). This provision 
stipulates that such decision is made by the Croatian Parliament, with two thirds of votes 
of all Parliament members, or in the event that the Parliament is not able to meet, by the 
President of the Republic, at the proposal of the Government and with co-signature of the 
Prime Minister. The extent of such restrictions must be proportionate to the nature of the 
threat and may not result in the inequality of citizens with respect to race, colour, sex, 
language, religion, national or social origin (Article 17(2) of the Constitution). 

However, protection of equality between men and women, even though it is not expressly 
mentioned, is inherent in the constitutional protection of the right to personal and family 
life, as well as human dignity, as guaranteed under Article 35 of the Constitution. 

  Equal treatment legislation 

In Croatia, there are two main equal treatment legislative acts: the Gender Equality Act 
and  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act.  Both  acts  explicitly  prohibit  sex  discrimination.  The 
Gender Equality Act is specifically aimed at the protection and promotion of gender equality 
as  a  fundamental  value  of  the  Croatian  constitutional  order  and  defines  and  regulates 
methods  of  protection  against  discrimination  based  on  sex,  while  also  creating  equal 
opportunities for men and women (Article 1, Gender Equality Act). The Anti-Discrimination 
Act  is  a  horizontal,  umbrella  act  in  the  field  of  the  prohibition  of  discrimination  and  the 
creation  of  equal  opportunities,  and  includes  an  exhaustive  list  of  21  prohibited 
discriminatory grounds: sex, race, ethnic origin, skin colour, language, religion, political 
or other opinion, national or social origin, property, trade union membership, education, 
social  status,  marital  or  family  status,  age,  health,  disability,  genetic  heritage,  gender 
identity and expression and sexual orientation (Article 1(1) Anti-Discrimination Act). 

15   Article 14(1) contains the constitutional guarantee of non-discrimination. Discrimination under Article 14(1) 

of the Constitution is not an independent legal basis for the constitutional complaint, and it has to be 
brought forward together with some other (material) constitutionally guaranteed right. See e.g. 
Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, U-III-3300/2017, para. 18; U-III-3804/2010, para. 7; U-III-
2325/2006, para. 6; U-III-3192/2003, para. 6. 

10 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

Four  of  the  grounds  protected  under  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act,  namely  sex,  marital 
status, family status and sexual orientation, are also protected grounds under the Gender 
Equality  Act.  The  Gender  Equality  Act  should  be  treated  as  lex  specialis.  However,  the 
rules  concerning  anti-discrimination  protection  in  judicial  proceedings  (individual  and 
representative (associational) actions) are set out in the Anti-Discrimination Act, as well 
as the rules on justified exceptions from discrimination. 

The  responsibilities  of  the  special  ombudsperson  in  the  field  of  gender  equality 
(Ombudsperson  for  Gender  Equality),  established  under  the  Gender  Equality  Act  as  an 
independent  body  in  charge  of  combating  discrimination  in  the  field  of  gender  equality, 
cover the following discriminatory grounds: sex, marital or family status, pregnancy and 
maternity, sexual orientation, and gender identity and expression. 

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3 

Implementation of central concepts16 

  Sex/gender/transgender 

3.1.1  Definition of ‘gender’ and ‘sex’ 

Although the Constitution, as well as a wide variety of national legislative acts, by-laws 
and other regulations refer to gender and/or sex, there is no legislative definition of either 
concept. Actually, the more widely used term in the Croatian legislation is ‘sex’ (spol), but 
the understanding of the term is very wide, which is why the majority of translations to 
English refer to ‘gender’ (rod).17 For example, the Constitution and the Croatian Gender 
Equality Act  refer mainly to  ‘sex’ (spol), not  ‘gender’ (rod).18 A literal translation of the 
Gender  Equality  Act  (Zakon  o  ravnopravnosti  spolova)  would  be  ‘Sex  Equality  Act’, 
although that would not adequately transfer the meaning and scope of this act. There is a 
specific mention of gender identity and expression as a protected ground under the Anti-
Discrimination  Act  (Article 1(1)).  Given  this  broad  understanding  of  both  terms,  the 
Constitutional Court also explicitly states that  

‘sex and gender diversity are protected by the Constitution in the Republic of Croatia. 
The rights of all persons, regardless of sex or gender, concerning respect and legal 
protection  of  their  personal  and  family  life  and  human  dignity  are  guaranteed 
(Article 35  of  the  Constitution).  These  legal  facts  are  today  considered  to  be  an 
enduring value of the Croatian constitutional state.’19 

Since  the  entry  into  force  of  the  Istanbul  Convention,20  the  definition  of  gender  for  the 
purposes of the application of this convention has entered into the Croatian domestic legal 
order.  Gender  is  defined  in  Article 3(1)(c)  to  mean  ‘the  socially  constructed  roles, 
behaviours, activities and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for women 
and men’. 

The definition of the terms ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ can be found in the ‘Professional guidelines 
for  elaboration  of  opinion  of  health  workers  and  psychologists  on  the  establishment  of 
conditions and requirements for sex change and living in another gender identity’, adopted 
by  the  Ministry  of  Health  in  2016.21  The  definition  used  in  the  guidelines  is  not  a  legal 
definition, but a restatement of standard definitions of these two concepts used in scientific 
literature.  It  refers  to  sex  as  a  set  of  biological  features  (chromosomal,  gonadal  and 
phenotypic) that a person is born with. The legal category of sex is ascribed at birth, based 
on  the  appearance  of  external  genital  organs.  Gender  is  referred  to  as  a  complex 
psychological  and  social  category  that  includes  gender  identity,  gender  expression  and 
gender roles. 

16   See Burri, S. (2018), EU gender equality law – update 2018, European network of legal experts in gender 
equality and non-discrimination, available at https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/4767-eu-gender-
equality-law-update-2018-pdf-444-kb. 

17   See, for example, the English translation of the Gender Equality Act by the Office for Gender Equality (Ured 

za ravnopravnost spolova), available at: 
https://ravnopravnost.gov.hr/UserDocsImages//dokumenti/Zakoni/2018//Act%20on%20Gender%20Equalit
y%20ENG.pdf and Ombudsperson for Gender Equality, available at: 
https://arhiva.prs.hr/attachments/article/2126/Act%20on%20Gender%20Equality%20(Official%20Gazette
%2082_08)%20web.pdf. 

18   The only explicit mention of gender in the Gender Equality Act is in Article 14(3), which requires the 

elimination of gender stereotypes in education at all levels and promotion of gender aspects in education. 
19   Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, Communication on the People's Constitutional Referendum 

on the definition of marriage, SuS-1/2013 of 14 November 2014, para 7.2. See also Constitutional Court of 
the Republic of Croatia, Decision U-I-3594/2018 of 21 July 2021, para. 16.  

20   Act on Ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against 

women and domestic violence, NN No. 3/2018. In accordance with the rules of the Convention, for Croatia, 
it entered into force on 1 October 2018. 

21   Stručne smjernice za izradu mišljenja zdravstvenih radnika i psihologa o utvrđivanju uvjeta i pretpostavki 

za promjenu spola i životu u drugom rodnom identitetu, NN No. 7/2016.  

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Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

3.1.2  Protection of transgender, intersex and non-binary persons  

The  non-discrimination  and  equality  law  framework  protects  transgender,  intersex  and 
non-binary  persons  from  discrimination  under  the  categories  of  gender  identity  and 
expression,  and  sex.  There  is  no  differentiation  of  these  categories  for  transgender, 
intersex  and  non-binary  persons.  The  Constitution  contains  an  open  anti-discrimination 
clause  in  its  Article 14(1),  guaranteeing  equal  rights  and  freedoms  to  every  person, 
regardless of race, skin colour, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social 
origin,  property,  birth,  education,  social  status  or  other  characteristics.  One  of  the 
discriminatory  grounds  explicitly  listed  in  Article 1(1)  of  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act  is 
gender  identity  and  expression.  Although  there  is  no  explicit  mention  of  transgender, 
intersex and non-binary persons, both the Anti-Discrimination Act and the Gender Equality 
Act are the legislative instruments for their protection from discrimination. 

Sex discrimination is defined in Article 6(1) of the Gender Equality Act in very broad terms, 
so  as  to  include  any  difference,  exclusion  or  restriction  on  the  grounds  of  sex  with  the 
effect or purpose of jeopardising or frustrating the recognition of, benefit from or exercise 
of  human  rights  and  fundamental  freedoms  in  the  political,  economic,  societal, 
educational, social, cultural, civil or other sphere on the grounds of equality between men 
and women. Discrimination due to gender reassignment is not expressly covered by the 
legislative framework, but it is also incorporated under the same protected categories. 

Table 1: Protection of transgender, intersex and non-binary persons 

Are gender identity/transgender 
status/intersex status/sex 
characteristic etc. specific 
grounds of prohibited 
discrimination? If yes, specify 
which grounds are recognised in 
legislation and/or case law. 
Yes, gender identity and expression 
(Article 1(1), Anti-Discrimination 
Act). 

Is discrimination against transgender, 
intersex and non-binary persons 
forbidden on the basis of the existing 
prohibition on sex discrimination? If yes, 
if possible specify which groups are 
protected (transgender/intersex/non-
binary). 
Yes.  
Sex (intersex). 
Gender identity and expression (transgender, 
non-binary). 

3.1.3  Specific requirements 

Non-discrimination  laws  protect  all  individuals,  without  having  to  satisfy  any  specific 
requirement.  Transgender  persons  are  not  required  to  undergo  gender  confirmation  or 
sterilisation surgery, nor to change their legal gender before they are protected by non-
discrimination laws. Conditions for the change of legal gender are prescribed in the ‘Rules 
on the collection of medical documents and establishing conditions for a change of gender 
and living in another gender identity’.22 The Rules were adopted in 2014 by the Minister 
of Health, based on Article 9a of the State Registries Act23 and following a Decision of the 
Constitutional  Court  of  18 March 2014  and  a  report  by  the  Constitutional  Court  of 
8 April 2014.24 The same conditions apply to any person who applies for a legal change of 
gender, regardless of whether it is a transgender or an intersex individual. The competent 
state administration office in the county issues a decision on registration of sex change in 
birth  records,  based  on  the  opinion  of  the  National  Health  Council.  The  opinion  of  the 
National Health Council is based on medical documentation required under the Rules (i.e. 
opinions of a psychiatrist, psychologist and in certain cases endocrinologist, as well as  a 

22   Rules on the collection of medical documents and establishing conditions for a change of gender and living 

in another gender identity (Pravilnik o načinu prikupljanja medicinske dokumentacije te utvrđivanju uvjeta i 
pretpostavki za promjenu spola ili o životu u drugom rodnom identitetu), NN No. 132/2014. 

23   State Registries Act (Zakon o državnim maticama), NN Nos. 96/1993, 76/2013, 98/2019 and 133/2022. 
24   Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, Decision U-IIIB/3173/2012 and Report U-XA/1367/2014. 

13 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

report 
circumstances). 

from  the  competent  Social  Welfare  Centre  about  personal  and 

family 

No person shall be forced to undergo medical procedures, including gender reassignment 
surgery, sterilisation or hormonal therapy, as a condition for the recognition of a change 
of sex or living in a different gender identity (Article 2(2) of the 2014 Rules). 

There is no minimum age requirement, which means that minors are allowed to change 
legal  gender.  The  2014  Rules  require  only  that  the  medical  documentation/opinions 
substantiating the application submitted by applicants who are minors, or their parents or 
guardians,  should  be  issued  by  psychiatrists,  psychologists  and  endocrinologists 
specialising in paediatric psychiatry, psychology and endocrinology. In addition, an opinion 
from the paediatrician is required as well. 

  Direct sex discrimination 

3.2.1  Explicit prohibition 

Direct sex discrimination is not explicitly prohibited in the Gender Equality Act. However, 
the Anti-Discrimination Act contains a specific provision (Article 9(1), Anti-Discrimination 
Act) stipulating that discrimination in all its forms is prohibited.25 Articles 2-6 of the Anti-
Discrimination Act define forms of discrimination (direct, indirect, harassment, sexual). 

Article 7(1)  of  the  Gender  Equality  Act  defines  direct  discrimination  as  any  treatment 
where, on the ground of sex, one person is treated, has been treated or would be treated 
less favourably than another in a comparable situation. This definition applies within the 
scope of the Gender Equality Act. 

Another  definition  of  direct  discrimination  is  provided  within  the  scope  of  the  Anti-
Discrimination Act. Article 2(1) of the Anti-Discrimination Act defines direct discrimination 
as any treatment where, based on one of the discriminatory grounds covered by that Act, 
one person is treated, has been treated or would be treated less favourably than another 
in a comparable situation.  

Both  definitions  of  direct  discrimination  (from  the  Gender  Equality  Act  and  the  Anti-
Discrimination Act) comply with the EU definition. 

3.2.2  General discrimination 

The prohibition of general discrimination is not explicit, but it can easily be derived from 
the existing rules on legal standing for bringing representative action (by organisations) 
under  Article 24(1)  of  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act.  Associations,  bodies,  institutions  or 
other  organisations  established  in  line  with  the  law  and  having  a  justified  interest  in 
protecting the collective interests of a certain group, or those which within their scope of 
activities deal with the protection of the right to equal treatment, may bring a legal action 
against a person who has violated the right to equal treatment, even in the absence of an 
identifiable  victim.  This  is  a  form  of  abstract  legal  protection  which  serves  as  a  tool  for 
enforcement  of  anti-discrimination  protection  and  for  the  promotion  of  the  principle  of 
equality. A declaratory judgment establishing the existence of discrimination in this type 
of legal action is binding for all courts in a subsequent litigation initiated by natural persons 

25   The Labour Act (Article 7(4)) prohibits direct and indirect discrimination (without referring to any particular 
ground) in the field of work and working conditions, including the selection criteria and requirements for 
employment, promotion, professional guidance, education, training and retraining, in accordance with the 
act and other special laws and regulations. The prohibition of discrimination is one of the fundamental 
rights and obligations arising out of the employment relationship. 

14 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

and legal  entities  for the  compensation  of damages.26 The  existing  case law  concerning 
general discrimination primarily involves discrimination based on sexual orientation, but 
the same rules and interpretation would apply to general gender discrimination as well.27 

3.2.3  Specific difficulties 

For a long time, the standard approach of the Croatian courts in anti-discrimination cases 
in general was to literally repeat the definition of direct and indirect discrimination from 
the relevant legislation, without really explaining which definition applied to the facts of 
the  case  in  question  and  why.28  However,  in  recent  years,  courts  have  applied  a  much 
more  elaborate  and  facts-based  approach  to  defining  and  applying  this  concept  in  the 
context of a particular case.29 Case law is still inconsistent concerning the interpretation 
of  discriminatory  statements  in  view  of  freedom  of  speech  or  religion,  primarily  in  the 
context of discrimination based on sexual orientation.30  

There are further inconsistencies in the case law, due to the fact that the Gender Equality 
Act  and  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act  contain  similar  provisions  and  both  cover 
discrimination based on sex, but also because of a lack of understanding and differentiation 
between different forms of discrimination. The existing case law on direct discrimination is 
more frequently based on the provisions of the Anti-Discrimination Act, even where the 
Gender Equality Act could have applied instead. In a decision from 2017 involving sexual 
harassment,  the  Supreme  Court  reversed  the  lower  court’s  decision  that  there  was  no 
discrimination, and ruled that the extraordinary dismissal of a claimant (in this case the 
harasser)  was  legal,  because  his  behaviour  towards  his  female  co-worker  amounted  to 
sexual harassment in the form of direct discrimination.31 This was established on the facts 
of  the  case  and  in  application  of  the  relevant  provisions  of  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act, 
even though the provision of the Gender Equality Act on sexual harassment would have 
been a more obvious choice of applicable substantive law.  

Another point to be mentioned here concerns the Constitutional Court’s approach to the 
possibility  of  justifying  direct  discrimination,  which  is  in  line  with  the  case  law  of  the 
ECtHR.32 In other words, the Constitutional Court allows for an objective justification test 

26   This is a general rule applicable to all representative actions for the protection of collective interests arising 
from Article 502.c of the Civil Procedure Act, i.e. it is not specific to anti-discrimination cases and there is 
no case law to back up this interpretation. 

27   See e.g. Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, cases Rev-300/2013 (in this case, the Supreme Court 
expressly refers to the CJEU case Feryn, C-54/07); Gž-41/2011; Gž-25/2011; Gž-10/2015; Gž-10/2021; 
Constitutional Court, U-III-872/2016; County Court in Zagreb, P-10/2020. 

28   See, e.g. Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, cases U-III-7490/2014; U-III-1016/2011; 

Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, cases Revr-277/2007; Revr-650/2008; Revr-350/2009; Revr-
856/2012; Revr-1051/2013. In all of these cases the courts reached the conclusion that there had been ‘no 
discriminatory behaviour’ on any ground whatsoever. 

29   This involves mostly cases of sexual discrimination, but general considerations apply to direct sex 

discrimination as well. See, e.g. County Court in Zagreb, P-10/2020, judgment of 8 January 2021, where 
the court found the defendant’s statement (the content of a website post) to represent simultaneously, 
both ‘a clear expression of direct discrimination and harassment’, and incitement to discrimination based on 
sexual orientation. The Supreme Court found the same statement to represent incitement to discrimination, 
as a specific form of discrimination. See Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, Gž-10/2021. In case Gž 
R-978/2020, the County Court in Rijeka and the first instance court correctly identified and applied the 
concept of direct discrimination based on pregnancy. 

30   In case Gž-10/2021, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia reversed the judgment of the County 
Court in Zagreb in case P-13/2021, which referred expressly to the Catholic catechism standpoint on 
homosexuality to find that the defendant’s statement (website post) was only a critical opinion and an 
expression of religious ethos, even if it is admittedly liable ‘to hurt the feelings of persons of homosexual 
orientation’. The Supreme Court found that the incitement to discrimination is presumed from the content 
of the website post and that the burden of proof is thus shifted to the defendant to show that there was no 
discrimination. In its earlier case law, the Supreme Court found that calling homosexuals sick, which was 
confined to the teaching of the Catholic religion in a school class, ‘could not have put anyone into a less 
favourable position’, and therefore represents expression of religious freedom and not direct discrimination.  

31   Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, Revr-384/2017. 
32   A similar approach can be detected only in isolated decisions of the courts of regular jurisdiction, such as 

County Court in Osijek, Gž R 634/2020. 

15 

 
 
 
 
 
Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

in relation to direct discrimination as well, especially when it comes to the review of  the 
constitutionality  of  legislation.33  According  to  the  Constitutional  Court,  the  legislature 
enjoys  a  certain  margin  of  appreciation,  but  there  would  have  to  exist  strong, 
constitutionally  acceptable  reasons  for  the  Constitutional  Court  to  find  a  certain 
discriminatory rule in compliance with the Constitution. 

  Indirect sex discrimination34 

3.3.1  Explicit prohibition 

Indirect  sex  discrimination  is  not  explicitly  prohibited  in  national  legislation.  However, 
Article 9(2)  of  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act  prohibits  all  forms  of  discrimination.35  The 
definition  of  indirect  discrimination  is  provided  in  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act  and  the 
Gender Equality Act. 

Under  Article 7(2)  of  the  Gender  Equality  Act,  indirect  discrimination  occurs  where  a 
neutral  legal  provision,  criterion  or  practice  puts  persons  of  one  sex  at  a  disadvantage 
compared  to  persons  of  the  other  sex,  unless  that  provision,  criterion  or  practice  is 
objectively  justified  by  a  legitimate  aim  and  the  means  of  achieving  that  aim  are 
appropriate and necessary. 

Under  Article 2(2)  of  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act  indirect  discrimination  occurs  where  a 
neutral legal provision, criterion or practice puts or would put persons at a disadvantage 
based  on  any  discriminatory  ground  listed  in  that  act  compared  to  other  persons  in  a 
comparable situation, unless that provision, criterion or practice is objectively justified by 
a legitimate aim and the means of achieving that aim are appropriate and necessary.  

The  two  definitions  seem  to  be  equal,  except  that  the  definition  from  the  Anti-
Discrimination Act is grammatically more precise (puts or would put), which also includes 
future hypothetical situations within the definition of indirect discrimination, whereas the 
Gender  Equality  Act  refers  to  the  present  condition  (puts).  Although  there  has  been  no 
case law that specifically addresses this issue,  it is highly unlikely that the courts would 
adhere to the strict grammatical interpretation of the provision from the Gender Equality 
Act.  

To prevent any potential deviant interpretation, it would be better to amend the provision 
of Article 7(2) of the Gender Equality Act to include the conditional (would put). 

3.3.2  Statistical evidence 

So  far,  there  has  not  been  any  case  law  referring  to  or  using  statistical  evidence  for 
establishing a presumption of indirect discrimination. In one court case, the claimant was 
a female worker whose work performance was rated negatively in a profitability evaluation 
by her employer, because the evaluation took account of her earnings during sick leave to 
take care of a small child as an expense, while at the same time counting the hours that 
she was absent from work due to sick leave as non-profitable hours.36 Consequently, she 
was the first in line for dismissal after the performance and profitability evaluation. She 

33   See, e.g. Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, cases: U-I-144/2019 et al., paras. 21.1 and 29.1; 

U-III-872/2016, para. 8.1; U-I-1152/2000 et al., paras. 23, 27-30. 

34   For more information see: Mulder, J. (2021) Indirect sex discrimination in employment European network 

of legal experts in gender equality and non-discrimination, available at: 
https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/5362-indirect-discrimination-in-employment-pdf-1-434-kb. 

35   The Labour Act (Article 7(4)) prohibits direct and indirect discrimination (without referring to any particular 
ground) in the field of work and working conditions, including the selection criteria and requirements for 
employment, promotion, professional guidance, education, training and retraining, in accordance with that 
act and other special laws and regulations. The prohibition of discrimination is one of the fundamental 
rights and obligations arising out of the employment relationship. 

36   County Court in Zagreb, Gž-1225/2015. 

16 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

claimed discrimination based on family status and maternity, and indirectly based on sex, 
‘because it is customary for women to take sick leave to care for a child in our society’. 
However, no statistical evidence was put forward nor apparently required to substantiate 
this claim, as it was thought either to be self-evident or not pertinent to the outcome of 
the case, and the court eventually ruled in favour of the claimant.37 

The Ombudsperson for Gender Equality reported a case from 2019 where her finding of 
indirect  sex  discrimination  was  based  on  an  analysis  of  statistical  evidence.38  The 
complaint was about a variable monthly salary increment in one Croatian retail company, 
payable up to a certain fixed amount in accordance with the employer’s decision. Presence 
at work was the main criterion for determining the amount of monthly increment, which 
meant that those workers absent from work in a certain month, even for justified reasons, 
such  as  annual  leave,  maternity  or  parental  leave,  sick  leave  etc.  received  lower 
increments, or nothing at all if they were absent for an entire month. Despite the neutral 
wording of the provision, female employees were found to be disproportionately negatively 
affected by it. The Ombudsperson conducted a detailed statistical analysis, which showed 
that  women  make  up  74.05 %  of  all  employees  in  the  company,  but  their  share  in  the 
number of employees who were not entitled to salary increments in the analysed period 
between 1 January 2019 and 30 June 2019 was 93.8 %. The evidence further showed that 
in three years analysed by the Ombudsperson (from 2017 to 2019) the share of female 
workers  using  some  type  of  pregnancy  or  childcare  leave  varied  from  98.4  to  99.1 %, 
which showed that they were most likely to be absent from work. In addition, almost all 
men who worked for the company (98.57 %) were covered by the scope of the decision 
on increments, compared to 91.8 % of women (the decision on increments applied only 
to  workers  whose  basic  salary  was  determined  in  accordance  with  the  applicable 
coefficients). The employer did not comply with the Ombudsperson’s recommendation to 
revise  the  criterion  for  determining  the  salary  increment,  and  there  is  no  further 
information available on whether this case was taken to court.39 

3.3.3  Application of the objective justification test 

Objective  justification  is  ordinarily  treated  as  part  of  the  legal  definition  of  indirect  sex 
discrimination.40 However, there are inconsistencies. For example, in one case involving 
lower severance pay for public servants and employees of one ministry who have reached 
retirement age, the court first considered whether the measure was objectively justified, 
rather than first checking whether there was a disparate impact.41 This approach actually 
saved  the  measure.  The  disputed  provision  was  contained  in  the  employer’s  general 
decision and was worded neutrally. Of course, it resulted in less favourable treatment of 
women,  because  women  still  retire  earlier  than  men  pursuant  to  pension  insurance 
legislation (although a gradual equalisation of the retirement age is under way). Therefore, 
female  employees  were  less  likely  to  access  severance  pay  under  more  favourable 
conditions,  because  they  qualify  for  old-age  retirement  earlier  than  men.  Strangely, 
although  the  court  referred  to  discrimination  based  on  age  and  sex,  its  judgment  was 
solely based on provisions on age discrimination. The employer’s objective of rationalising 
their  business  by  reducing  the  number  of  public  servants  and  employees,  regardless  of 
their  sex,  was  found  to  be  legitimate.  Consequently,  determining  different  amounts  of 
severance pay for workers who have not yet reached retirement age and for those who 

37   See judgments of County Court in Zagreb, Gž R-931/2018 and Municipal Labour Court in Zagreb, Pr-

716/2016. 

38   Case PRS-01-03/19-03, Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2020), Annual Report for 2019, p. 54. 
39   In another case reported in 2020 by the Ombudsperson for Gender Equality, involving an allegation of 
multiple discrimination against Roma women, statistical evidence obtained by the Ombudsperson was 
incomplete, and therefore inconclusive. See case PRS-18-01/20-09, Ombudsperson for Gender Equality 
(2021), Annual Report for 2020, p. 68. Nevertheless, this shows that it would be possible to bring forward 
statistical evidence also before courts, in order to establish a presumption of indirect discrimination. 

40   See,  for  example,  County  Court  in  Osijek,  Gž  R-191/2018;  County  Court  in  Split,  Gž  R-186/2019.  For 
discrimination based on health condition and age (under the Anti-Discrimination Act), see e.g. County Court 
in Osijek, Gž R-333/2018; County Court in Osijek, Gž R-699/2016. 

41   County Court in Osijek, Gž R-519/2017. 

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Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

have  is  a  measure  that  is  justified  and  necessary  to  achieve  a  legitimate  goal,  i.e. 
rationalisation of business.42 

Based on the available case law, it is safe to state that the Croatian courts do not apply 
an  overly  strict  objective  justification  test.  It  is  rarely  explained  in  detail  why  a  certain 
provision  satisfies  the  conditions  of  necessity  and  suitability.43  The  explanation  usually 
outlines  what  is  considered  to  be  the  legitimate  aim,  and  repeats  that  the  measure  is 
necessary to achieve that aim. Suitability is not mentioned as a requirement in the existing 
case  law.  In  the  Constitutional  Court’s  case  law,  the  test  of  ‘objective  and  reasonable 
justification’ of any measure that is restrictive or less favourable is applied, in light of the 
case law of the European Court of Human Rights. The objective and reasonable justification 
for a legal measure that creates inequalities between persons of different sexes is found 
to exist, for example, if the legislature adopted the measure to correct existing inequalities 
in the material position of persons of one sex.44 However, there should be strong reasons 
acceptable in constitutional law for the Constitutional Court to find, in a specific case, such 
a legal measure in compliance with Article 14(1) of the Constitution (principle of equality). 
The Constitutional Court will also take into account the temporary character of the measure 
in question. 

3.3.4  Specific difficulties 

Indirect  discrimination  is  still  not  appropriately  recognised  in  practice.45  The  share  of 
individual complaints concerning sex discrimination before the Ombudsperson for Gender 
Equality in the last decade was continuously below 1.5 % of all individual complaints.46 An 
unexpected  rise  in  indirect  discrimination  claims  occurred  in  2023  (3.7 %  or  31  of  829 
individual complaints received), showing an increased awareness concerning this form of 
discrimination.47  However,  there  is  no  further  detail  or  information  on  whether  indirect 
discrimination was found to exist in those cases; the upcoming period will show whether 
this will become a trend or remain an isolated occurrence.  

There is  only sporadic case law  on indirect discrimination.  There was one case in which 
the claimant alleged that she was discriminated against based on family status, maternity, 
health  and  indirectly  based  on  sex,  because  her  employer’s  rules  on  performance  and 
profitability evaluation did not take into account that female workers with small children 
(such as herself) take sick leave more often than other workers to take care of a child. 
Consequently,  her  performance  was  rated  negatively  and  she  was  the  first  in  line  for 
dismissal. Although ultimately it  was found that the  claimant was harassed, the case is 
interesting because it reached the appellate (county) court twice (for different reasons).48 
In  both  judgments,  the  County  Court  in  Zagreb  pointed  to  the  provisions  on  indirect 
discrimination  in  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act,49  and  explained  that  ‘the  effects  of  such 

42   For a more detailed elaboration of this case see Country report Gender equality Croatia 2022, p. 18. 
43   See County Court in Osijek, Gž R-519/2017. 
44   On transitional provisions for gradual equalisation of pensionable ages between men and women, as well as 
the  different  position  of  widows  and  widowers  regarding  the  survivor’s  pension  see  Decision  of  the 
Constitutional  Court  of  the  Republic  of  Croatia,  U-I-1152/2000,  U-I-1814/2001,  U-I-1478/2004,  U-I-
3137/2004 and U-I-3760/2005, para. 23, 27-30. 

45   For many years after the adoption of the first non-discrimination legislation in Croatia, legal claims 

involving indirect discrimination were practically non-existent in the Croatian courts. See the 
Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2012), Učestalost antidiskriminacijskih predmeta u sudskoj praksi 
(Prevalence of Anti-Discrimination Case Law).  

46   E.g. one case in 2022, five in 2021, no cases in 2020, six in 2019, seven in 2018, no cases in 2017, one in 
2016, three in 2015, three in 2014 and no cases in 2013. See annual reports of the Ombudsperson for 
Gender Equality, available at: https://www.prs.hr/cms/. 

47   See Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2024), Annual Report for 2023, pp. 9, 25. 
48   Municipal Court in Zagreb, Pr-1896/11; County Court in Zagreb, Gž-1225/2015; followed by Municipal Labour 
Court  in  Zagreb,  Pr-716/2016  and County  Court  in  Zagreb,  Gž  R-931/2018.  This  is  the same case  that  is 
mentioned above in Section 3.3.2. 

49   The county court did not even mention that the same provisions exist in the Gender Equality Act, even if 
the Gender Equality Act is specifically aimed at sex discrimination, discrimination based on family status 
and maternity. 

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discrimination  consist  of  indirect,  covert  application  of  a  seemingly  neutral  and  legally 
correct norm, criteria or practice’, but concluded that this ‘led to a violation of the right to 
equal  treatment  which  resulted  in  the  claimant’s  harassment’.50  The  Supreme  Court 
abolished both the first instance and the appellate judgment because  of  ‘incorrect legal 
approach’,  which  makes  it  unclear  which  actions  and  grounds  led  to  which  form  of 
discrimination, and referred the matter back to the first instance court.51  

Case  law  reveals  that  there  are  general  difficulties  in  understanding  the  basic  concepts 
and  definition  of  indirect  discrimination,  and  in  applying  them  in  a  particular  case.  For 
example, in one case, where the question of indirect sex discrimination was considered, 
the court found prima facie evidence of indirect discrimination where the claimant stated 
that  her  superior  told  her  that  she  would  not  be  promoted  because  she  is  ‘a  woman,  a 
married woman and a mother’. After the burden of proof was shifted to the respondent, it 
was  established  that  no  (apparently  indirect?)  discrimination  occurred,  because  the 
contested decision of the employer to appoint the head of department would have been 
the  same  regardless  of  the  sex  of  the  promoted  employee  and  the  claimant.  In  other 
words, the respondent proved that the only reason for the appointment of another (male) 
employee was to keep that same employee as head of department (previously he was only 
acting  head  of  department).52  This  clearly  should  not  have  been  treated  as  a  case  of 
suspected indirect discrimination, but one of direct discrimination. 

Many concepts and distinctions between types of discrimination (such as in the example 
above)  could  have  been  explained  and  rectified  by  the  higher  and  the  highest  courts. 
However,  access  to  the  Supreme  Court  in  revision  proceedings  has  once  more  been 
curtailed by the legislative amendments in 2022. Before legislative amendments in 2019,53 
appellate (second instance) courts’ judgments in individual anti-discrimination claims were 
rarely  subject  to  revision  by  the  Supreme  Court.54  In  gender  equality  cases,  the 
competence  of  the  Supreme  Court  includes  appellate  jurisdiction  against  judgments  of 
county courts in collective actions by association, and revision jurisdiction over decisions 
of county courts as appellate courts in individual anti-discrimination claims. Revision is an 
extraordinary legal  remedy against final decisions  by courts, with limited access for  the 
parties.55  Although  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act  states  that  revision  is  always  allowed  in 
anti-discrimination cases,56 before the 2019 amendments the Supreme Court interpreted 
this to mean extraordinary revision under the former Article 382(2) of the Civil Procedure 
Act,57 meaning that it could be brought forward only if the decision in the dispute depended 
on a  substantive  or procedural question that is important  for the uniform application of 
the law and for equality of all in its application, especially if the revision court has not yet 
taken any position on it, or if the revision court has taken a position on it, but the appellate 
court’s  decision  is  contrary  to  it,  or  if  the  existing  case  law  needs  to  be  re-examined. 

50   County Court in Zagreb, Gž R-931/2018; County Court in Zagreb, Gž-1225/2015. 
51   Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, Rev-145/2021. 
52   County Court in Zagreb, Gž R-1192/2018. 
53   Act  on  Amendments  to  the  Civil  Procedure  Act  (Zakon  o  izmjenama  i  dopunama  Zakona  o  parničnom 
postupku), NN No. 70/2019. These amendments applied from 1 September 2019, even in pending cases, but 
only if the appellate court has not adopted its decision prior to the coming into force of the new provisions. 
See Articles 68 and 117(4) of the Act on Amendments to the Civil Procedure Act, NN No. 70/2019. 

54   The Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority in Croatia with the task of ensuring the uniform application 
of laws and the equality of all before the law. See Article 116 of the Constitution. In civil proceedings, the 
Supreme Court’s competences include deciding on appeals against first-instance decisions of county courts 
and revisions as extraordinary legal remedies against (final and binding) second-instance decisions, in cases 
prescribed by law. 

55   Article 382 of the Civil Procedure Act (Zakon o parničnom postupku), NN Nos. 53/1991, 91/1992, 

112/1999, 129/2000, 88/2001, 117/2003, 88/2005, 2/2007, 96/2008, 84/2008, 123/2008, 57/2011, 
25/2013, 89/2014, 70/2019, 80/2022, 114/2022 and 155/2023. 

56   Anti-Discrimination Act, Article 23. 
57   See,  e.g.  Supreme  Court  decisions  Revr-57/15,  Revr-1273/13,  Revr-715/13  and  Rev-677/16.  Under  the 
amendments which were in force from September 2019 to July 2022, instead of regular and extraordinary 
revision, there was a revision with and without prior authorisation by the Supreme Court. Since 2022, there 
is no possibility for a revision without authorisation, i.e. in each case the Supreme Court has to decide whether 
the proposal for a revision is admissible. 

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However, the party submitting a revision had to identify the legal question and applicable 
rules,  and  state  reasons  why  it  considers  that  the  revision  is  important  to  secure  the 
uniform application of the law and equality of all. Because the Supreme Court has taken 
this  approach,  many  revisions  on  important  legal  questions  and  concepts  of  gender 
equality and anti-discrimination law have been dismissed on procedural grounds without 
consideration of the merits of the case. Under the legislative solution which was applicable 
in the period between 2019 and 2022, revision was always allowed in anti-discrimination 
claims  (revision  without  authorisation).  However,  since  the  amendments  of  the  Civil 
Procedure  Act  from  2022  entered  into  force,  there  is  no  revision  without  authorisation, 
and a party has to submit and substantiate a proposal for a revision, which may or may 
not be declared admissible by the Supreme Court.58 This means that the opportunity for 
the Supreme Court to decide in anti-discrimination cases in revision proceedings will be 
extremely rare in the future, and the frequency of substantial amendments of procedural 
rules certainly does not contribute to legal certainty and the effective enforcement of anti-
discrimination guarantees. 

Distinguishing  between  different  forms  of  discrimination,  especially  between  direct  and 
indirect discrimination seems rather automatic and is not thoroughly explained in existing 
case law. True indirect sex discrimination cases in the Croatian jurisprudence are rare.59 
There  are  many  more  harassment  and  sexual  harassment  at  work  cases  than  indirect 
discrimination cases. In many cases, claimants assert discrimination, without referring to 
a specific form of discrimination;60 or claim sex discrimination occurred, but without any 
evidence substantiating it, as if the fact that a claimant is female automatically makes it a 
sex discrimination case. Sometimes claimants do not even explicitly state any ground of 
discrimination61 or enumerate various different grounds or change discrimination grounds 
during  proceedings.62  The  courts  usually  respond  by  repeating  all  provisions  defining 
discrimination in all its forms (direct, indirect, and/or harassment and sexual harassment) 
and then subsume the facts established in the proceedings under one of these definitions, 
if that is possible, or do not even specify what form of discrimination occurred.63 Indirect 
discrimination  requires  a  more  nuanced  approach,  not  just  by  the  courts,  but  also  by 
potential claimants and their legal representatives. 

  Multiple discrimination and intersectional discrimination64 

3.4.1  Definition and explicit prohibition 

Multiple  discrimination  is  defined  in  Article 6(1)  of  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act  as 
discrimination  against  an  individual  on  multiple  grounds  enumerated  in  the  Anti-
Discrimination Act. It is stipulated that multiple discrimination constitutes one of the most 
severe  forms  of  discrimination.  Other  severe  forms  of  discrimination  mentioned  in  the 

58   See Act on Amendments to the Civil Procedure Act (Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama Zakona o parničnom 
postupku), NN No. 80/2022, which entered into force on  18 July 2022 (with transitional arrangements for 
specific ongoing procedures). 

59   See, e.g., County Court in Osijek, Gž R-519/2017; County Court in Zagreb, Gž-1225/2015. 
60   Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, Revr-423/2015. 
61   Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, Revr-123/2015; Revr-735/2015. 
62   See  Kesonja,  D.,  Šimonović  Einwalter,  T.  (2017),  Analiza  sudske  prakse  u  postupcima  pred  hrvatskim 
sudovima  pokrenutima  zbog  diskriminacije  (Analysis  of  case  law  in  anti-discrimination  claims  before  the 
Croatian courts), CES, p. 19. 

63   In one case involving discrimination based on religious belief, the court repeated the definitions of direct and 
indirect discrimination  and  stated  that  their  common  characteristic  is  placing  a victim  in  a  less favourable 
position  than  another  person  in  a  comparable  situation,  based  on  one  of  the  discriminatory  grounds.  It 
concluded that the respondent did not put Catholics in a less favourable position in relation to other persons 
(unidentified  by  the  claimant),  so  there  can  be  ‘no  discrimination  within  the  meaning  of  the  Anti-
Discrimination  Act,  neither  direct  nor  indirect  nor  discrimination  by  harassment’  (Supreme  Court  of  the 
Republic of Croatia, Gž-4/2019). This statement illustrates the typical approach in case law on discrimination. 
64   For more information, see Fredman, S. (2016), Intersectional discrimination in EU gender equality and non-
discrimination law, European network of legal experts in gender equality and non-discrimination, available 
at: https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/3850-intersectional-discrimination-in-eu-gender-equality-and-
non-discrimination-law-pdf-731-kb. 

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same provision include repeated discrimination (discrimination committed several times); 
continued  or  prolonged  discrimination  (discrimination  occurring  over  a  longer  period  of 
time)  or  discrimination  with  severe  impact  on  the  victim.  A  finding  of  multiple 
discrimination  (or  other  previously  mentioned  forms)  will  be  considered  as  a  relevant 
circumstance when the court determines the amount of compensation for damages and 
the penalty for misdemeanours established under the act. 

There  is  no  mention  of  intersectional  discrimination  in  legislation,  nor  are  there  any 
proposals pending to incorporate the concept of intersectional discrimination into national 
legislation.65  Given  that  there  are  still  practical  inconsistencies  and  other  difficulties 
concerning the conceptual understanding of the main gender equality concepts, it can be 
imagined  that  the  concept  of  intersectional  discrimination  would  be  very  difficult  to 
implement in the national legal framework. It is not inconceivable to invoke such a claim 
even  at  this  time,  but  it  would  mean  entering  into  completely  uncharted  legal  territory 
with little ability to predict the outcome. 

3.4.2  Case law and judicial recognition  

Multiple  discrimination  is  sometimes  invoked  in  court  proceedings,  but  rarely  found  to 
exist.66  The  approach  of  the  courts  seems  to  be  to  examine  individual  grounds  of 
discrimination separately, one by one, without trying to establish any meaningful relation 
between them or considering that a combination of these grounds might have had a more 
detrimental effect on the victim.67 

In  2017,  there  was  one  reported  case  of  multiple  discrimination,  involving  gender  and 
nationality.68 It involved a woman of Serbian nationality who was sexually abused in 1993 
while being detained in a military facility during the Croatian  War of Independence. 69 A 
special committee set up under the Act on the rights of victims of sexual violence during 
armed aggression against the Republic of Croatia in the Homeland War70 denied her the 
status  of  a  victim  of  sexual  violence  during  the  Homeland  War.  The  competent 
administrative court set aside the disputed decision in 2018 and instructed the ministry to 
repeat the procedure for the recognition of the status of a victim of sexual violence during 
the Homeland War. Eventually, the case was decided in favour of the claimant, and she 
was granted the status with all the rights pertaining thereto.71 However, the decision of 
the competent administrative court is not publicly available, so it is impossible to comment 
on  whether  the  court  actually  discussed  or  investigated  the  possibility  that  multiple 
discrimination occurred.  

In a case involving a female worker who claimed that she was paid less for the same work 
performed over the same duration than her younger male colleague, the courts found no 
discrimination based on sex and age.72 

65   There is no available information about activities for the implementation of Directive (EU) 2023/970, which 

incorporates the concept of intersectional discrimination. 

66   The usual combinations of discriminatory grounds include sex and political belief (County court in Zagreb, 
Gž R-1192/2018); sex and health condition or pregnancy (County Court in Zagreb, Gž-1225/2015); sex 
and age (Municipal Labour Court in Zagreb, Pr-1433/12, County Court in Zagreb, Gžr-2213/14; 
Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, U-III-1711/2015); or sex and nationality (frequently 
reported by the Ombudsperson for Gender Equality, see, for example: Ombudsperson for Gender Equality 
(2019), Annual Report for 2018, pp. 236-237, but case law is scarce). 

67   See, for example, County Court in Zagreb, Gž R-1192/2018; Municipal Labour Court in Zagreb, Pr-1433/12, 
County Court in Zagreb, Gžr-2213/14; Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, U-III-1711/2015. 

68   Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2018), Annual Report for 2017, Case PRS 03-05/17-606. 
69   In Croatia this is referred to as the Homeland War. 
70   Act on the rights of victims of sexual violence during armed aggression against the Republic of Croatia in 
the Homeland War (Zakon o pravima žrtava seksualnog nasilja za vrijeme oružane agresije na Republiku 
Hrvatsku u Domovinskom ratu), NN Nos. 64/2015 and 98/2019. 

71   Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2019), Annual Report for 2018, pp. 236-237. 
72   However, none of the court decisions in the proceedings elaborate or interpret the concept of multiple 

discrimination. See Municipal Labour Court in Zagreb, Pr-1433/12, County Court in Zagreb, Gžr-2213/14; 
Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, U-III-1711/2015. 

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Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

The  gender  equality  bodies  (the  Ombudsperson  for  Gender  Equality  and  the  Office  for 
Gender Equality) are active in promoting awareness about the categories of women who 
are especially  at  risk of multiple discrimination. These  categories include women with  a 
disability, women in rural areas, women of Roma ethnic origin, female victims of sexual 
violence during the Croatian War of Independence, and women in prostitution or victims 
of sex trafficking.73 One case reported by the Ombudsperson for Gender Equality shows 
how fragile the position of persons exposed to multiple discrimination is. It concerned a 
deaf-mute woman from the Roma minority, who was subject to physical domestic violence 
by her husband.74 The Ombudsperson established that there were many omissions on the 
part of the competent centre for social welfare, issued a recommendation to remedy these 
deficiencies and instructed the centre to take into account that the woman was a victim of 
multiple  discrimination.  However,  many  other  cases  of  multiple  and  intersectional 
discrimination experienced by members of the Roma community might go unrecorded and 
unnoticed, due to existing marginalisation and social exclusion of the Roma population in 
Croatian society.75 

In cases where there are multiple grounds of discrimination, the Ombudsperson for Gender 
Equality cooperates with other special ombudsmen or the People’s Ombudsperson, where 
necessary, based on a cooperation agreement among those bodies from 2013. 

  Positive action76 

3.5.1  Definition and explicit prohibition 

Positive action is explicitly allowed in Croatian legislation. The legal term used instead of 
positive  action  (which  is  used  informally)  is  special  or  specific77  measures.  Special 
measures are legally defined in the Gender Equality Act and the Anti-Discrimination Act. 
However,  the  differences  in  terminology  do  not  result  in  any  substantive  differences 
between the two terms. The regulatory bases for special measures are contained in the 
Gender Equality Act and the Anti-Discrimination Act.  

Special measures under the Gender Equality Act are specific benefits for people of a certain 
gender that enable their equal participation in public life, eliminate existing inequalities or 
ensure rights they were previously denied.78 Special measures can be enacted in laws and 
other  regulations  that  regulate  specific  fields  of  public  life.79  They  are  introduced  on  a 
temporary  basis  with  a  view  to  achieving  the  genuine  equality  of  women  and  men  and 
they are not deemed to be discrimination.80  

73   See annual reports of the Ombudsperson for Gender Equality, available at: https://www.prs.hr/cms/. 
74   Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2019), Annual Report for 2018, pp. 131-132. 
75   Which leads to conclusion that members of the Roma population are even less aware of discrimination or 

the proper channels to report discrimination than the general population. See, e.g. Nacionalna strategija za 
uključivanje Roma, za razdoblje od 2013. do 2020. godine (National Strategy for Roma Inclusion 2013 – 
2020), pp. 6, 27-28, 105; Nacionalni plan za uključivanje Roma, za razdoblje od 2021. do 2027. (National 
Plan for Roma Inclusion, for the period from 2021 to 2027), pp. 30-35. 

76   For more information see McCrudden, C. (2019), Gender-based positive action in employment in Europe. A 
comparative analysis of legal and policy approaches in the EU and EEA, 2019, European network of legal 
experts in gender equality and non-discrimination, available at: 
https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/5008-gender-based-positive-action-in-employment-in-europe-pdf-
1-9-mb. 

77   The term ‘specific measures’ appears in unofficial English translations of the Gender Equality Act published 

by the Office for Gender Equality, available at: 
https://ravnopravnost.gov.hr/UserDocsImages//dokumenti/Zakoni/2018//Act%20on%20Gender%20Equalit
y%20ENG.pdf, and Ombudsperson for Gender Equality, available at: 
https://arhiva.prs.hr/attachments/article/2126/Act%20on%20Gender%20Equality%20(Official%20Gazette
%2082_08)%20web.pdf. The term ‘special measures’ will be used in this report to translate the Croatian 
term ‘posebne mjere’ because it better conveys the meaning of the term. 

78   Gender Equality Act, Article 9(1). 
79   Gender Equality Act, Article 10. 
80   Gender Equality Act, Article 9(2). 

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The  Anti-Discrimination  Act  introduces  special  measures  in  its  provision  regulating 
exceptions from discrimination.81 Pursuant to this provision, unequal treatment as a result 
of  special  measures  is  not  deemed  to  be  discrimination.  A  special  measure  is  any 
temporary  measure,  which  is  necessary  and  appropriate  for  achieving  real  equality  of 
societal  groups  suffering  from  adverse  treatment  based  on  any  discriminatory  ground 
covered  by  the  act.  It  has  to  be  based  on  laws,  by-laws,  programmes,  measures  or 
decisions  with  a  view  to  improving  the  situation  of  ethnic,  religious,  linguistic  or  other 
minorities or other groups of citizens or persons discriminated against under any ground 
covered by the act. 

The definitions in the Croatian legislation are broader in scope than Article 157(4) TFEU, 
because  they  can  be  implemented  in  every  sphere  of  public  life,  not  just  in  relation  to 
vocational activities or professional careers. 

3.5.2  Conceptual distinctions between equal opportunities and positive action in national 

law 

The term ‘equal opportunities’ is used in legislation as a standalone legal concept. It is not 
used as a synonym for positive action. Among the overarching aims of the Gender Equality 
Act (set out in Article 1) is the establishment of equal opportunities for women and men. 
The definition of gender equality from Article 5 of the Gender Equality Act refers to equal 
opportunities: gender equality means that women and men have equal status and equal 
opportunities to realise all their rights. Although it is not explicitly prescribed, given that 
the term  ‘equal opportunities’ is predominantly used in the relevant legislation, positive 
action is also considered as a method of achieving equal opportunities. 

3.5.3  Specific difficulties  

There  is  a  rather  elaborate  legislative  framework  for  positive  measures  in  Croatian 
legislation, but many of those measures have never actually been tested in practice. The 
Gender Equality Act provides a specific legal basis for the introduction of special measures 
in  legislative,  executive  and  judicial  bodies,  as  well  as  public  services,  when  one  sex  is 
significantly  underrepresented.  Significant  underrepresentation  exists  where  the 
representation of one sex in political and public decision-making bodies is less than 40 %.82 
Measures are aimed at increasing the share of the underrepresented sex until it reaches 
the level of its share in the overall population.83 However, this is just one expression of 
the obligation to apply special measures, which falls on specific public sector bodies. There 
is no similar obligation for private sector entities. Under Article 10 of the Gender Equality 
Act, special measures may be enacted in any sphere of public life, but they are based on 
a decision adopted by public decision-making bodies (i.e. laws or other regulations). 

Given the unused potential of the legislative basis, positive action seems to be, at least to 
some  extent,  implemented  through  various  policy  measures  and  activities,  especially 
through  active  labour  market  policy  measures.  The  basic  strategic  documents  for  the 
elimination of discrimination against women and the establishment of true gender equality 
in practice are, according to the Gender Equality Act, national policies for gender equality, 
which are periodically drawn up by the Office for Gender Equality. Following the expiry of 
the National Policy for Gender Equality for the Period 2011-2015,84 the new National Plan 
for Gender Equality for the period until 2027 was adopted in March 2023.85 Generally, all 

81   Anti-Discrimination Act, Article 9(2)(2). 
82   Gender Equality Act, Article 12(3). 
83   Gender Equality Act, Article 12(1). According to the Constitutional Court, where there is a clash between 

the rule of law and gender equality, which are both equal values of the constitutional order of the Republic 
of Croatia, the rule of law takes precedence (when it comes to the gender composition of members of the 
State Judicial Council). See Constitutional Court, Decision U-III-248/2018 of 22 May 2018, para. 25. 

84   Nacionalna politika za ravnopravnost spolova, za razdoblje od 2011.-2015., NN No. 88/2011.  
85   See Nacionalni plan za ravnopravnost spolova za razdoblje do 2027. godine (National Gender Equality Plan 
for the period until 2027), with related action plan until 2024. The new national plan was adopted by the 

23 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

national policies so far have established key priority areas for action and prescribed the 
tasks  of  the  competent  institutions  and  bodies  as  well  as  time  limits  for  their 
implementation. Reporting and monitoring mechanisms are also prescribed.  Most of the 
activities  within  the  policy  relate  to  education  and  awareness-raising,  but  some  fit  the 
description  of  special  measures  from  the  Gender  Equality  Act,  although  they  are  not 
referred to as such in the policy.86  

As  there  are  no  examples  of  special  measures  in  relation  to  gender  equality  being 
contested before national courts, it is not possible to assess the specific difficulties that 
may  arise  from  the  perspective  of  a  judiciary.  So  far,  there  are  only  two  Constitutional 
Court  decisions  that  indirectly  touch  upon  the  issue  of  special  measures  in  the  field  of 
gender equality.87 Both of them seem to confirm that any special measure aimed to ensure 
the  equal  representation  of  both  sexes  can  be  weighed  against  other  equally  important 
values of the Croatian constitutional order, such as the rule of law or respect for a multi-
party  democratic  system,  and  that  those  values  can  outweigh  gender  equality  under 
certain circumstances.88 

Public administration bodies and legal persons that are majority-owned by the state are 
required to analyse the position of women and men within their  organisation and adopt 
action plans every four years to promote and establish gender equality, which may include 
positive action measures if necessary (Article 11(1) and (2) of the Gender Equality Act). 
The Office for Gender Equality has to approve the action plan before it is implemented. 
Failure  to  adopt  the  action  plan  may  lead  to  financial  sanctions  for  a  misdemeanour 
offence.  However,  these  plans,  even  when  they  exist,  may  do  little  to  improve  the 
individual situation of a job applicant from the underrepresented sex. There was an older 
case in which a male applicant for the job of kindergarten teacher complained that he was 
discriminated  against  on  the  ground  of  sex,  because  a  female  applicant  was  employed, 
even though male teachers were underrepresented at the establishment.89 The court found 
that this circumstance by itself is not sufficient to conclude that the male applicant was 
discriminated against on the ground of sex. The claimant also argued that he should have 
had  an  advantage  in  applying  for  the  job  because  the  respondent’s  establishment  had 
adopted a plan for the promotion of gender equality. However, the court concluded that 
the plan was invalid, because at the time of the application, it had not been confirmed by 
the Office for Gender Equality. 

Government, in accordance with the legislative framework for strategic documents of national significance 
(Act on Strategic Planning and Development Management System of the Republic of Croatia (Zakon o 
sustavu strateškog planiranja i upravljanja razvojem Republike Hrvatske), NN Nos. 123/2017 and 
151/2022). All previous national gender equality policies were adopted by the Parliament. 

86   E.g. under the heading ‘Strengthen women’s entrepreneurship’, one of the activities in the National Policy 

for Gender Equality for the Period 2011-2015 was to increase the funds within the appropriate programmes 
and budgets earmarked for financing women’s entrepreneurship. Similarly, under the special objective of 
increasing the employability of women, the new Action Plan until 2024 envisages favourable loans and 
other incentive measures for female entrepreneurship. For more information see Akcijski plan za 
implementaciju Nacionalnog plana za ravnopravnost spolova, za razdoblje do 2024. godine (Action Plan for 
Implementation of the National Gender Equality Plan, for the period until 2024). 

87   Constitutional Court, Decision U-III-248/2018 of 22 May 2018, para. 25 and Decision U-I-1397/2015 of 

24 September 2015, paras. 123-124. 

88   In the Decision U-III-248/2018, out of 11 members of the State Judicial Council, a body responsible for the 
appointment  of  judges,  10  were  men.  According  to  the  Constitutional  Court,  that  fact  did  not  violate  the 
principle of equality. The role of the State Judicial Council is to ensure the rule of law, and this value takes 
precedence over gender equality. Similarly, in the Decision U-I-1397/2015, the Court annulled the provision 
in the legislation on elections, which provided for automatic invalidity of gender imbalanced election lists (i.e. 
those where one sex is represented at less than 40 %). When weighing two equally important constitutional 
values, such as gender equality and a multiparty democratic system, the latter takes precedence. 

89   County Court in Bjelovar, Gž-493/07. 

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Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

3.5.4  Measures to improve the gender balance on company boards90 

Currently, there are no binding measures in Croatia aimed at improving the gender balance 
of company boards and there were no legislative proposals pending in 2023. According to 
the available information, the implementation of Directive 2022/2381 is scheduled for the 
third quarter of 2024.91  

In the last decade, the share of women on management boards of listed companies  has 
stagnated at around 16-17 %, and on supervisory boards it is around 20-25 %.92 In the 
period  from  2018  to  2022,  there  was  a  mild  increase  in  the  share  of  women  on 
management  boards  (from  13 %  to  16 %),  and  supervisory  boards  (from  21 %  to 
23 %).93 The share of women on supervisory boards actually increased from 18 % in 2010 
to 35 % in 2019, although in 2020 it dropped to 22 %.94 In 2022, 67 % of listed companies 
had no female members on their management boards and 34 % of listed companies had 
no female members on their supervisory boards. These statistics reveal that there were 
no significant improvements in gender balance on company boards for over a decade, and 
that  the  existing  soft  and  awareness-raising  measures  are  clearly  insufficient  for  this 
purpose.  

The Corporate Governance Code adopted by the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory 
Agency (HANFA) and the Zagreb Stock Exchange requires listed companies to set a five-
year target concerning the share of women on management and supervisory boards, to 
state  the  target  in  their  annual  reports  and  to  submit  progress  reports  each  year. 95 
Although  an  increasing  number  of  listed  companies  comply  with  this  obligation  (around 
80 % in 2022), a much smaller proportion of them have managed to achieve the desired 
targets concerning the share of women on management boards (35 %), and supervisory 
boards (51 %).96 These data show that progress in achieving gender-balanced company 
boards  which  is  based  on  voluntary  measures  is  slow  and  inefficient.  Nevertheless, 
research conducted in 2013 and 2015 revealed that the majority of women managers or 
members  of  company  boards  are  not  in  favour  of  binding  legal  instruments  enacting  a 
certain gender quota on company boards, even though they experienced discriminatory 
barriers in the business environment.97  

90   For more information see Senden, L. and Kruisinga S., (2018) Gender-balanced company boards in Europe. 
A comparative analysis of the regulatory, policy and enforcement approaches in the EU and EEA Member 
States, available at: https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/4537-gender-balanced-company-boards-in-
europe-pdf-1-68-mb. 

91   See the Government’s Programme for implementation of the EU acquis in 2024, Government of the 

Republic of Croatia (2024), Prijedlog Programa Vlade Republike Hrvatske za preuzimanje i provedbu pravne 
stečevine Europske unije za 2024. godinu (Proposal of the Programme for transposition and implementation 
of the EU acquis for 2024), adopted at the 277th Session on 11 January 2024. Parliamentary elections are 
due in 2024, which might affect this schedule.  

92   Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency (HANFA) (2022), Godišnji izvještaj o korporativnom 

upravljanju 2021. (Annual Corporate Governance Report for 2021), p. 25. This data concerns companies 
listed in the Zagreb Stock Exchange. 

93   Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency (HANFA) (2023), Godišnji izvještaj o korporativnom 

upravljanju 2022. (Annual Corporate Governance Report for 2022), p. 16.  

94   This is mainly due to the withdrawal of some companies from the stock market. See Croatian Financial 
Services Supervisory Agency (HANFA), available at: https://www.hanfa.hr/temeljne-funkcije/strateske-
teme/korporativno-upravljanje/.  

95   The Code is applicable from 1 January 2020 and based on the comply or explain principle. Croatian 

Financial Services Agency (HANFA) and Zagreb Stock Exchange (ZSE), Corporate Governance Code. 
96   Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency (HANFA) (2023), Godišnji izvještaj o korporativnom 

upravljanju 2022. (Annual Corporate Governance Report for 2022), p. 16.  

97   See Ombudsperson for Gender Equality, PROGRESS project ‘Removing the glass labyrinth – equal access 

opportunities to the positions of economic decision-making’, available at: http://staklenilabirint.prs.hr/. The 
results are available in the publication on the following link: http://staklenilabirint.prs.hr/wp-
content/uploads/2014/08/PRSRH_Izvjesce_muskarci-zene500_web.pdf. For a short summary of the 
research see Country report Gender equality Croatia 2022, pp. 26 – 27. 

25 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

In 2020, the European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) found that Croatia had violated 
Article 1d of the 1998 Additional Protocol of the European Social Charter on the ground 
that there had been insufficient progress in ensuring balanced representation of women in 
decision-making positions within private companies.98 The ECSR decision was practically 
unnoticed in the Croatian public sphere. 

3.5.5  Positive action measures to improve the gender balance in other areas  

Positive action measures  exist in the field  of political participation.  The  Gender Equality 
Act  prescribes  that  political  parties  and  other  candidates  in  elections  for  the  European 
Parliament, the Croatian Parliament, as well as local and regional elections must gradually 
be  obliged  to  establish  gender-balanced  election  lists  where  candidates  of  one  sex  are 
underrepresented (fewer than 40 % of candidates) (Articles 12(3), 15(1) and (2), Gender 
Equality Act) until the third set of elections after the act’s entry into force at the latest. 
This  was  interpreted  to  mean  that  an  election  at  each  level  should  be  considered 
separately, so this obligation started with the local elections in May 2017. Monetary fines 
for a misdemeanour (a minor offence) of up to EUR 6730 (Article 35, Gender Equality Act) 
apply for violations of this obligation, but sanctioning heavily relies on the readiness of the 
State Attorney’s Office to prosecute political parties.99  

The  obligation to have  gender balanced  election lists is further prescribed in the  Act  on 
Election of Members of the Croatian Parliament100 (Article 21.a (1) and (2): nominators of 
election lists shall act in conformity with the principle of gender equality and bear in mind 
the balanced representation of women and men in election lists; a balanced representation 
exists  if  the  election  list  includes  at  least  40 %  of  persons  of  each  gender);  the  Act  on 
Election of Members of European Parliament from the Republic of Croatia101 (Article 14(4), 
second  sentence:  the  nominator  of  the  election  list  shall  act  in  compliance  with  the 
principle of gender equality); and the Act on Local Elections102 (Article 9(3): the nominator 
of  the  election  list  shall  act  in  compliance  with  the  principle  of  gender  equality,  in 
accordance with a special law).  

The  legislation  on  financing  political  activities,  election  campaigns  and  referenda103 
indirectly  encourages  gender  balance  in  the  selection  of  candidates,  because  for  each 
representative  of  the  underrepresented  sex  in  the  Croatian  Parliament  or  local 
representative  assemblies,  political  parties  or  independent  candidates  are  entitled  to 
compensation (‘Compensation for underrepresented sex’) of 10 % on top of the amount 
which  is  usually  envisaged  per  representative/member  of  assembly  (Article 9,  Act  on 
Financing Political Activities, Election Campaigns and Referenda). 

Although this legislative framework has contributed to the increase in the share of women 
candidates on elections lists, so far it has had only limited effects on improving gender-
balanced representation. This is probably due to the fact that in many cases women are 
placed lower down on these lists and they do not really have any chance of getting elected, 

98   European Committee of Social Rights, Complaint No. 126/2016, University Women of Europe (UWE) v. 
Croatia, Decision on the merits adopted on 5 December 2019, published on 29 June 2020, available at: 
https://hudoc.esc.coe.int/eng#{"sort":["ESCPublicationDate%20Descending"],"ESCDcType":["DEC"],"ESCS
tateParty":["HRV"],"ESCDcIdentifier":["cc-126-2016-dmerits-en"]}. 

99   In the aftermath of the local elections in 2021, this mechanism has been applied more often, as is evident 
from case law. See, e.g. Municipal Misdemeanour Court in Split, Pp-14716/2022; Municipal Misdemeanour 
Court in Zagreb, Pp-1236/2022.  

100  Act on Election of Members of the Croatian Parliament (Zakon o izborima zastupnika u Hrvatski sabor), NN 

Nos. 116/1999, 109/2000, 53/2003, 69/2003, 167/2003, 44/2006, 19/2007, 20/2009, 145/2010, 24/2011, 
93/2011, 120/2011, 19/2015, 66/2015, 104/2015, and 98/2019.  

101  Act on Election of Members of the European Parliament from the Republic of Croatia (Zakon o izboru 
članova u Europski parlament iz Republike Hrvatske), NN Nos. 92/2010, 23/2013, and 143/2013. 
102  Act on Local Elections (Zakon o lokalnim izborima), NN Nos. 144/2012, 121/2016, 98/2019, 42/2020, 

144/2020, and 37/2021. 

103  Act on Financing Political Activities, Election Campaigns and Referenda (Zakon o financiranju političkih 

aktivnosti, izborne promidžbe i referenduma), NN Nos. 29/2019, 98/2019, and 126/2021. 

26 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

unless preferential voting pushes them to the top.  Some political parties decide to self-
regulate  this  issue,  by  expressly  mandating  the  use  of  an  alternate  ranking  model  of 
candidates  of  different  sex/gender  for  establishing  election  lists  for  parliamentary, 
European  Parliament  and  local  elections  (‘the  zipper  system’).104  The  share  of  women 
members  in  the  Croatian  Parliament  increased  by  more  than  10 %  following  the 
parliamentary elections held in July 2020.105 Nevertheless, around 20 % of electoral lists 
in  the  2020  parliamentary  elections  did  not  comply  with  the  gender  quota. 106  Women 
currently make up 34 % of the members of Parliament.107 The next parliamentary elections 
are due in 2024. 

When it comes to local and regional level, the share of women across all local and regional 
bodies remains well under 30 %.108 The Ombudsperson for Gender Equality has conducted 
an independent analysis of the local elections that took place in 2017, as well as those in 
2021.109 A comparison of the findings for both elections indicates that there has been no 
substantial improvement in gender balanced political representation at local and regional 
level. In 2017, the gender quota was not respected in 14 % of all election lists and 49 out 
of a total of 126 political parties participating at those elections had at least one election 
list that did not comply with the gender quota.110 The sanctioning mechanisms were either 
not deployed, or were inefficient.111 In 2021, the gender quota was not respected in 13 % 
of the election lists.112 A case against a political party whose election list did not respect 
the gender quota because it had too many female candidates provided an opportunity for 
interpretation of Articles 12(3), 15(1) and (2) of the Gender Equality Act on gender quotas. 
The charges were dismissed, because the court accepted that the  ratio of this provision 
lies  in  achieving  its  objective:  gender-balanced  representation  in  political  and  public 
decision-making bodies, even if the election list itself has, for example, substantially more 
women candidates than men.113 

In  2020,  the  Constitutional  Court  of  the  Republic  of  Croatia  dismissed  the  challenge  to 
constitutionality  of  Articles 12,  15  and  35  of  the  Gender  Equality  Act,  concerning  the 
gender  quotas  for  election  lists  and  measures  to  be  introduced  when  significant 
underrepresentation  of  members  of  one  sex  exists  in  legislative,  executive  and  judicial 
bodies, including public services.114 The applicant (a natural person)  claimed that these 
provisions affect the quality of election lists, because they do not take into account  ‘the 
purpose  and  logic  of  promoting  gender  equality  in  political  life  and  gender-balanced 
representation, (…) because they do not appropriately achieve the purpose of increasing 
the  participation  of  women  in  the  legislative  branch  and  at  the  local  level’.  The 
Constitutional  Court  found  no  compelling  reasons  to  initiate  a  review  of  the 
constitutionality of the mentioned provisions, because it held that the legislator is entitled, 

104  See, e.g. Article 21(2) of the Statute of Socijaldemokratska partija Hrvatske (SDP), available at 

http://www.sdp.hr/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Statut-SDP-2018.pdf.  

105  The share of women in the previous composition of the Parliament varied from 13 % to 19 % during its 
four-year mandate, depending on whether individual members put their mandate on hold, during which 
time an alternative member was nominated. 

106  Women were the underrepresented sex in all but two of the 20 % of lists that were gender non-compliant. 

See Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2020), Rodna analiza parlamentarnih izbora 2020 (Gender analysis 
of 2020 Parliamentary elections). 

107  Data from 17 January 2024, available at: https://www.sabor.hr/hr/zastupnici/statisticki-pokazatelji. 
108  The biggest increase concerns the share of women elected as county prefects (heads of regional units of 

self-government): whereas in 2017 there were no women elected, in 2021 the share of women was 9.5 %. 
See Office for Gender Equality (2021) Rodno razlučeni pokazatelji lokalnih izbora 2021 (Gender segregated 
indicators of local elections 2021). 

109  Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2022), Annual Report for 2021, p. 155.  
110  Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2019), Annual Report for 2018, pp. 285-289.  
111  For more information see Country report Gender equality Croatia 2022, pp. 27-29. 
112  Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2022), Annual Report for 2021, p. 155. See also Žene i mediji, 10 May 
2021, available at: https://www.zeneimediji.hr/lokalni-izbori-2021-kvote-o-zastupljenosti-spolova-korist-ili-
problem/. See also Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2021) Rodna analiza lokalnih izbora 2021 (Gender 
analysis of local elections 2021).  

113  For more information see Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2023), Annual Report for 2022, p. 150.  
114  Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, Case No. U-I-5339/2012 and U-I-3938/2015, Decision of 

7 July 2020. 

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Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

in accordance with Article 2(4) of the Constitution and the rule of law requirements under 
Articles 3 and 5 of the Constitution, to regulate economic, legal and political relations in 
the  Republic  of  Croatia,  and  to  adopt  rules  with  the  purpose  of  promoting  equal 
opportunities  between  men  and  women,  which  is  the  highest  value  of  the  Croatian 
constitutional  order.  In  order  to  achieve  that  purpose,  it  is  necessary  to  ensure  equal 
participation of women and men in the process of political and public decision-making.115 

  Harassment and sexual harassment 

3.6.1  Definition and explicit prohibition of harassment 

The  Gender  Equality  Act  provides  that  harassment  and  sexual  harassment  will  be 
considered as discrimination within the meaning of the act (Article 8(1), Gender Equality 
Act). Harassment is any unwanted conduct related to the sex of a person that occurs with 
the purpose or effect of violating the dignity of a person and which creates an unpleasant, 
hostile, degrading or offensive environment (Article 8(2), Gender Equality Act). 

The  Anti-Discrimination  Act  defines  harassment  as  any  unwanted  conduct  caused116  by 
any of the discriminatory grounds within the scope of that act with the purpose or effect 
of violating the dignity of a person and of creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading or 
offensive environment (Article 3(1), Anti-Discrimination Act). Both definitions comply with 
Directive 2006/54, but there is a slight grammatical and linguistic discrepancy. Whereas 
the Gender Equality Act refers to  an ‘unpleasant environment’, the wording of the Anti-
Discrimination Act (following Directive 2006/54) mentions an ‘intimidating environment’. 
This implies that the definition in the Gender Equality Act could be interpreted even more 
extensively. 

3.6.2  Scope of the prohibition of harassment 

The  Gender  Equality  Act,  as  well  as  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act,  apply  in  practically  all 
spheres  of  public  life  (the  media,  employment,  political  participation,  education,  and 
access to goods and services) and the definition of harassment therefore covers a broader 
scope than employment. 

3.6.3  Definition and explicit prohibition of sexual harassment 

The  Gender  Equality  Act  provides  that  harassment  and  sexual  harassment  will  be 
considered as discrimination within the meaning of that act (Article 8(1), Gender Equality 
Act). Sexual harassment is any form of unwanted verbal, non-verbal or physical conduct 
of a sexual nature that occurs with the purpose or effect of violating the dignity of a person, 
in  particular  when  creating  an  unpleasant,  hostile,  degrading  or  offensive  environment 
(Article 8(3), Gender Equality Act). 

The Anti-Discrimination Act contains practically the same definition of sexual harassment 
(Article 3(2), Anti-Discrimination Act), with the difference that it refers to an ‘intimidating’ 
rather than an ‘unpleasant’ environment (see the explanation in Section 3.6.1 above). 

Both definitions comply with Directive 2006/54, but the definition in the Gender Equality 
Act may be interpreted even more extensively. 

115  For a decision of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia from 2015 concerning automatic 
invalidity of electoral lists which do not comply with the gender quota, and the weighing of equally 
important constitutional values (multi-party democratic system and gender equality) see Constitutional 
Court of the Republic of Croatia, Case No. U-I-1397/2015, Decision of 24 September 2015. 

116  The definition of harassment from the Anti-Discrimination Act specifically uses the term ‘caused’, rather 

than ‘related to’, which is used in Directive 2006/54 or Directive 2004/113. 

28 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

3.6.4  Scope of the prohibition of sexual harassment 

The  Gender  Equality  Act,  as  well  as  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act,  apply  in  practically  all 
spheres  of  public  life  (the  media,  employment,  political  participation,  education,  and 
access to goods and services) and the definition of sexual harassment therefore covers a 
broader scope than employment. 

3.6.5  Understanding of (sexual) harassment as discrimination 

Harassment  and  sexual  harassment  are  explicitly  considered  as  discrimination 
(Article 8(1), Gender Equality Act). There is no mention in the Gender Equality Act of ‘any 
other  less  favourable  treatment  based  on  a  person’s  rejection  of  or  submission  to  such 
conduct’,  but  the  act  contains  a  non-regression  clause  in  Article 4,  guaranteeing  that 
provisions of the act ‘shall not be interpreted or implemented so as to restrict or diminish 
the  content  of  warranties  on  gender  equality  enshrined  in  the  universal  rules  of 
international law [and] the acquis communautaire of the European Community…’. Pursuant 
to  the  case  law  of  the  Constitutional  Court,  domestic  rules  should  be  interpreted  in 
accordance with interpretations  of the  relevant terms arising  out of the case law of the 
CJEU.117 The Labour Act contains a specific provision which guarantees that the worker’s 
rejection  of  harassment  or  sexual  harassment  does  not  represent  a  violation  of  the 
employment  relationship  and  that  it  shall  not  represent  a  reason  for  discrimination 
(Article 134(12) of the Labour Act). 

3.6.6  Specific difficulties  

The  protection  against  sexual  harassment  is  fragmented  and  regulated  in  various 
legislative  instruments,  and  it  can  be  subject  to  several  types  of  proceedings: 
misdemeanour proceedings,118 criminal proceedings, discrimination proceedings or labour 
dispute proceedings for the protection of a worker’s dignity119 or subject to an out-of-court 
complaint mechanism before the Ombudsperson for Gender Equality. This fragmentation 
does not contribute to the efficiency of the protection mechanisms, not least because there 
is no standing case law and sanctions are often too light to have a deterring effect. The 
majority  of  complaints  to  the  Ombudsperson  for  Gender  Equality  concerning  sexual 
harassment are submitted by women.120 The number of sexual harassment complaints in 
public services is increasing,121 and there is also an observed trend of anonymous sexual 
harassment  complaints.122  Public  and  social  media  initiatives  focussing  on  sexual 
harassment cases and revealing the inability of the system to protect the victims spread 
throughout  2020  and  2021.123  This  ultimately  led  to  changes  in  the  Criminal  Code, 

117  See, e.g., Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, U-III-6791/2014, para. 5. 
118  Harassment and sexual harassment are punishable as misdemeanours by monetary fines under the Gender 

Equality Act (Articles 31 and 32) and the Anti-Discrimination Act (Articles 25 and 26). 

119  In accordance with Article 134 of the Labour Act, which does not define harassment and sexual 

harassment, but refers to procedures and measures regulated in special legislation, collective agreements, 
agreements between the works council and employer, or working regulations. 

120  In the period between 2014 and 2019, all sexual harassment claims were filed by women. See 

Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2020), Annual Report for 2019, p. 74. Majority of those cases concern 
the field of employment and work. 

121  A study conducted in 2021 has revealed that around one third of respondents in armed forces have 

experienced some form of discrimination, including sexual harassment or harassment. The majority among 
them were women (61.3 %), but only 11 % have actually reported discrimination. See Analiza položaja 
žena u oružanim snagama i mirovinim misijama Republike Hrvatske (Analysis of the position of women in 
the armed forces and peace keeping missions of the Republic of Croatia), pp. 10 – 11, available at: 
https://mup.gov.hr/UserDocsImages/2021/10/Projekt%20Osnaživanje%20žena-
%202510.2021/BrosuraFinal.pdf. 

122  See Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2020), Annual Report for 2019, p. 74; Ombudsperson for Gender 

Equality (2024), Annual Report for 2023, p. 66. 

123  In January 2021, a regional #metoo type movement (under hashtag #nisamtražila (roughly translated ‘I 
did not ask for it’) started on social networks in neighbouring countries (Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 
Slovenia) and spread to Croatia as well, exposing multiple cases of sexual harassment at some universities 
in Zagreb (Academy of Dramatic Arts, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary 
Medicine). See Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb, Dean’s letter available at: 

29 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

concerning the statute of limitation for ex officio prosecution.124 Another probable effect 
of increased awareness and empowerment through social media activity  was a dramatic 
100 % increase in sexual harassment complaints to the Ombudsperson for Gender Equality 
in the field of employment in 2021.125 The number of complaints decreased and stabilised 
in  2022.126  However,  this  increase  is  not  reflected  in  a  rise  in  court  cases.  The  most 
alarming element of sexual harassment cases is that in many cases the victim suffers even 
more  if  they  decide  to  start  a  formal  procedure.  Most  court  cases  involving  sex 
discrimination  in  employment  relations  involve  sexual  harassment  or  harassment  at 
work.127  In  cases  of  sexual  harassment  at  work,  it  is  the  victim  who  is  often  moved  to 
another work location, if possible, and not the perpetrator.128 Recent case law reveals that 
the protection of victims is improving, and dismissal of perpetrators of sexual harassment 
is often found to be justified.129  

There are occasional problems in recognising harassment at work as discrimination and in 
applying  the  concept  of  substantive  equality.  In  one  case,  the  appellate  (county)  court 
reversed  the  first-instance  court  decision  and  ruled  that  there  was  no  discriminatory 
behaviour on the part of an employer who sent a female worker to work and live in an all-
male environment (in an isolated area with shared bedrooms and toilets), where she was 
the only female employee because, according to the court, ‘conditions were equal for every 
worker’.130  After  a  long  legal  battle,  primarily  over  procedural  issues  and  involving 
procedures before the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court,131 the Supreme Court 
finally dismissed the revision and confirmed the appellate court’s finding that there was 
‘no discrimination, harassment or violation of dignity’, and that the employer has taken 
‘preventive measures against harassment’.132 

Sexual  harassment  as  a  misdemeanour  offence  under  the  Gender  Equality  Act  includes 
the  violation  of  dignity  within  its  description,  which  is  a  factual  question  and  has  to  be 
proved before the court.133 Sexual harassment is also a misdemeanour offence under the 
Anti-Discrimination Act, with an identical description and sanctions.134 There is no guidance 
on whether sexual harassment in a particular case will be prosecuted based on one or the 
other provision, but in recent years the number of sexual harassment cases sanctioned as 
misdemeanour offences is rising.135  

https://www.adu.unizg.hr/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Inicijativa-Nisam-tražila.pdf; Jutarnji list, 
25 January 2021, available at: https://www.jutarnji.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/profesora-s-veterine-prijavile-smo-
jos-2018-ponizavao-je-i-dodirivao-studentice-svasta-govorio-15045505. Whereas some complaints could 
lead to legal sanctions for the perpetrators in the field of labour law, the criminal prosecution in many cases 
was limited by the fact that some complaints were made anonymously, while in others prosecution was 
precluded by the statute of limitation applicable at the time the offence was committed. 

124  See detailed explanations further in this section. 
125  Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2022), Annual Report for 2021, pp. 54-56. 
126  For more information see Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2023), Annual Report for 2022, p. 50. 
127  See e.g. Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, Revr-384/2017; County Court in Osijek, Gž R-
191/2018; County Court in Osijek, Gž R-699/2016; County Court in Bjelovar, Gž-2000/2012. 

128  Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2019), 2018 Annual Report, p. 52, available at: 

https://www.prs.hr/application/uploads/IZVJEŠĆA/Izvješće_o_radu_Pravobraniteljice%20za%202018%20g
odinu.pdf.  

129  See e.g. County Court in Zagreb, Gž R-2239/2022. 
130  The court took this view, completely disregarding the strong factual indications that the transfer could have 
been a retaliatory measure by the employer due to past disputes with the same female employee. See 
County Court in Zagreb, Gž R-1289/13. 

131  See Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, Revr-658/16; Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, 
U-III-2639/2017, Decision of 4 February 2020 (concerning admissibility of revision proceedings in anti-
discrimination cases due to legislative amendments and the right of access to courts).  

132  Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, Rev-370/2020. 
133  Sexual harassment as a misdemeanour offence under Article 32 of the Gender Equality Act is defined as 

conduct of a sexual nature aiming to cause fear or to create a hostile, degrading or offensive environment 
and thus causing a violation of the dignity of another person. See High Misdemeanour Court, Jž-1597/2020. 

134  Article 32(1) of the Gender Equality Act. 
135  See, e.g. Municipal Court in Crikvenica, Permanent Attendance in Krk, Misdemeanour department, Pp-

1615/2022; Municipal Misdemeanour Court in Zagreb, Pp-18282/2022. However, imposed sanctions are in 
almost all cases at the minimum level prescribed by law (i.e. around EUR 660). 

30 

 
 
 
 
Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

Sexual harassment is also a criminal offence136 if the perpetrator is the victim’s superior, 
or if the victim is dependent on the perpetrator, or especially vulnerable due to age, illness, 
disability, addiction, pregnancy or severe mental or physical incapacity.137 It is punishable 
by imprisonment of up to two years.138 However, until recently, the victim had to submit 
a proposal to the state attorney to initiate a criminal procedure. The only case in which 
the offence is prosecuted ex officio is if it is committed against a person who is especially 
vulnerable due to age.  

An important consequence of this legislative solution was that prosecution was time-barred 
and  contingent  upon  the  victim’s  request:  if  the  request  for  prosecution  was  not  made 
within three months from the day when the victim found out about the offence and the 
identity  of  the  perpetrator  (Article 47(1)  of  the  Criminal  Procedure  Act),  a  criminal 
procedure could not be initiated.139  

Normally,  the  statute  of  limitation  for  initiating  criminal  prosecution  under  the  Criminal 
Code is determined in relation to the duration of punishment. For this offence, the statute 
of limitation is 10 years from the date the offence was committed (Article 81(1) Criminal 
Code).  However,  where  the  initiation  of  prosecution  is  contingent  upon  the  victim’s 
request, the three-month limitation period for the complaint/request has to be respected, 
which  effectively  shortens  the  statute  of  limitation.  This  short  time  limit  and  the 
appropriateness  of  a  solution  in  which  a  criminal  procedure  can  only  be  initiated  at  the 
victim’s request came under fire in 2020 and especially at the beginning of 2021, leading 
to legislative amendments in 2021.140 The Criminal Code was amended, by deleting the 
requirement of a victim’s request for prosecution (within the prescribed time limit).141 By 
removing the obstacle for ex officio prosecution of this offence, the criminal protection of 
the victims will be strengthened in the future. The amendment acknowledges the fact that 
all  victims  of  sexual  harassment  are  vulnerable  and  that  the  preclusive  term  of  three 
months is not sufficient time to gather the strength and courage to bring charges against 
the perpetrator.  

Another problem is that it seems that this provision is interpreted by some courts to require 
that  the  action  that  constitutes  this  offence  has  to  be  repeated  more  than  once,  in  a 
different setting. There is nothing in this provision to suggest that, and even one act of 
sexual harassment should suffice to establish the existence of the offence.142  

136  Since 1 January 2013 when the new Criminal Code entered into force (Article 156). Criminal Code (Kazneni 
zakon), NN Nos. 125/2011, 144/2012, 56/2015, 101/2017, 118/2018, 126/2019, 84/2021 and 114/2022. 
137  Sexual harassment as a criminal offence is defined as any unwanted verbal, non-verbal or physical conduct 
of a sexual nature with the aim or effect of a violation of dignity and which causes fear or creates a hostile, 
degrading or offensive environment. See Article 156(2) of the Criminal Code. If the perpetrator’s conduct 
cannot be described as conduct of sexual nature, there is no criminal offence. See County Court in Zagreb, 
Kžzd-15/2022. 

138  The punishment was increased from one to two years’ imprisonment with the amendment which entered 

into force on 1 January 2020 (Act on Amendments to the Criminal Code, NN 126/19). 

139  Criminal Procedure Act (Zakon o kaznenom postupku), NN Nos. 152/2008, 76/2009, 80/2011, 91/2012, 

143/2012, 56/2013, 145/2013, 152/2014, 70/2017, 126/2019 and 80/2022. 

140  Act on Amendments to the Criminal Code (Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama Kaznenog zakona), 

NN No. 84/2021. For a detailed account of a case illustrating the absurdity of this legislative solution see 
Country report Gender equality Croatia 2022, p. 32. 

141  Act on Amendments to the Criminal Code (Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama Kaznenog zakona), 

NN No. 84/2021. The amendment concerns deletion of a provision in paragraph 3 of Article 156 which 
stated that this criminal offence is prosecuted based on a request from the victim, unless the victim is 
especially vulnerable due to age. The amendment entered into force on 31 July 2021 and cannot apply 
retroactively. 

142  A high-profile case of sexual harassment in the police force was reported in the media at the beginning of 
January 2020 (the offence was committed in 2016), where one first-instance court acquitted a superior 
police officer who sexually harassed his junior female colleague during an entire night shift. The court took 
the view that the action took place only once and that it was not intense enough to be treated as a criminal 
offence. See: https://www.jutarnji.hr/vijesti/crna-kronika/svi-detalji-mucnog-slucaja-sef-mlade-policajke-
nije-osuden-za-seksualno-uznemiravanje-jer-se-dogodilo-samo-jednomona-mora-platiti-i-800-
kuna/9835984/. After the media coverage, the President of the Supreme Court publicly apologised to the 
victim for this decision and explicitly admitted that such an approach is wrong, even though the case was 
still pending on appeal at that time. See: https://www.jutarnji.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/predsjednik-vrhovnog-

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Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

Another trend is that most sexual harassment cases before the Ombudsperson relate to 
sexual harassment in educational facilities, the police, local and regional self-government 
and public entities in general. It shows that there is no coherent action in public bodies to 
stop  and  prevent  such  cases  from  occurring.  However,  the  lower  level  of  sexual 
harassment  reported  in  private  employers  or  companies  does  not  mean  that  they  are 
better at preventing such cases. Quite the contrary, it could be that there are even more 
such cases in private employment, but the victims feel more reluctant to report them, out 
of fear that they will be stigmatised and lose their jobs. Public sector employment offers a 
bit more security in that regard. 

In  the  field  of  labour  relations,  the  employer  is  obliged  to  ensure  the  protection  of  the 
worker’s  dignity  (Article 134  of  the  Labour  Act).  This  procedure  relies  on  concepts  of 
harassment  and  sexual  harassment  that  are  not  defined  in  the  Labour  Act  itself,  but  in 
special legislation, collective agreements and agreements between the employer and the 
works council or in the working regulations (Article 134(1) of the Labour Act). The Labour 
Act prescribes the necessary steps in the complaint procedure or, ultimately, the initiation 
of court proceedings against the employer. This also includes the right of the worker to 
stop  working  while  the  court  proceedings  are  pending,  under  certain  conditions,  while 
continuing to receive remuneration.  

Three issues should be mentioned here, which might impede the effective application of 
this provision in practice. First, if the worker loses the court case,  they will have to pay 
back  the  employer  the  remuneration  received  during  the  time  they  stopped  working 
(Article 134(9)  of  the  Labour  Act).  Since  court  proceedings  take  a  long  time  until  the 
judgment  becomes  final  and  binding,  this  could  entail  a  heavy  financial  burden  for  the 
worker (in addition to that, they have to bear the entire cost of the court proceedings).143  

Secondly,  in  court  proceedings  for  the  protection  of  the  worker’s  dignity,  the  worker  is 
entitled  to  seek  compensation  of  damages  for  violation  of  personality  rights  (including 
honour, reputation and dignity) in accordance with Article 1 100 of the Act on Obligations. 
This is called ‘just pecuniary compensation’ and is awarded if the severity of violation and 
the  circumstances  of  the  case  so  justify  (Article 1 100(1)  of  the  Act  on  Obligations).  In 
some  cases,  the  courts  do  not  award  any  damages  to  the  worker,  even  where  it  is 
established that the worker was harassed, because the courts find that the circumstances 
do not justify an award of damages.144 This may deprive the worker of just and effective 
compensation  under  Directive 2006/54.  The  Supreme  Court  has  found  that  in  anti-
discrimination  claims  where  discrimination  was  established,  the  claimant  is  entitled  to 
compensation of damages without having to prove, in addition to discrimination, that there 
was also a violation of the right to honour, reputation and dignity.145  

Thirdly, the definition of harassment under the Anti-Discrimination Act is most commonly 
applied in the case law concerning the protection of a worker’s dignity. Some courts insist 
that  the  unwanted  conduct  has  to  be  caused  by  one  of  the  discriminatory  grounds 
prohibited  under  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act  (this  includes  gender,  even  though  the 
Gender  Equality  Act  contains  a  separate  definition  of  harassment  which  defines  it  as 
unwanted conduct related to sex). In practice, harassment at work is often not caused by 
discrimination,  and  it  is  not  even  related  to  any  discriminatory  ground.  The  courts 

suda-se-pred-tv-kamerama-javno-ispricao-mladoj-policajki-zrtvi-seksualnog-uznemiravanja-odluka-suda-
bila-je-pogresna/9876499/. 

143  See e.g. County Court in Rijeka, Gž R-596/2019; Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, Revr-

135/2009. 

144  See County Court in Zagreb, Gž R-931/2018; County Court in Zagreb, Gžr-1558/2010. See also case law 

mentioned in Vasiljević, S., Vinković, M. (2019) Temeljna prava i zabrana diskriminacije u praksi europskih 
i nacionalnih sudova (Fundamental rights and the prohibition of discrimination in the case law of European 
and national courts), Narodne novine, pp. 65-68. Even in cases where damages are awarded, the amount is 
much lower than in comparable cases of, e.g., compensation for emotional pain or reduction in working 
capacity arising from a car accident injury. 

145  Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, Rev-145/2021. 

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Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

therefore conclude that there is no violation of dignity, since the conduct is not  covered 
by the definition of harassment.146 In relation to this, the Constitutional Court has ruled 
that the concept of harassment should be interpreted broadly, with a view to protecting 
the  worker’s  dignity  in  the  widest  possible  sense.147  It  remains  to  be  seen  how  this 
guidance will be followed in the case law of the ordinary courts. 

  Instruction to discriminate 

3.7.1  Explicit prohibition 

An instruction to discriminate is regulated in Article 6(5) of the Gender Equality Act as a 
broader incitement (poticanje) of another person or other persons to discriminate and is 
considered  as  discrimination  if  this  is  done  with  intent.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Anti-
Discrimination Act also prohibits incitement to discriminate, but does not include intent as 
a constituent part of the definition (Article 4(1), Anti-Discrimination Act). 

3.7.2  Specific difficulties 

Given  the  conceptual  differences  between  the  terms  ‘incitement’  and  ‘instruction’,  this 
provision is likely to lead to diverging interpretations by the courts. Coupled with the fact 
that the scope and meaning of an instruction to discriminate are still unclear in the CJEU’s 
case law, the different treatment of an incitement to discriminate in various Croatian laws 
could become an issue. It is interesting to note that the provision of  Article 4(1) of the 
Anti-Discrimination  Act  originally  contained  intent  as  a  constitutive  element  of  an 
incitement to discriminate, but this was erased by amendments to the act in 2012, with 
the  explanation  that  the  amendment  was  necessary  to  align  the  legislation  with 
Directives 2000/78 and 2000/43. In one case on incitement to discriminate under the Anti-
Discrimination  Act,  the  court  established  the  simultaneous  existence  of  direct 
discrimination, harassment and incitement to discriminate based on sexual orientation in 
a  statement  that  was  posted  online  on  the  defendant’s  website.148  The  appellate  court 
confirmed that incitement to discriminate represents discrimination which, if shown to be 
probable by the claimant, shifts the burden of proof to the defendant.149  

  Other forms of discrimination 

Article 1(2)  of  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act  prohibits  discrimination  by  association:  the 
placing of any person, or a person related to that person by kinship or other relationship, 
in a less favourable position on discriminatory grounds within the meaning of the act. 

Article 1(3) of the Anti-Discrimination Act prohibits assumed discrimination: the placing of 
a  person  in  a  less  favourable  position  based  on  a  misconception  of  the  existence  of 
discriminatory grounds within the meaning of the act. 

Article 5(1) of the Anti-Discrimination Act prohibits segregation, as a forced and systematic 
separation of persons, on any of the discriminatory grounds listed in that act. 

146  See, e.g. County Court in Split, Gžrs-9/2014, reversing the lower court’s finding that harassment exists, 

even though there is no specific discriminatory ground. 

147  Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, U-III-6791/2014; U-III-3519/2018. 
148  County Court in Zagreb, P-10/2020. 
149  Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, Gž-10/2021. Other case law where an incitement to discriminate 

was asserted within the framework of the Anti-Discrimination Act relates to the period prior to the 
amendments, where intent was necessary (see the decisions of the Supreme Court of the Republic of 
Croatia in cases Gž-38/11 and Gž-12/11, where intent was found to exist because the defendant was aware 
or should have been aware that their actions were prohibited). 

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Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

Although  discrimination  by  association  and  discrimination  by  assumption  are  known, 
defined  and  prohibited  under  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act,  they  are  rarely  tested  in 
courts.150 These concepts might become increasingly relevant in the context of algorithmic 
discrimination. However, it is hard to evaluate whether they would be fit for purpose in 
that  novel  context,  because  there  is  still  no  firm  guidance  from  case  law  in  the  field  of 
gender equality as to how they apply in the offline environment. 

Article 6(1)  of  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act  covers  severe  forms  of  discrimination.  Apart 
from  multiple  discrimination,  severe  forms  of  discrimination  also  include  repeated 
discrimination (discrimination committed on several occasions), continued discrimination 
(discrimination lasting for a longer period of time) or discrimination whose consequences 
are particularly harmful for the victim. 

Repeated and prolonged discrimination was found to exist where the defendant failed to 
make reasonable accommodation to assure access to a public building (a court house) for 
persons with disabilities, despite an already existing judgment to that effect concerning 
the previous location of the same court.151 

  Evaluation of implementation 

It can be observed that the Anti-Discrimination Act predominates in case law, even where 
gender  equality  is  clearly  at  stake  and  where  a  more  specific  provision  of  the  Gender 
Equality  Act  can  be  applied.  The  Croatian  gender  equality  and  anti-discrimination 
legislation has been moulded in accordance with EU law right from the start, because it 
was previously non-existent. However, it is also affected by the tendency of the Croatian 
legislature  to  regulate  certain  issues  in  an  incomplete  and  fragmentary  manner,  or  to 
multiply  certain  definitions  in  various  legislative  instruments,  but  without  an  overall 
strategy and without trying to predict in advance the possible consequences of such an 
approach. The Gender Equality Act does not explicitly refer to the Anti-Discrimination Act, 
or vice-versa. It should also be pointed out that the continuous education of the judiciary 
in the field of gender equality and non-discrimination has yielded many positive effects in 
case law. However, as can be seen in the annual reports of the Ombudsperson for Gender 
Equality, there is a long road ahead of the state and public bodies (e.g. centres for social 
welfare,  various  ministries,  etc.)  in  accepting  and  fully  comprehending  the  basic  legal 
concepts in the field of gender equality. 

 Remaining issues 

Nothing further to report. 

150  There is no case law on assumed discrimination, whereas discrimination by association is rarely recognised 
in practice as such, at least until the claim reaches the European Court of Human Rights. See European 
Court of Human Rights, Škorjanec v. Croatia, No. 25536, 28 March 2017, concerning failure of state 
authorities to provide sufficient protection for an individual victim of discriminatory violence by association 
with another person of Roma origin. 
151  County Court in Zagreb, Gž-1322/2021. 

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Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

4 

Equal  pay  and  equal  treatment  at  work  (Article 157  of  the  Treaty  on  the 
Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and Recast Directive 2006/54)152 

  General (legal) context 

The gender pay gap in Croatia is slightly lower than the EU average (11.1 % in 2021),153 
with a higher pay gap in the private (13.9 %) than in the public sector (10.7 %).154 The 
gender pay gap results from the strong horizontal and vertical segregation of the Croatian 
labour market, with economic sectors that are predominantly female (such as health and 
social  work,  education,  and  financial  and  insurance  activities)  or  male  (such  as 
construction and transportation). Women usually form the majority in those sectors with 
overall lower earnings. There are only two (out of 20) sectors in which women earn more 
than men on average and those are the sectors of mining and quarrying, and construction. 
The  reason  for  this  probably  lies  in  the  gender  stereotypes  associated  with  lower  paid 
physical work, which in those sectors is performed almost entirely by men, and better paid 
administrative  work,  which  is  where  women  are  predominantly  employed  in  those 
sectors.155  Despite  continuous  efforts  to  raise  public  awareness  about  gender  pay  and 
pension gap issues by the Ombudsperson for gender equality and various stakeholders, 
such  as  trade  unions  and  pensioners’  associations,  there  is  a  persistent  general  lack  of 
public perception of their importance.156 One survey conducted in 2020 revealed that the 
majority of students in vocational high schools, as well as managers in public and private 
companies/institutions are either unaware of the existence of the gender pay gap or are 
even convinced that it does not exist.157 This perception is partly due to the (lack of) pay 
transparency measures and enforcement mechanisms. However, comparative research on 
the gender pay gap in the Western Balkans has revealed that the gender pay gap in Croatia 
has  been  shrinking  since  the  pandemic,  probably  largely  due  to  a  more  substantial 
decrease  in  salaries  of  men  and  changes  in  gender  employment  structures,  notably 
concerning  lower-paid  jobs.158  There  are  no  other  specific  difficulties  relating  to  the 
application of the equal pay principle in practice. 

4.1.1  Political and societal debate and pending legislative proposals 

A general definition of  pay was inserted into the Labour Act in 2022,159 with the aim of 
clarifying the notion of pay and its constituent elements in connection with the minimum 
statutory wage, income taxation and measures aimed at reducing the gender pay gap and 

152  On equal pay see Burri, S. (2019), National cases and good practices on equal pay, European network of 

legal experts in gender equality and non-discrimination, available at: 
https://www.equalitylaw.eu/publications/thematic-reports. See also Foubert, P. (2017), The enforcement of 
the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value: A legal analysis of the situation in the EU 
Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, European network of legal experts in gender equality 
and non-discrimination, available at https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/4466-the-enforcement-of-the-
principle-of-equal-pay-for-equal-work-or-work-of-equal-value-pdf-840-kb. On the issue of pay 
transparency see Veldman, A. (2017), Pay transparency in the EU, A legal analysis of the situation in the 
EU Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, European network of legal experts in gender 
equality and non-discrimination, available at https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/4073-pay-
transparency-in-the-eu-pdf-693-kb. 

153  Eurostat (2021), The unadjusted gender pay gap, 2021, available at: 

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Gender_pay_gap_statistics. 

154  The gender pay gap is much lower when only the salary of employees in legal entities is taken into account, 
and amounted to 6.8 % in 2023. See Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2024), Annual Report for 2023, 
p. 42.  

155  Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2019), Annual Report for 2018, pp. 28-29. 
156  See Ombudsperson for Gender Equality, ‘“Equal rights – equal pay – equal pensions” – Expanding the scope 
of implementation of gender equality actions and legal standards towards achieving equality and combating 
poverty in Croatia’, REC-RGEN_PENS-AG-2017-820696-GPPG. More information available at: 
https://gppg.prs.hr/?page_id=1733&lang=en. 

157  For a summary of the main results see Country report Gender equality Croatia 2022, p. 36 and 37, and 

Adamović, M., Grubišić Čabo, M., Maskalan, A., Potočnik, D., Šipić, J. (2020), Summarised results of gender 
pay and pension gap surveys, Zagreb, Institute for Social Research. 

158  See Kraljević, R. et al. (2024), Bridging the gender pay gap in the Western Balkans? A country case study 

of Croatia, North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia, FEPS. 

159  Article 34, Act on Amendments to the Labour Act, NN No. 151/2022, amending Article 90 of the Labour Act. 

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Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

promoting employment and wage growth. The intention is to increase transparency and 
predictability in pay determination in compliance with the European Pillar of Social Rights 
and respecting the autonomy of social partners, by making a clearer distinction between 
pay  and  its  constituent  elements  (pay  bonus  and  other  remuneration;  Article 90(3), 
Labour Act) and income based on the employment relationship which is not considered as 
pay  (e.g.  length-of-service  award,  Christmas  bonus,  etc.  or  compensation  of  worker’s 
expenses;  Article 90.a,  Labour  Act).  Previously,  the  notion  of  pay  in  Croatian  labour 
legislation was defined in the context and for the purposes of the implementation of the 
equal pay principle to include the basic or minimum wage and any other consideration in 
cash or kind, which the worker receives directly or indirectly in respect of their employment 
from  the  employer,  based  on  the  employment  contract,  a  collective  agreement, 
employment rules or other regulations.160 The new, general definition of pay is clearer and 
applicable in all employment-related contexts. In line with the new, general definition of 
pay, the provision on equal pay for equal work and work of equal value was also amended 
to clearly impose the obligation to apply the equal pay principle in relation to pay (and all 
its  constituent  elements),  as  well  as  all  other  income  based  on  the  employment 
relationship (which is not considered pay within the meaning of new definition). 

Croatia  will  have  to  take  additional  steps  to  comply  with  the  obligations  arising  from 
Directive (EU) 2022/2041  on  adequate  minimum  wages  in  the  upcoming  period, 
particularly concerning the purchasing power of statutory minimum wages and its relation 
to the cost of living, as well as in relation to the collective agreement coverage. There are 
still  no  concrete  proposals  for  amendments  to  the  Act  on  Minimum  Wage.161  The 
implementation of Directive 2022/2041 is scheduled for June 2024, but this will depend 
on the timing of the parliamentary elections, which are due in 2024.162 

  Equal pay 

4.2.1  Implementation in national law 

The  principle  of  equal  pay  for  equal  work  or  work  of  equal  value  is  implemented  in 
Article 91  of  the  Labour  Act,  as  amended  in  2022.163  An  employer  must  pay  equal 
remuneration  to  women  and  men  for  equal  work  and  work  of  equal  value.  The  same 
provision provides parameters for establishing equal work (Article 91(2), Labour Act) and 
equal value of work (Article 91(3), Labour Act) performed by persons of different sexes. 
The equal pay principle includes pay (within the meaning of Article 90 of the Labour Act) 
and other income based on the employment relationship (Article 91(4), Labour Act). Any 
provision  in  the  employment  contract,  collective  agreement,  employment  rules  or  any 
other legal act contrary to the equal pay principle is invalid. To ensure enforcement, the 
employer is obliged to provide information about the criteria for  determining the pay of 
the worker performing equal work or work of equal value (if such a worker exists) at the 
worker’s request and the same can be ordered by the Labour inspector.164 

In  the  public  sector,  the  new  Act  on  Salaries  in  Civil  Service  and  Public  Services165 
expressly  refers  to  the  equal  pay  principle,  the  principle  of  pay  transparency  and  the 
principle  of  non-discrimination  as  the  basic  principles  of  the  pay  system  in  the  public 

160  Former Article 91(3), Labour Act (before 2022 Amendments) was often invoked in pay claims unrelated to 
gender pay equality. See e.g. County Court in Rijeka, Gž R-592/2019; County Court in Split, Gž R-65/2020. 

161  Act on Minimum Wage (Zakon o minimalnoj plaći), NN Nos. 118/2018 and 120/2021. 
162  See the Government’s Programme for implementation of the EU acquis in 2024, Government of the 

Republic of Croatia (2024), Prijedlog Programa Vlade Republike Hrvatske za preuzimanje i provedbu pravne 
stečevine Europske unije za 2024. godinu (Proposal of the Programme for transposition and implementation 
of the EU acquis for 2024), adopted at the 277th Session on 11 January 2024.  
163  Labour Act (Zakon o radu), NN Nos. 93/2014, 127/2017, 98/2019 and 151/2022. 
164  Article 96(6) and Article 226(1)(27) of the Labour Act, as amended in 2022. Labour Act (Zakon o radu), NN 

Nos. 93/2014, 127/2017, 98/2019 and 151/2022. 

165  Articles 6, 7, and 8, Act on Salaries in the Civil Service and Public Services (Zakon o plaćama u državnoj 
službi i javnim službama), NN No. 155/2023; adopted on 22 December 2023, entered into force on 1 
January 2024. 

36 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

sector. Women and men who perform equal work or work of equal value in the civil service 
and public services have the right to equal pay (Article 6(2), Act on Salaries in Civil Service 
and Public Services). 

Article 13(1)(4)  of  the  Gender  Equality  Act  prohibits  discrimination  based  on  sex  in  the 
field of employment, in relation to conditions of employment and work, and rights from 
and based on employment, including equal pay for equal work or work of equal value. 

4.2.2  Definition in national law 

The Labour Act was amended in 2022 to include a comprehensive general definition of pay 
within the meaning of the act. Pay is defined as a worker’s income paid by the employer 
for work performed in a specified month (Article 90(1), Labour Act). Pay may include the 
basic or stipulated wage, bonuses and other remuneration. Bonuses include remuneration 
that  a  worker  receives  based  on  a  special  rule,  collective  agreement  or  employment 
contract  for  working  hours  performed  under  certain  conditions  (arduous  working 
conditions,  overtime  work,  night  work,  work  on  Sundays,  holidays,  etc.),  remuneration 
which  is  unrelated  to  effective  work  performed  (length-of-service  increment,  etc.)  and 
remuneration  received  based  on  business  and  work  performance  in  accordance  with 
prescribed  or  stipulated  criteria  and  amount  (incentive  pay,  etc.).  Other  remuneration 
includes remuneration paid by employer in cash or in kind based on collective agreements, 
employment  rules,  other  employer’s internal decisions or  employment agreements. The 
notion  and  definition  of  pay  is  clearly  separated  from  income  based  on  an  employment 
relationship  (Article 90.a,  Labour  Act)  which  is  not  considered  as  pay  and  includes 
remuneration  paid  by  the  employer  based  on  regulations,  collective  agreements, 
employment  rules,  employer’s  internal  decisions  or  as  a  material  or  substantive 
requirement stemming  from the employment relationship (e.g. length-of-service award, 
holiday allowance,  Christmas bonus, etc.)  or  compensation for  a worker’s expenses.  To 
overcome  the  fact  that  the  definition  of  pay  would  not  be  wide  enough  to  comply  with 
Article 157(2)  TFEU,  the  legislation  specifically  prescribes  that  the  equal  pay  principle 
includes pay, as defined in Article 90 of the Labour Act, as well as other income based on 
the employment relationship, as defined in  Article 90.a of the Labour Act (Article 91(4), 
Labour Act). 

The new provisions concerning the definition of pay and income based on the employment 
relationship entered into force on 1 January 2023 and it remains to be seen how they will 
be interpreted and applied in practice in relation to the equal pay principle.166 

The salary of civil servants and employees in the public sector is comprised of the basic 
salary, increments and other income in accordance with the Act on Salaries in Civil Service 
and Public Services, as  well as general employment rules (Article 11,  Act on Salaries in 
Civil Service and Public Services). 

The definition of a worker or an employee complies with the relevant case law of the CJEU. 
An employee  or worker is defined as any natural person performing  certain tasks in an 
employment relationship for an employer (Article 4(1), Labour Act). An employer is any 
natural  or  legal  person  who  employs  an  employee  and  for  whom  the  employee  in  an 
employment relationship performs certain tasks (Article 4(2), Labour Act). An employment 
relationship is based on an employment contract (Article 10(1), Labour Act). The employer 
shall assign the worker to a job and pay them for the work carried out, whereas the worker 
shall personally perform the job assigned, following the employer’s instructions given in 
accordance with the nature and type of work (Article 7(1), Labour Act). The term work is 

166  Article 96(6) and Article 226(1)(27) of the Labour Act, as amended in 2022. Labour Act (Zakon o radu), NN 
Nos. 93/2014, 127/2017, 98/2019 and 151/2022. For an interpretation of the concept of pay and other 
material rights under the previously applicable provisions in the case law of the Supreme Court of the 
Republic of Croatia see cases Rev-2380/2019, Revr-49/2018 and Revr-1771/2015. See also Country report 
Gender equality Croatia 2022, p. 42. 

37 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

not expressly defined in any legislation, but the criteria for its definition may be inferred 
from legislative definitions of the terms ‘worker’ (employee), ‘employer’ and ‘employment 
relationship’,  as  well  as  from  the  definition  of  essential  rights  and  obligations  in  an 
employment relationship. 

Therefore, work is performed in an employment relationship and is defined by it.167 The 
focus  is  on  the  employment  agreement,  rather  than  on  the  activity  performed.  If  the 
employer and the worker conclude a contract for the performance of work which, in view 
of the nature and type of the work to be carried out and the employer’s powers in respect 
of this work, has the characteristics of a type of work for which an employment relationship 
should  be  established,  the  employer  will  be  deemed  to  have  concluded  an  employment 
agreement  with  the  worker,  unless  the  employer  proves  the  contrary  (Article 10(2), 
Labour Act). 

4.2.3  Explicit implementation of Article 4 of Recast Directive 2006/54 

Article 13(1)(4)  of  the  Gender  Equality  Act  prohibits  any  discrimination  in  the  field  of 
employment  and  occupation  in  the  public  or  private  sector,  including  public  bodies,  in 
relation  to  employment  and  working  conditions,  all  occupational  benefits  and  benefits 
resulting  from  occupation,  including  equal  pay  for  equal  work  and  work  of  equal  value. 
This provision explicitly implements Article 4 of Recast Directive 2006/54. 

4.2.4  Related case law 

There  is  no  ground-breaking  national  case  law  on  equal  pay.  There  is  only  evidence  of 
sporadic cases involving equal pay claims at an individual level, within a single company 
or  employer.  Very  few  equal  pay  cases  are  actually  based  on  claims  of  sex 
discrimination.168 The majority of case law concerns equal pay cases in public services and 
administration.  However,  they  are  not  based  on  sex  discrimination,  but  rather  involve 
complaints  concerning  the  formal  salary  classification  system  and  the  actual  tasks 
performed  by  the  worker.  Although  the  same  guarantee  of  equal  pay  applies  in  public 
services as in private employment relationships, the formalistic approach of courts to the 
rigid system of job classification in public services renders almost impossible any unequal 
pay claim. This can be concluded indirectly, from a line of cases involving claims of public 
servants that they should be paid more because they actually perform the tasks of higher 
skilled  workers  or  work  classified  in  another  job  category.  Any  formal  difference  in 
professional classifications will overturn comparability, as well as the fact that the public 
servant performs tasks of a higher paid job category without any formal decision of the 
public body, even where their superiors have given informal orders to perform those tasks 
(see, for example, Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, Revr-1952/09; Revr-196/10; 
Revr-201/11). 

In  2020,  the  European  Committee  of  Social  Rights  (ECSR)  published  a  decision  finding 
that Croatia had violated Article 1 c of the 1998 Additional Protocol of the European Social 
Charter  on  the  ground  that  insufficient  progress  has  been  made  in  promoting  equal 
opportunities between women and men in respect of equal pay, as well as on the grounds 
that effective remedies  and pay transparency are not ensured.169 The ECSR highlighted 

167  In one case involving a claim of discrimination based on pregnancy, the court interpreted the notion of 
worker and employment relationship extensively, to cover a person performing a real and genuine 
economic activity in accordance with the instructions received by another person and getting paid for it, in 
line with the case law of the CJEU. The case involved a female handball referee who was discriminated 
against based on pregnancy by a handball sports association, even though she did not have a formal 
employment contract with the association. See County Court in Rijeka, Gž R-978/2020. 

168  See, for example, an unsuccessful equal pay claim alleging discrimination based on sex and age: Municipal 
Labour Court in Zagreb, Pr-1433/12, County Court in Zagreb, Gžr-2213/14 and Constitutional Court of the 
Republic of Croatia, U-III-1711/2015. 

169  European Committee of Social Rights, Complaint No. 126/2016, University Women of Europe (UWE) v. 
Croatia, Decision on the merits adopted on 5 December 2019, published on 29 June 2020, available at: 

38 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

that ‘the measures adopted by the Government do not reveal any major and coordinated 
effort to promote equal opportunities through gender mainstreaming’, even though it was 
acknowledged that the gender pay gap was below the EU average and that some measures 
have been taken.170 The committee was specifically concerned with the fact that over the 
last  decade  the  gender  pay  gap  had  increased  by  about  5  percentage  points  and  had 
almost doubled. 

4.2.5  Permissibility of pay differences 

Justifications for pay differences include salary classification systems prescribed by law (in 
the public sector171), which apply irrespective of gender, as well as differences in formal 
qualifications (an educational degree) for the job. This may result in practical differences, 
but gender is not a justified differentiation factor. 

4.2.6  Requirement for comparators 

An  actual  comparator  is  required  in  equal  pay  claims.  Under  Article 20(1)  of  the  Anti-
Discrimination Act, a party claiming a violation of their right to equal treatment must make 
it plausible that discrimination has taken place. In that case, it will be for the defendant to 
prove that there has been no discrimination. However, a claimant will be required to refer 
to  an  actual  comparator  if  they  are  to  succeed  in  an  equal  pay  case.  For  example,  the 
claimant will be required to prove that the defendant should have treated them equally in 
comparison  with  another  person  in  a  comparable  situation,  whereby  any  difference  in 
formal requirements overturns comparability (e.g. where a job classification system exists, 
any formal difference might exclude comparability).172 The performance of actual tasks by 
the claimant will be relevant only where there is no legally prescribed salary classification 
system. Otherwise, employers will be found in breach of a specific obligation arising out 
of binding legislation or subordinate regulations if they disregard the salary classification 
system. 

The provision on the equal pay principle in Article 91 of the Labour Act was amended in 
2022,  but  the  wording  still  provides  for  actual  comparators.  A  specific  obligation  of  the 
employer  to  provide  information  upon  a  worker’s  request  about  the  criteria  for 
determination of pay of another worker performing equal work or work of equal value, if 
such  a  worker  exists,  leaves  no  doubt  that  only  actual  comparators  would  be  allowed 
(Article 91(6), Labour Act). This obligation, which is further enforced by the possibility of 
the  Labour  Inspector  to  order  such  disclosure  (Article 226(1)(27),  Labour  Act),  might 
contribute to better enforcement and more case law in the future, as it would be easier to 
reveal and prove differences in pay. However, it remains to be seen how this rather vague 
obligation  (‘provide  information  about  criteria  for  determination  of  pay…’)  will  be 
interpreted in practice, i.e. which actual information it will include and whether it will be 
sufficient and useful for determining differences in pay.  

The comparator should be a person employed by the same employer (currently or in the 
past), even though, theoretically, where the same collective agreement applies to more 
than one employer, it could be an employee of another employer. There is a possibility for 
a comparator to be a person employed by different employers in the event of temporary 

https://hudoc.esc.coe.int/eng#{"sort":["ESCPublicationDate%20Descending"],"ESCDcType":["DEC"],"ESCS
tateParty":["HRV"],"ESCDcIdentifier":["cc-126-2016-dmerits-en"]}. 

170  European Committee of Social Rights, Complaint No. 126/2016, University Women of Europe (UWE) v. 

Croatia, Decision on the merits adopted on 5 December 2019, published on 29 June 2020, para. 196. 
171  In any case, the pay equality principle is the basic principle for the salary system in the public sector, i.e. 
all public sector servants and employees, women and men, are guaranteed equal pay for equal work and 
work of equal value (Article 6(1) and (2), Act on Salaries in Civil Service and Public Services). 

172  See, for example, Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, cases Revr-1676/2009 (salary in public 
services; the determination of salary prescribed by law) and Revr-135/2009 (even where a job 
classification system exists, the pay should be based on actual work and tasks performed by a particular 
worker, not the job title and description). 

39 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

agency work (where the agency and user are employers), because it is guaranteed that 
the amount of the agreed salary and other working conditions of the assigned employee 
should not be lower and less favourable than those of an employee who is employed with 
the user in the same job, to which the assigned employee would have been entitled if they 
had entered into  a contract  of  employment with the user  (Article 46(6), Labour Act).173 
This guarantee applies irrespective of gender, but it might be used to deviate from a single 
source requirement in the case of temporary agency workers. 

Existing case law in the field of equal pay for men and women is scarce, but it generally 
illustrates the rigid and formal approach to the notion of comparators. In a Supreme Court 
case,174 the female claimant asserted that she had been paid less for work of equal value, 
when she actually performed tasks of a higher skilled worker. The Court concluded that, 
since the determination of salaries in the public services is prescribed by law (categories 
and  coefficients),  the  defendant  could  only  pay  the  claimant  in  accordance  with  her 
qualifications, because it would otherwise contravene an explicit and legally binding rule 
(in the end, her claim failed). In a case with a similar factual background, the Constitutional 
Court  in  decision  U-III/579/2008  of  15 April 2010  confirmed  that  it  involved  neither 
discrimination nor a breach of the constitutional guarantee of equality before the law. In 
one judgment of the Supreme Court, the formal job classification was deemed to be crucial 
for denying comparability.175 In another ruling in an equal pay case, the Supreme Court 
adopted a contradictory approach, concluding that the title of the job and its classification 
do not automatically give the right to be paid equally compared to another worker with 
the same job title, but that the pay depends on the actual work and tasks performed by a 
particular  worker.176  However,  a  difference  in  formal  qualifications  will  overturn 
comparability and justify a difference in pay. 

4.2.7  Existence of parameters for establishing the equal value of the work performed 

The wording of the provision on the equal pay principle in the Labour Act was revised in 
2022 and the parameters for equal work and work of equal value have been split into two 
paragraphs  (Article 91(2)  and  Article 91(3),  Labour  Act),  which  has  no  bearing  on  the 
substance of the provision, but represents a better normative solution. 

Two persons of a different gender perform equal work if: 

- 

- 

they  perform  the  same  work  in  the  same  or  similar  conditions,  or  they  could 
substitute one another at the workplace; and 

the  work  which  one  of  them  performs  is  of  a  similar  nature  to  that  performed  by 
another,  and  the  differences  between  the  work  performed  by  them  and  the 
conditions under which it is performed have no significance in relation to the overall 
nature of the work or they appear so rarely that they have no significance in relation 
to the overall nature of the work. 

Two persons of a different gender perform work of equal value if: 

- 

the work which one of them performs is of equal value to that performed by another, 
if  one  takes  into  account  educational  qualifications  and  nature  of  the  work 
determined  by  objective  criteria,  such  as  necessary  knowledge,  skills, 
responsibilities, degree of independence and the conditions under which the work is 
performed. 

173  Other working conditions include working time, leaves, holidays and bank holidays, safety-at-work 

measures, protection of pregnant workers, parents, adoptive parents and minors, as well as guarantee of 
equal treatment in accordance with anti-discrimination laws. See Article 46(7), Labour Act. 

174  Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, Revr-1676/2009. 
175  Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, Revr-246/2010. 
176  Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, Revr-135/2009. 

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Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

4.2.8  Other relevant rules or policies 

Croatia is a party to the ILO Convention No. 100 – The Equal Remuneration Convention 
by succession.177 It requires the implementation of the principle of equal pay but does not 
set any particular parameters. Furthermore, many collective agreements in Croatia include 
a  general  provision  on  equal  pay  for  equal  work,  also  without  further  explanations  or 
parameters. 

4.2.9  Job evaluation and classification systems 

The new job evaluation and classification system in the public sector is set to take effect 
at the beginning of 2024, with the adoption of the new Act on Salaries in the Civil Service 
and  Public  Services  and  its  implementing  regulations.178  They  apply  to  approximately 
250 000 civil and public servants and replace the previous complex and non-transparent 
system.179 Under the new system, jobs in the civil service and public services are evaluated 
according  to  standard  job  evaluation  and  classification  parameters  prescribed  by  law, 
which  include  competences,  complexity,  liability  and  decision-making,  cooperation  and 
communication, management and special work conditions. Jobs are classified in 16 pay 
grades, and the coefficients within a pay grade range from 1.00 to 8.00. The parameters 
are similar to those in the previous system,180 but the new rules are more transparent and 
attempt to remedy previous deficiencies. For example, annual evaluation of work efficiency 
for  civil  servants  is  the  basis  for  pay  increases  and  rewards.  However,  the  new  Civil 
Servants  Act  expressly  guarantees  that  periods  spent  on  various  parenting  and  caring-
related leave will be considered as full working time for the purposes of evaluation, and 
when the absence due to previous reasons is longer than six months in the calendar year 
for  which  evaluation  is  performed,  the  civil  servant  will  automatically  be  evaluated  as 
‘successful’.181   

4.2.10 Wage transparency182 

The new Act on Salaries in the Civil Service and Public Services prescribes the principle of 
transparency  as  one  of  the  basic  principles  of  the  salary  system.183  It  requires  the 
publication  of  data  concerning  elements  for  the  calculation  of  salary  of  civil  and  public 
servants on the official website of the state administration bodies in charge of civil service 
and employment relations. However, there is nothing on wage transparency for the private 
sector, aside from the general equal pay rules from the Labour Act, including the general 
transparency requirement that the parameters and basis for the payment of salary shall 
not  be  deemed  a  business  secret  (Article 90b(5),  Labour  Act).  In  addition,  the  new 
obligation on employers to provide, at a worker’s request, information about the criteria 
for determining the pay of another worker performing equal work or work of equal value, 

177  Convention concerning equal remuneration for men and women workers for work of equal value, Official 

Gazette Narodne novine – International agreements No. 3/2000. 

178  Act on Salaries in the Civil Service and Public Services (Zakon o plaćama u državnoj službi i javnim 

službama), NN No. 155/2023; adopted on 22 December 2023, entered into force on 1 January 2024. Six 
Government Decrees for its implementation (concerning job evaluation and classification criteria, job 
coefficients, etc.) have been adopted in February 2024, after the cut-off date for this report. 

179  See, e.g. Decree on job classification in the civil service (Uredba o klasifikaciji radnih mjesta u državnoj 
službi), NN Nos. 77/2007, 13/2008 and 81/2008. For an overview of the Croatian public administration 
characteristics and performance see Koprić, I. (2018), ‘Public administration characteristics and 
performance EU28: Croatia’ (country chapter), Luxembourg, Publications Office of the European Union. 

180  Previously applicable standard parameters in the civil service, for example, included the required 

professional knowledge, job complexity, degree of independence, level of cooperation with other bodies and 
relations with citizens, level of accountability and influence on decision-making in the organisation.  

181  Civil Servants Act (Zakon o državnim službenicima), NN No. 153/2023, Article 92(4) and (5). 
182  See Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council to strengthen the application of 
the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women through pay 
transparency and enforcement mechanisms, COM/2021/93 final. 

183  Act on Salaries in the Civil Service and Public Services (Zakon o plaćama u državnoj službi i javnim 

službama), NN No. 155/2023; adopted on 22 December 2023, entered into force on 1 January 2024; 
Article 7(1) and (2).  

41 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

if such a worker exists (Article 91(6), Labour Act) could increase wage transparency, but 
it remains to be seen whether it will be applied in practice. The impression is that the long-
standing lack of progress in terms of wage transparency in Croatia might be improved only 
with the implementation of Directive 2023/970. 

4.2.11 Implementation  of  the  transparency  measures  set  out  by  the  European 
Commission’s Recommendation of 7 March 2014 on strengthening the principle of 
equal  pay  between  men  and  women  and/or  Directive (EU)  2023/970  of  the 
European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  10  May  2023  to  strengthen  the 
application  of  the  principle  of  equal  pay  for  equal  work  or  work  of  equal  value 
between men and women through pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms 

On 22 December 2023, the new Act on Salaries in the Civil Service and Public Services 
was adopted, and it entered into force on 1 January 2024. It establishes the principle of 
pay transparency (Article 7), which requires the publication of data concerning elements 
for  the  calculation  of  salary  in  the  civil  service  and  public  services  on  the  designated 
websites of the competent state bodies. It remains to be seen how this obligation will be 
implemented in practice. It involves only an overarching obligation for the competent state 
body for the civil service (i.e. the Ministry of Justice and Administration), and employment 
relations (i.e. the Ministry of Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy); there is 
no  obligation  for  each  state  or  public  service  body  to  publish  such  information.  The 
obligation concerns pay transparency towards the public, and only involves transparency 
of  coefficients  and  parameters  for  the  calculation  of  salary,  which  are  public  anyway 
because they are prescribed in regulations. A similar transparency initiative for the public 
sector was launched in July 2015 with the adoption of the Action Plan for the determination 
and  regulation  of  the  salary  system  in  the  Republic  of  Croatia  2015-2016,184  which 
envisaged the adoption of the new Act on Salaries in the Public Sector, but came to an 
end with the change of Government in January 2016. 

There is still no possibility for the Ombudsperson for Gender Equality to request gender 
segregated  information  on  the  gender  pay  gap  for  various  categories  of  workers  from 
employers. In 2022, the Labour Act was amended to include the obligation of employers 
to  provide  information  about  criteria  for  determining  the  wage  of  another  worker 
performing equal work or work of equal value at the request of a worker (Article 91(6), 
Labour Act), with the possibility for Labour Inspectors to order the employer to produce 
such information (Article 226(1)(27), Labour Act). This represents important progress in 
achieving  wage  transparency.  There  are  no  measures  concerning  pay  audits  and  pay 
reporting. 

4.2.12 Other measures, tools or procedures 

One  tool  that  indirectly  serves  to  enhance  pay  transparency  is  the  gender  segregated 
monitoring of earnings. The Croatian Bureau of Statistics publishes an annual publication 
‘Women and men in Croatia’ (from 2006 onwards), which contains a separate chapter with 
gender segregated data on employment and earnings. The publication is easily accessible 
online, on the Bureau’s website, and is published in Croatian and English.185 Although it is 
a  helpful,  reliable  and  informative  publication,  the  published  data  concerning  pay  and 
earnings  do  not  offer  a  complete  picture  concerning  the  gender  pay  gap,  because  only 
earnings of persons employed in legal entities are included. Only employers who are legal 
entities are required to report annually to the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, providing data 
on the average remuneration by category of employee or position, broken down by gender 
annually. 

184  Government of the Republic of Croatia, 

https://vlada.gov.hr/UserDocsImages//2016/Sjednice/2015/241%20sjednica%20Vlade//241%20-
%208.pdf. 

185  Publications are available at: https://podaci.dzs.hr/hr/publikacije/. 

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Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

  Access to work, working conditions and dismissal 

4.3.1  Definition of the (material) scope (Article 14(1) of Recast Directive 2006/54) 

The  personal  scope  in  relation  to  access  to  employment,  vocational  training,  working 
conditions etc. (in accordance with Article 14 of the Recast Directive 2006/54) is defined 
in national law in terms of prohibition of discrimination in the public and private sector, 
including public bodies (Article 13(1)(1) to (7) of the Gender Equality Act). The wording 
of this provision is identical to Article 14 of the Recast Directive 2006/54 as the prohibition 
of discrimination covers employed and self-employed persons, as well as job applicants, 
but it also expressly mentions pregnant women, women who have  recently given birth, 
parents and guardians. However, no definitions of these categories are provided in this or 
other provisions of the Gender Equality Act. 

Regarding the material scope, Article 13(1)(1) to (7) of the Gender Equality Act prohibits 
any  discrimination  in  the  field  of  employment  and  occupation  in  the  public  or  private 
sector, including public bodies, in relation to conditions for access to employment, to self-
employment  or  to  occupation,  including  selection  criteria  and  recruitment  conditions, 
whatever the branch of activity, and at all levels of the professional hierarchy, promotion, 
access to all types and to all levels of education, professional guidance, vocational training, 
advanced  vocational  training  and  retraining,  employment  and  working  conditions,  all 
occupational benefits and benefits resulting from occupation, including equal pay for equal 
work  and  work  of  equal  value,  membership  of,  and  involvement  in,  organisations  of 
workers  or  employers,  or  any  professional  organisation,  including  the  benefits  provided 
for  by  such  organisations,  the  balance  between  professional  and  private  life,  and 
pregnancy, giving birth, parenting and any form of custody. The scope is broader than the 
scope  of Article 14(1)  of Recast  Directive 2006/54, because it includes discrimination in 
relation  to  the  work-life  balance,  as  well  as  pregnancy,  giving  birth,  parenting  and  any 
form of custody. 

4.3.2  Implementation of the exception on occupational activities (Article 14(2) of Recast 

Directive 2006/54) 

This exception has been implemented in Article 9(1)(4) of the Anti-Discrimination Act. It 
stipulates that the placing of a person in a less favourable position shall not be considered 
to be discrimination in relation to a particular job when the nature of the job is such or the 
job  is  performed  under  such  conditions  that  its  characteristics  related  to  any  of  the 
discriminatory  grounds  in  the  act  (gender  included)  present  an  actual  and  decisive 
condition for performing that job, provided that the purpose to be achieved is justified and 
the condition is appropriate. 

There is no information available as to whether an assessment of this provision in relation 
to Article 31(3) of Recast Directive 2006/54 has ever taken place. 

4.3.3  Protection  against  the  non-hiring,  non-renewal  of  a  fixed-term  contract,  non-
continuation  of  a  contract  and  dismissal  of  women  connected  to  their  state  of 
pregnancy and/or maternity 

National  law  and  case  law  do  not  provide  adequate  protection  against  non-hiring,  non-
renewal of a fixed-term contract and non-continuation of a contract for women who are 
pregnant and/or have given birth. It is true that there is an absolute ban on dismissing 
pregnant workers and those on maternity or parental leave, during this time and 15 days 
after returning to work, which covers collective redundancy as well, even though it is not 
explicitly mentioned.186 On the other hand, pregnancy and other maternity-related reasons 

186  The termination of an employment contract within a collective redundancy procedure includes business-

related dismissal and consensual termination of contract. The prohibition of dismissal of pregnant workers 

43 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

do not prevent the expiry of a fixed-term contract, dismissal in the insolvency procedure 
or the procedure for winding up a company. Even when a woman is pregnant, the employer 
is under no obligation to offer a renewal of a fixed-term employment contract, and this 
would  not  be  an  issue  if  the  non-renewal  were  completely  unrelated  to  the  worker’s 
pregnancy.  However,  non-renewal  of  fixed-term  contracts  for  pregnant  workers  is  very 
common and in the majority of cases it is openly related to the pregnancy. Nevertheless, 
this  common  practice  remains  unsanctioned,  because  women  are  not  inclined  to  seek 
justice in court when they are pregnant, out of work, without financial resources and given 
that the outcome of any court proceedings is uncertain. 

It is hard for fixed-term workers to establish that they were not offered a new fixed-term 
or open-ended contract after the expiry of the existing contract because of discrimination. 
Statistics show that women are more likely to be hired under fixed-term contracts and this 
fact is almost common knowledge in Croatia.187 Nevertheless, it would be difficult to prove 
that a fixed-term instead of an open-ended contract was concluded solely because of  a 
person’s  sex  (predominantly  women).  Fixed-term  contracts  terminate  on  expiry, 
regardless of whether a person is pregnant or on maternity or other family-related leave. 
Therefore,  fixed-term  contracts  are  often  (ab)used  to  circumvent  the  protection  of 
dismissal  during  pregnancy  or  the  use  of  maternity  and  parental  rights.  Yet  relevant 
institutions, such as the Ministry of Labour and Pension System, turn a blind eye to this 
practice.188 The courts seem to do the same.  

In one case, a county court reversed a decision of a first-instance court and found that 
there was no discrimination based on pregnancy when a woman was not offered a new 
fixed-term  contract,  even  though  all  her  other  colleagues  who  worked  on  fixed-term 
contracts were.189 The first-instance court compared the claimant with ‘all other workers 
whose fixed-term contracts were extended’. The appellate court did not even attempt to 
find  a  comparator,  finding  that  employment  contracts  are  based  on  free  will  and  that 
employers cannot be forced to offer extensions of fixed-term contracts for persons who 
are temporarily not capable of performing work. It is not surprising that there is not much 
case law on this issue, since women in such vulnerable situations are reluctant to initiate 
court  proceedings  when  there  is  not  much  prospect  of  succeeding.  Many  similar  cases, 
however, are often reported to the Ombudsperson for Gender Equality.190 Some collective 
agreements might offer more protection for fixed-term workers, for example by providing 
that the fixed-term agreement cannot expire during pregnancy or until a child reaches one 
year of age.191 

Concerning the protection against non-hiring, even though employers are prohibited from 
asking questions which are not directly related to the labour relationship at job interviews, 
which includes questions about pregnancy and maternity (Article 30(1) and (2), Labour 
Act), under the pain of sanction (Article 228(1)(8), Labour Act), this occurs quite often. It 
is  therefore  remarkable,  and  has  been  widely  reported  in  the  press,  that  one  employer 
was sanctioned for misdemeanour for having asked a job applicant whether she intended 

is not limited to any particular type or category of dismissal that is prohibited (e.g. business related or 
based on personal conduct, or extraordinary dismissal). 

187  See Croatian Employment Service (2019) Annual Report 2018 and monthly reports, available at: 

https://www.hzz.hr/usluge-poslodavci-posloprimci/publikacije-hzz/. 

188  See Opinion of the Ministry of Labour and Pension System of 11 September 2014. 
189  County Court in Split, Gž R-186/2019. 
190  Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2022), Annual Report for 2021, p. 48. Ombudsperson for Gender 

Equality (2018), Annual Report for 2017, pp. 40-41. 

191  This example was mentioned in Petrović, J. A. (2020) A model of collective agreement – The aspect of 

gender in collective bargaining, Retired Persons’ Union of Croatia, Zagreb, p. 23, but no further reference 
was given. Unrelated to pregnancy or maternity, an example of good practice is the Collective agreement 
for employees in high schools (Kolektivni ugovor za zaposlenike u srednjim školama, NN No. 51/2018, 
Article 29 (4)), which provides for the automatic transition of a fixed-term to an open-ended employment 
agreement after the expiry of three years of uninterrupted duration. 

44 

 
 
 
 
Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

to  get  pregnant  and  how  many  children  she  had.192  This  is  one  small  step  towards 
achieving  a  high  level  of  awareness  of  the  legal  obligations  and  towards  more  efficient 
implementation of the prescribed standards of protection in practice. 

4.3.4  Implementation  of  the  exception  on  the  protection  for  women  in  relation  to 

pregnancy and maternity (Article 28(1) of Recast Directive 2006/54) 

Articles 30-36 of the Labour Act regulate the employment protection of pregnant women, 
women who have recently given birth or women who are breastfeeding. These provisions 
include a guarantee of equal treatment, safe working conditions, employment rights and 
protection from dismissal, as well as the right to return to the previous or an equivalent 
job after making use of some of the  rights and benefits  associated with pregnancy and 
maternity. 

4.3.5  Particular difficulties 

Legal  provisions  regarding  protection  for  women,  especially  the  right  to  return  to  the 
previous  or  an  equivalent  job  after  making  use  of  some  of  the  rights  and  benefits 
associated  with  pregnancy  and  maternity  (Articles 30-36  Labour  Act)  are  quite  clear. 
However, in practice it is not always easy to realise this guarantee, especially if a  work 
reorganisation has led to a change in or the termination of the job previously performed 
by a woman returning from maternity leave. For example, one employer (a government 
agency)  offered  a  female  worker  who  wanted  to  work  half-time  after  returning  from 
parental leave the option to stay at home (i.e. not to come to work, but still receive the 
stipulated salary), because a work reorganisation had led to the abolition of her job while 
she was on parental leave and there was no other equivalent job that she could perform. 193 
In other words, the  employer wanted to comply with its legal  obligations, but failing to 
find any adequate job, offered the worker the option to stay at home, while still receiving 
her salary. The female worker found this option offensive because she wanted to return to 
work. This is, of course, an extreme example, which received a lot of media attention, but 
economic and business  reality could lead to a  worsening  of the work  position of people 
returning from maternity or parental leave, despite the clear legislative provisions.194  

A  worker  has  the  right  to  return  to  the  same  or  equivalent  post  after  maternity  or  any 
childcare leave.195 This includes an obligation on the employer to offer the worker a new 
contract for equivalent work under no less favourable conditions, if the need for  the job 
performed by that worker prior to taking leave no longer exists.196 However, a worker will 
have to comply with the deadlines and procedures for the protection of employment rights 
under the Labour Act in order to be able to initiate court proceedings.197 If workers fail to 

192  As reported on various news portals on 5 January 2021: https://dnevnik.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/na-razgovoru-
za-posao-pitali-iz-koje-je-stranke-i-planira-li-roditi-pa-tvrtka-dobila-35-000-kuna-kazne-plakala-sam-i-
povracala-kad-sam-izasla---634727.html; https://slobodnadalmacija.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/slucaj-maje-lesar-
dokaz-je-da-za-bahate-poslodavce-ima-lijeka-na-razgovoru-me-pitao-planiram-li-roditi-i-za-koga-glasam-
kaznjen-je-s-35-tisuca-kuna-1069047. 

193  This story was reported in the media in 2015 and the employer even explicitly confirmed its accuracy; see 

e.g.: http://www.jutarnji.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/druga-strana-price-o-zeni-koja-je-odbila-placu-za-
neradprocitajte-hakom-ovu-istinu/373726/. However, the employer (a state agency) subsequently sued the 
employee for slander and damage to reputation and the case was closed when the employee publicly 
apologised to the employer in court, see: http://net.hr/danas/hrvatska/samo-u-hrvatskoj-drzavna-
agencija-zeni-daje-placu-da-ne-dolazi-na-posao-pa-zavrsili-na-sudu/. There is no further follow-up to this 
unusual saga. 

194  COVID-19-related downsizing could be (mis)used by employers to justify the failure to offer an equivalent 
position after the return from parental leave of an employee whose job was abolished due to the work 
reorganisation. The Ombudsperson for Gender Equality reports one such case in 2021, where this argument 
was found to be just a poor excuse for direct discrimination. See Ombudsperson for Gender Equality 
(2022), Annual Report for 2021, p. 47. 

195  Article 36(1) of the Labour Act. 
196  Article 36(2) of the Labour Act. 
197  A worker has to file a complaint with the employer within 15 days of gaining knowledge of the violation. If 

the employer does not change the decision within 15 days thereafter, the worker must initiate court 

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Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

comply  with  the  deadlines  and  prescribed  procedure,  they  are  precluded  from  filing  a 
lawsuit based on the Labour Act.198 

When it comes to employment contracts with a probationary period, there is no express 
protection in relation to parenthood.  The amendments to the Labour Act, which entered 
into force on 1 January 2023, provide for taking into account periods of temporary absence 
from work, in particular due to the use of maternity and parental rights, for the extension 
of the duration of probationary period. 199 However, the failure of the worker to fulfil the 
position  requirements  during  the  probationary  period  (if  contracted,  up  to  six  months) 
constitutes  a  just  cause  for  terminating  the  employment  contract.200  This  is  applicable 
regardless  of  the  fact  that  the  worker  may  have  used  pregnancy-related  sick  leave  or 
maternity or parental leave.201 An employee cannot be made redundant during maternity 
or  parental  leave.  However,  if  an  employer  becomes  insolvent,  the  insolvency 
administrator  may  terminate  all  employment  agreements,  regardless  of  the  legal  and 
contractual provisions on the protection of workers.202 

4.3.6  Positive action measures (Article 3 of Recast Directive 2006/54)  

There is a legislative framework for the implementation of positive action measures in the 
field  of  employment  in  the  Gender  Equality  Act  and  in  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act. 
However, it has not been widely used in practice. 

There is a rather elaborate legislative framework for positive action measures in Croatian 
legislation, but many of those measures have never actually been tested in practice. The 
Gender Equality Act provides a specific legal basis for the introduction of special measures 
in  legislative,  executive  and  judicial  bodies,  as  well  as  public  services,  when  one  sex  is 
significantly  underrepresented.  Significant  underrepresentation  exists  where  the 
representation  of  one  sex  in  political  and  public  decision-making  bodies  is  less  than 
40 %.203 Measures are aimed at increasing the share of the underrepresented sex until it 
reaches  the  level  of  its  share  in  the  overall  population.204  However,  this  is  just  one 
expression of the obligation to apply special measures, which falls on specific public sector 
bodies.  There  is  no  similar  obligation  for  private  sector  entities.  Under  Article 10  of  the 
Gender Equality Act, special measures may be enacted in any sphere of public life, but 
they are based on a decision adopted by public decision-making bodies (i.e. laws or other 
regulations). 

  Evaluation of implementation 

The  national  legal  framework  concerning  the  general  guarantee  of  equal  pay  is 
satisfactory, but is often not applied in practice, for various reasons. One of the reasons 
for this is that wage transparency in the private sector is still not regulated in a satisfactory 

proceedings within a further 15-day period (Article 133(1) and (2) of the Labour Act). Where a worker’s 
dignity was violated as a result of harassment or sexual harassment, these periods are eight days, and the 
worker is entitled to cease work until they are guaranteed protection, while keeping their full salary 
(Article 134(5) – (8) of the Labour Act). 

198  County Court in Bjelovar, Gž R-384/2016. This does not mean that anti-discrimination court proceedings 

under the Anti-Discrimination Act cannot be initiated. 

199  See Article 20 of the Act on Amendments to the Labour Act (Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama Zakona o 

radu), NN No. 151/2022, amending Article 53 of the Labour Act.  

200  Article 53(3) of the Labour Act.  
201  According to one Supreme Court decision from 2017, the employer is not required to prove why the worker 

failed to satisfy the employer’s requirements during the probationary period (Supreme Court of the 
Republic of Croatia, Revr-889/2017). There exists a contrary opinion of the Ministry of Labour and Pension 
System of 29 April 2019. 

202  Article 191(3) of the Insolvency Act. 
203  Gender Equality Act, Article 12(3). 
204  Gender Equality Act, Article 12(1). According to the Constitutional Court, where there is a clash between 

the rule of law and gender equality, which are both equal values of the constitutional order of the Republic 
of Croatia, the rule of law takes precedence (when it comes to the gender composition of members of the 
State Judicial Council). See Constitutional Court, Decision U-III-248/2018 of 22 May 2018, para. 25. 

46 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

manner.  The  new  Act  on  Salaries  in  the  Civil  Service  and  Public  Services,  which  was 
adopted  in  December  2023  and  entered  into  force  on  1  January  2024,  is  expected  to 
increase  the  transparency  of  wages  in  the  public  sector.  In  the  private  sector,  the 
confidentiality clauses make it very hard to discover whether there are differences in pay 
at  an  individual  level,  as  well  as  at  the  level  of  the  company,  even  though  the  basic 
parameters for determination of pay are not considered to be a business secret. 

On  equal  treatment  in  access  to  employment  and  working  conditions,  the  current 
guarantees  and  protection  against  dismissal,  as  well  as  the  guarantee  of  return  to  the 
previous or equal-level post, are not enough to guarantee full equality in practice. Short-
term engagements, fixed-term contracts and other atypical forms of work are often used 
in  practice  to  circumvent  these  explicit  guarantees.  So  far,  there  have  been  only  a  few 
cases before the courts concerning the non-renewal of fixed-term contracts for pregnant 
workers,205 even though it has become a standard practice and there are many such cases 
reported to the Ombudsperson for Gender Equality, who has only limited tools to react to 
such occurrences. 

  Remaining issues 

For many years, the share of fixed-term contracts has been on the rise and it particularly 
affects women. It is estimated that up to 90 % of new employment contracts are fixed-
term.206 In the period from 2015 to 2019 (before the COVID-19 pandemic) the share of 
fixed-term  contracts  in  overall  employment  was  around  25 %.207  Croatia  also  has  the 
highest share of very short fixed-term contracts in the EU (up to three months).208 The 
majority  of  instances  of  women  newly  entering  the  unemployment  register  follow  the 
expiry of fixed-term employment (65 % on average).209 It is estimated that around 20 % 
of  all  female  employment  in  Croatia  is  based  on  fixed-term  contracts.210  Fixed-term 
contracts  are  associated  with  precarious  working  conditions,  high  insecurity  and  risk  of 
unemployment. This was the reason behind the latest amendments to the Labour Act in 
2022  attempting  to  further  restrict  the  possibility  to  conclude  fixed-term  contracts.211 
However,  this  might  not  produce  the  desired  effects,  if  there  is  no  improvement  in  the 
understanding and application of discrimination concepts. 

The  initial  disproportionately  negative  impact  of  the  COVID-19  pandemic  on  the 
unemployment rate of women seemed to have stabilised by the end of 2020 and remained 
stable throughout 2021 and 2022.212  

205  In one case from 2019 (County Court in Split, Gž R-186/2019) the county court highlighted that 

employment contracts are based on free will and that an employer cannot be forced to conclude a new 
fixed-term or open-ended contract with a worker whose fixed-term contract expired and she is temporarily 
unavailable to perform work because she is on pregnancy-related sick leave or on maternity leave. 
206  For more information, see explanations accompanying the Draft Act on Amendments to the Labour Act, 

P.Z.E. No. 384, pp. 63 – 64, available at: https://www.sabor.hr/sites/default/files/uploads/sabor/2022-12-
01/170302/PZE_394.pdf. 

207  For more information, see explanations accompanying the Draft Act on Amendments to the Labour Act, 

P.Z.E. No. 384, pp. 63 – 64, available at: https://www.sabor.hr/sites/default/files/uploads/sabor/2022-12-
01/170302/PZE_394.pdf. 

208  Draft Act on Amendments to the Labour Act, P.Z.E. No. 384, p. 64, available at: 

https://www.sabor.hr/sites/default/files/uploads/sabor/2022-12-01/170302/PZE_394.pdf. 

209  For more information, see the statistical database of the Croatian Employment Service, available at: 

https://www.hzz.hr/usluge/publikacije-hzz-a/statisticke-publikacije/?godina=2022. 

210  The available statistical data from the Labour Force Survey show a decline in temporary contracts for 

female employees from 20 % in 2019 to 17 % in 2020. See Eurostat, available at: 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/lfsq_etpga/default/table?lang=en. This may be due to the 
fact that temporary seasonal work in the accommodation and services sector was heavily affected by the 
pandemic. 

211  See Article 2 of the Act on Amendments to the Labour Act (Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama Zakona o 

radu), NN No. 151/2022, amending Article 12 of the Labour Act. 

212  For more information and analysis of the COVID-19 employment-related statistics, see Country report 

Gender equality Croatia 2022, pp. 49 – 50. 

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Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

During  2020,  there  were  preliminary  indications  that  the  gender  pay  gap  has  further 
deteriorated  during  the  COVID-19  pandemic.213  Certain  industries  and  sectors  with  a 
majority  female  workforce,  such  as  the  accommodation  and  food  services  sector,  the 
administrative  and  support  or  provision  of  other  unclassified  services,  and  the  textile 
industry were hit particularly hard by the pandemic. The overall level of pay has dropped 
in these sectors.214 Since employees in many of these sectors have benefited from state-
funded subsidies (which are set at a flat monthly amount of around EUR 530 (at that time, 
HRK 4 000)), during the COVID-19 pandemic, it was expected the decline in pay will not 
necessarily lead to a worsening of the gender pay gap in these particular sectors, but a 
negative impact on the overall gender pay gap during the pandemic was anticipated.  

However,  the  available  evidence  shows  that  the  gender  pay  gap  has  actually  dropped 
significantly (by half) in 2020 and 2021.215 This  should not be regarded  as a long-term 
positive  achievement  in  gender  equality,  as  warned  by  the  Ombudsperson  for  Gender 
Equality. Deeper analysis of this phenomenon conducted by the Ombudsperson for Gender 
Equality reveals that the drop can be attributed to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic 
on the labour market, which has led to the lowering of the average pay of men in certain 
sectors, reduction in the number of employees in sectors which were particularly heavily 
affected by the pandemic (e.g. food and accommodation services) and an increase in the 
average pay (due to compensation for overtime etc. during pandemic) of women in the 
health and social welfare sectors (where women make up the majority of the workforce). 
The change in the gender employment structure of lower paid jobs, as well as the ‘sliding’ 
of the gender pay gap upwards, towards higher paid jobs, might also have contributed to 
the apparent reduction in the gender pay gap.216 

213  See, for example, the statement by the Minister of Labour and Pension System, Vesic, V. (2020) ‘Žene rade 

za 150 eura nižu plaću od muškaraca’ (Women work for EUR 150 less than men) Novi list, 
25 November 2020, press clipping available at: 
https://www.prs.hr/application/images/uploads/Novi_list_25_11_20.pdf. 

214  Croatian Bureau of Statistics (2020), Priopćenje br. 9.1.1./12., Prosječne mjesečne neto i bruto plaće 
zaposlenih, za prosinac 2020. (First release No. 9.1.1./12, Average monthly net and gross earnings of 
persons in paid employment, for December 2020), available at: https://www.dzs.hr. 
215  See Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2022), Annual Report for 2021, pp. 40-43. 
216  See Kraljević, R. et al. (2024), Bridging the gender pay gap in the Western Balkans? A country case study 

of Croatia, North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia, FEPS. 

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Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

5  Work-life  balance  issues:  pregnancy,  maternity,  family-related  leave  and 
flexible  working  arrangements  (Directive 92/85,  relevant  provisions  of 
Directives 2006/54, and Directive 2019/1158)217 

  General (legal) context 

5.1.1  Overview of national acts on work-life balance issues 

The most important legal acts on work-life balance issues include the Labour Act,218 the 
Safety at Work Act219 and the Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits.220 The Labour Act 
contains  provisions  on  flexible  working  arrangements  and  protection  of  employees  who 
are  parents  or  have  specific  family-related  care  obligations.  The  Safety  at  Work  Act 
includes  provisions  on  the  protection  of  pregnant  workers,  workers  who  have  recently 
given birth or are breastfeeding, and the Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits regulates 
the  conditions  for  granting  maternity  and  parental  benefits,  as  monetary  and  temporal 
benefits.  In  addition,  the  Mandatory  Health  Insurance  Act221  and  regulations  prescribe 
detailed rules for the calculation of allowances within the system. 

5.1.2  Political and societal debate and pending legislative proposals 

Following  the  legislative  amendments  in  2022  with  the  aim  of 
implementing 
Directive 2019/1158, there was no further substantial legislative activity in 2023. The Act 
on Maternity and Parental Benefits was first amended in July 2022222 to include provisions 
on paternity leave (which did not exist as such) and to regulate some issues concerning 
parental leave (clearer regulation of the non-transferable part of parental leave). These 
amendments entered into force on 1 August 2022. In parallel with the adoption of these 
amendments, the Government initiated the preparation for the adoption of a completely 
new Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits, justifying this with reference to the substantial 
amendments to the existing Act since it first entered into force on 1 January 2009. The 
new  Act  on  Maternity  and  Parental  Benefits  was  adopted  on  16  December  2022  and 
entered into force on 1 January 2023, completely replacing the previous Act on Maternity 
and Parental Benefits.223 It mostly follows the system established in the previous version 
and,  aside  from  some  minor  changes  and  adaptations  which  bring  more  normative-
technical  clarity,  it  does  not  introduce  any  substantial  changes  concerning  the  personal 
scope, categories of beneficiaries and rights or the method and procedure for granting and 
exercising those rights.  

The amendments to the Labour Act were adopted on 16 December 2022 and entered into 
force  on  1 January 2023.224  They  implement  obligations  from  the  Work-Life  Balance 
Directive 2019/1158  concerning  carers’  leave,  time  off  from  work  on  grounds  of  force 

217  See Masselot, A. (2018), Family leave: enforcement of the protection against dismissal and unfavourable 
treatment, European network of legal experts in gender equality and non-discrimination, available at 
https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/4808-family-leave-enforcement-of-the-protection-against-
dismissal-and-unfavourable-treatment-pdf-962-kb and De la Corte Rodríguez, M. (2022), The transposition 
of the Work-Life Balance Directive in EU Members States: A long way ahead, available at: 
https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/5779-the-transposition-of-the-work-life-balance-directive-in-eu-
member-states-a-long-way-ahead. 

218  Labour Act (Zakon o radu), NN Nos. 93/2014, 127/2017, 98/2019 and 151/2022. 
219  Safety at Work Act (Zakon o zaštiti na radu), NN Nos. 71/2014, 118/2014, 154/2014, 94/2018 and 

96/2018. 

220  Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits (Zakon o rodiljnim i roditeljskim potporama), NN No. 152/2022. 
221  Mandatory Health Insurance Act (Zakon o obveznom zdravstvenom osiguranju), NN Nos. 80/2013, 

137/2013, 98/2019 and 33/2023. 

222  Act on Amendments to the Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits (Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama Zakona 
o rodiljnim i roditeljskim potporama), NN No. 85/2022. The Act on Amendments to the Act on Maternity and 
Parental Benefits was adopted on 15 July, the last day of the Parliament’s 11th Session before the summer 
break, and entered into force on 1 August 2022, just one day before the expiry of the transposition deadline 
in Article 20(1) of Directive 2019/1158. 

223  Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits (Zakon o rodiljnim i roditeljskim potporama), NN no. 152/2022. 
224  Act on Amendments to the Labour Act (Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama Zakona o radu), NN no. 151/2022. 

49 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

majeure,  flexible  working  arrangements,  employment  rights  and  protection  from 
dismissal.  

  Pregnancy and maternity protection225 

5.2.1  Definition in national law (Article 2 of Directive 92/85) 

Croatian national law provides definitions of a pregnant worker, a worker who has recently 
given birth, a worker who has given birth and a worker who is breastfeeding. 

The definition of a pregnant worker is provided in Article 7(1)(10) of the Act on Maternity 
and Parental Benefits226 and Article 3(1)(31) of the Safety at Work Act.227 Both acts define 
a pregnant worker as a worker who has informed her employer of her condition in writing. 
Both definitions comply with Directive 92/85. 

The definition of a worker who is breastfeeding is provided in  Article 7(1)(12) of the Act 
on  Maternity  and  Parental  Benefits  and  Article (3)(1)(22)  of  the  Safety  at  Work  Act  to 
include a worker who is the mother of a child up to one year of age who is breastfeeding 
her child and has informed her employer about it in writing at the latest within 30 days 
before returning to work. 

The definition of a worker who has given birth differs in these two acts. The concept of a 
worker  who  has  given  birth  provided  in  Article 7(1)(11)  of  the  Act  on  Maternity  and 
Parental Benefits includes a worker who is the mother of a child up to one year old who 
has informed her employer about it in writing at the latest within 30 days before returning 
to  work.  On  the  other  hand,  Article (3)(1)(23)  of  the  Safety  at  Work  Act  refers  to  the 
concept and definition of a worker who has recently given birth to include a worker who is 
a mother within six months following a child’s birth and who has informed her employer 
about it in writing. 

5.2.2  Obligation to inform employer (Article 2 of Directive 92/85) 

Pregnant workers, workers who have given birth and workers who are breastfeeding have 
to inform the employer about their condition in writing, within the time limits (if applicable) 
for each category. 

5.2.3  Case law on the definition of a pregnant worker, a worker who has recently given 
birth  and/or  a  worker  who  is  breastfeeding  and  the  obligation  to  inform  the 
employer 

Despite the discrepancy in the definitions of a worker who has given birth under the Act 
on Maternity and Parental Benefits (mother of a child up to one year old; Article 7(1)(11), 
Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits) and a worker who has recently given birth under 
the  Safety  at  Work  Act  (a  mother  within  six  months  following  a  child’s  birth; 
Article 3(1)(23),  Safety  at  Work  Act),  which  might  have  an  impact  on  the  exercise  of 
material rights guaranteed under those two acts, there is no available case law to verify 
whether  this  is  problematic  in  practice  and  how  it  would  be  resolved.  A  general  rule  of 
interpretation in favorem laboratoris applies in Croatian labour law. 

225  Directive 92/85/EEC of 19 October 1992 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the 

safety and health at work of pregnant workers and workers who have recently given birth or are 
breastfeeding (tenth individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16 (1) of Directive 89/391/EEC), OJ L 
348, 28.11.1992. 

226  Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits (Zakon o rodiljnim i roditeljskim potporama), NN no. 152/2022. 
227  Safety at Work Act (Zakon o zaštiti na radu), NN Nos. 71/2014, 118/2014, 154/2014, 94/2018 and 

96/2018. 

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5.2.4  Implementation of protective measures (Articles 4-6 of Directive 92/85) 

Article 31 of the Labour Act provides that employers are obliged to offer pregnant workers, 
workers who have recently given birth and workers who are breastfeeding, and who are 
working in jobs that represent a risk to their health and life or to the baby’s health and 
life,  an  annex  to  their  employment  contract,  stipulating  a  transfer  to  other  appropriate 
jobs for the duration of this condition. If a transfer to another appropriate job is available, 
the annex to the employment contract should not result in a decrease in the salary of the 
worker.  If  no  appropriate  job  is  available,  the  worker  is  entitled  to  paid  leave  at  the 
employer’s expense (Article 24(4) and (5) of the Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits). 
Article 39 of the Safety at Work Act lays down the obligation on the employer to implement 
special  protection  for  these  categories  of  workers  from  risks  associated  with  pregnancy 
and maternity. 

5.2.5  Case law on issues on protective measures 

There is no case law concerning the specific risk of exposure addressed in Articles 4 and 5 
of  Directive 92/85.  In  view  of  the  increasing  issues  arising  in  practice,228  the  Croatian 
Public  Health  Institute  and  the  Association  for  Occupational  Medicine  have  issued 
guidelines  for  occupational  medicine  specialists,  to  standardise  their  procedures  when 
providing medical opinions in relation to the leave of a pregnant worker.229  

A  provision  from  the  previously  applicable  Act  on  Maternity  and  Parental  Benefits 
(Article 20)230 concerning the right to paid leave at the employer’s expense for a pregnant 
worker,  a  worker  who  has  given  birth  or  a  worker  who  is  breastfeeding  (which  is 
substantially identical to Article 24 of the current Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits) 
was subject to a review of constitutionality by the Constitutional Court.231 The applicants, 
four limited liability companies, had claimed that this provision violated the principles of 
equality,  entrepreneurial  freedom  and  special  protection  of  mothers  and  children, 
guaranteed under the Croatian Constitution. Their basic argument was that the legislative 
provision  requiring  the  employer  to  find  a  suitable  workplace  or  grant  paid  leave  to 
pregnant workers and workers who are breastfeeding or have recently given birth is too 
onerous for employers. They claimed that employers who employ mostly younger female 
workers are at a disadvantage, because they have to bear the cost of protecting pregnant 
workers or workers who have recently given birth or are breastfeeding, which could also 
affect their decision on whether to hire younger female workers in the first place.  

The  Constitutional  Court  found  the  disputed  provision  to  be  in  compliance  with  the 
Constitution,  because  its  aim  is  to  enable  equal  and  non-discriminatory  participation  of 
both  parents  in  the  labour  market,  remove  and  prevent  differences  between  men  and 
women and discrimination in the labour market towards parents, i.e. pregnant workers, 
workers who have recently given birth or who are breastfeeding. This provision is a rare 
example  of  these  rights  being  granted  at  the  expense  of  the  employer  in  national 
legislation.  In  the  majority  of  cases,  the  workers  will  nevertheless  acquire  their  rights 
through  the  public  social  security  system.  The  Constitutional  Court  therefore  found  this 
provision to be proportionate to the aim it pursues, because it is suitable and appropriate 
for the attainment of a legitimate public interest. 

228  There are discrepancies in the realisation of these rights, and a substantial number of kindergarten teachers 

in 2023 were reporting difficulties in acquiring the right to paid leave for a pregnant worker. See 
Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2024), Annual Report for 2023, p. 80. 

229  See Croatian Public Health Institute – Occupational Medicine Service, Opinion on procedure by the 

occupational medicine specialist in relation to the leave of a pregnant worker, available at: 
http://www.hzzzsr.hr/index.php/medicina-rada/strucne-upute-i-misljenja/.  

230  Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits (Zakon o rodiljnim i roditeljskim potporama), NN Nos. 85/2008, 

110/2008, 34/2011, 54/2013, 152/2014, 59/2017, 37/2020 and 85/2022. This Act ceased to apply as of 1 
January 2023, when the new Act under the same title entered into force (Act on Maternity and Parental 
Benefits (Zakon o rodiljnim i roditeljskim potporama), NN no. 152/2022). 

231  Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, U-I/2059/2009, Decision of 16 October 2018. 

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5.2.6  Prohibition of night work (Article 7 of Directive 92/85) 

Article 24(6)  of  the  Act  on  Maternity  and  Parental  Benefits  stipulates  that  a  pregnant 
worker, a worker who has given birth or a worker who is breastfeeding is not obliged to 
work at night until the child reaches one year or in the period while she is breastfeeding, 
until a child reaches one year. In that case, a worker will have to provide a certificate from 
her  gynaecologist,  a  paediatrician,  a  general  practitioner  or  a  specialist  in  occupational 
medicine which confirms that the abstention from night work is necessary for the safety 
and health of a worker or a child. This provision is a correct implementation of Article 7 of 
Directive 92/85, despite the discrepancy in wording (safety  and health instead of safety 
or health). 

5.2.7  Case law on the prohibition of night work 

There is no available case law on the prohibition of night work. 

5.2.8  Prohibition of dismissal (Article 10(1) of Directive 92/85) 

Article 34(1)  of  the  Labour  Act  prohibits  dismissal  during  pregnancy,  during  the  use  of 
maternity, parental, adoption leave and other types of leave in relation to pregnancy and 
maternity, including 15 days following the last day of the use of those rights. However, 
the employment contract of such workers ends with the death of the employer (if this is a 
natural person), trade closing date by virtue of the law and the deletion of an individual 
trader  from  the  official  registry  (Article 34(3),  Labour  Act).  In  exceptional  cases,  a 
dismissal for business reasons is allowed in the procedure for the winding-up of a company, 
in  accordance  with  special  regulations  (Article 34(4),  Labour  Act).232  Fixed-term 
employment  contracts  are  terminated  with  the  expiry  of  the  period  for  which  they  are 
concluded.  Although  this  is  not  explicitly  mentioned  in  the  Labour  Act,  this  means  that 
pregnancy and maternity do not prevent the expiry of a fixed-term employment contract. 

However, when it comes to employment contracts with a probationary period, there is no 
express  protection  in  relation  to  parenthood.  Failure  of  the  worker  to  fulfil  the  position 
requirements during the probationary period shall constitute a just cause for terminating 
the  employment  contract  (Article 53(8),  Labour  Act).  If  contracted,  the  probationary 
period  can  last  for  up  to  six  months,  with  the  possibility  of  an  extension  in  the  case  of 
temporary absence, especially due to sick leave or the use of maternity or parental rights 
or the  right to paid leave,  relative to the absence, but its duration  before and after the 
absence should not be longer than six months.233 However, the prevailing opinion is that 
it  would  be  contrary  to  Article 8  of  the  European  Social  Charter  to  dismiss  a  worker  on 
probation  during  their  maternity  leave  or  if  a  notice  period  would  expire  during  their 
maternity leave.234 Croatia has ratified the European Social Charter, but not the revised 
European Social Charter, which accords the same right during pregnancy.  

According to Article 10(1)(1) of Directive 92/85, the dismissal of a pregnant worker would 
be  possible  during  probationary  work,  for  reasons  unrelated  to  her  pregnancy  but  only 
related to her performance during the probationary period. In one case involving a woman 
who  took  pregnancy-related  sick  leave  during  the  probationary  period,  as  well  as 
maternity,  parental  and  annual  leave  after  that,  the  employer’s  decision  to  dismiss  her 
after  she  finally  returned  to  work,  due  to  unsatisfactory  performance  during  her 

232  A previous inconsistency in the law which suspended the notice period during pregnancy and use of other 

maternity and parental related rights and which actually worked in favour of workers was ‘rectified’ with the 
amendments of the Labour Act in 2022 to specifically exclude the application of this suspension in case of 
the termination of an employment contract due to the winding-up of a company. See Article 121(3) and (4) 
of the Labour Act. 

233  The possibility of extension for these reasons was added with the amendments to the Labour Act in 2022. 
234  See also the Opinion of the Ministry of Labour and Pension System of 29 April 2019 that the protective 
character of the dismissal ban for pregnant workers and workers on maternity leave takes precedence. 

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probationary period, was deemed to be in accordance with the law.235 The employer was 
not  required  to  substantiate  the  reasons  why  the  employee’s  work  was  considered 
unsatisfactory.  The  employer’s  negative  assessment  and  written  formal  dismissal  were 
sufficient. 

Article 191(3)  of  the  Insolvency  Act236  stipulates  that  the  insolvency  administrator  and 
worker  are  entitled  to  terminate  an  employment  contract  after  the  commencement  of 
insolvency  proceedings,  regardless  of  the  duration  and  regardless  of  the  legal  or 
contractual provisions on the protection of workers. The notice period is one month, unless 
otherwise  prescribed.  Although  the  Labour  Act  stipulates  that  the  notice  period  is 
suspended  during  pregnancy  or  the  use  of  any  maternity,  parental  or  adoption-related 
rights  (Article 121(3)  of  the  Labour  Act),  in  practice,  dismissal  due  to  an  employer’s 
insolvency may have an immediate effect, where the insolvency procedure is opened and 
closed on the same day (when the debtor has no assets). 

Only the aforementioned cases of dismissal are allowed during pregnancy and the use of 
maternity and parental rights. If the employment status of a person changes for one of 
these reasons or, for example, due to the expiry of a fixed-term employment contract, the 
basis for the recognition of maternity and parental benefits under the Act on Maternity and 
Parental Benefits also changes. Under Article 64(1) of the Act on Maternity and Parental 
Benefits,  a  beneficiary  is  required  to  inform  the  competent  body  (the  Croatian  Health 
Insurance Fund) of any change that affects the recognition of a right under that act, within 
eight  days.  Since  all  rights  arising  from  the  Act  on  Maternity  and  Parental  Benefits  are 
recognised in accordance with a formal decision of the competent body (Article 56(1), Act 
on Maternity and Parental Benefits), in such a case the competent body will have to issue 
a  new  decision,  taking  into  account  the  changed  circumstances,  i.e.  the  change  of  the 
basis for the recognition of rights. 

5.2.9  Employer’s  obligation  to  substantiate  a  dismissal  in  writing  (Article 10(2)  of 

Directive 92/85) 

A dismissal during the period of pregnancy or the use of maternity or  parental or other 
related leave is only allowed in the procedure for the winding-up of a company, or in the 
case of insolvency. 

In cases of dismissal for business reasons during the winding-up procedure, the dismissal 
has  to  be  in  writing  and  must  contain  a  statement  of  the  reasons  (Article 34(4)  in 
conjunction  with  Articles 115(1)  and  120  of  the  Labour  Act).  Opening  of  insolvency 
proceedings is presumed to substantiate dismissal by itself.237 

5.2.10 Protection against dismissal during pregnancy and maternity leave 

Table 2: Protection against dismissal during pregnancy and maternity leave 

Yes/no  Protected period 
Yes. 

During pregnancy and 
maternity leave, 
including 15 days 
following the last day of 
use of that right. 

Exceptions 
Winding-up or cessation 
of a company without 
winding-up in 
accordance with 
company law. 
Opening of insolvency 
procedure. 

Specific procedure? 
Dismissal in any case 
has to be in writing 
and must contain a 
statement of reasons. 

235  Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, Revr-889/2017. 
236  Insolvency Act (Stečajni zakon), NN Nos. 71/2015, 104/2017 and 36/2022. 
237  See Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, U-III-2341/2016, Decision of 5 April 2017. 

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5.2.11 Employment rights (Article 11(1) of Directive 92/85)  

Employment  rights  and  income  for  pregnant  workers,  workers  who  have  recently  given 
birth and workers who are breastfeeding, and who are working in jobs that represent a 
risk to their health and life or to the baby’s health and life, are maintained. Transfer to 
another appropriate job is based on an annex to the original employment contract, which 
stipulates temporary performance of other appropriate tasks,  and should not result in a 
salary decrease for the worker (Article 31(1) and (5), Labour Act). If no other appropriate 
job is available, or the employer is unable to eliminate the risk of exposure, the worker is 
entitled to paid leave at the employer’s expense (Article 31(3), Labour Act; Article 24(4) 
and  (5)  of  the  Act  on  Maternity  and  Parental  Benefits).  After  any  of  the  above  rights 
expires,  the  worker  continues  to  perform  the  work  under  previous  work  arrangements 
(Article 31(4), Labour Act). During the use of any maternity and parental related rights, 
including the leave or transfer to another appropriate job for pregnant worker, worker who 
has  recently  given  birth,  and  breastfeeding  worker,  the  worker  also  benefits  from  the 
presumption of full-time work under Article 32 of the Labour Act, when prior duration of 
employment is a precondition for acquiring or keeping any employment-based or related 
right during this period.  

5.2.12 Case law on the protection against dismissal and the maintenance of income and 

other employment rights 

Non-renewal  of  a  fixed-term  contract  due  to  pregnancy  has  become  usual  practice  for 
employers  in  Croatia.  On  the  one  hand,  there  exists  an  almost  absolute  ban  on  the 
dismissal of pregnant workers or of workers using some type of maternity-related leave. 
On the other hand, pregnancy or the use of any maternity-related right does not prevent 
the  expiry  of  a  fixed-term  contract.  One  of  the  usual  reasons  for  the  termination  of  an 
employment contract is the expiry of a fixed-term employment contract (Article 112(1)(5), 
Labour  Act).  The  employer  is  under  no  obligation  to  offer  a  renewal  of  a  fixed-term 
contract.238  

So,  even  where  it  is  evident  that,  for  example,  the  employer  has  not  offered  the 
continuation of the employment relationship, i.e. conclusion of another fixed-term or even 
open-ended contract, due to pregnancy or maternity, there are no court claims, because 
women are in such a vulnerable position and employers continue unsanctioned. 

The Ombudsperson for Gender Equality reported a complaint filed by a female worker due 
to  less  favourable  treatment  on  the  ground  of  pregnancy.239  She  was  employed  by  a 
temporary employment agency for three years, during which time she was placed at the 
disposal  of  another  business  that  was  satisfied  with  her  work.  When  she  went  on 
pregnancy-related sick leave, the temporary  employment agency decided not to extend 
the contractual relationship with her, although all of her colleagues who started work at 
approximately  the  same  time  as  she  did  were  offered  open-ended  contracts.  In  the 
absence  of any plausible  explanation  for this decision,  the  only  conclusion was that the 
employer  decided  not  to  extend  the  contractual  relationship  precisely  because  of  the 
worker’s  pregnancy.  The  employer  did  not  accept  the  recommendation  of  the 
Ombudsperson for Gender Equality to reconsider this action and instead stated that, if the 
need  for  work  were  to  arise  in  the  future,  it  was  ready  to  offer  the  complainant  a  new 
contract (without specifying whether it would be open-ended or fixed-term).  

238  County Court in Split, Gž R-186/2019. In this case, the court found that employment contracts are based 
on free will and the employer cannot be forced to offer a new contract to a worker who is temporarily 
unavailable to perform work due to pregnancy. 

239  Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2018), Annual Report for 2017, pp. 40-41. Similar complaints are 

recurring in the work of the Ombudsperson for Gender Equality. See Ombudsperson for Gender Equality 
(2022), Annual Report for 2021, p. 48. 

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This is standard practice in Croatia, despite the fact that it is contrary to EU law240 and 
that there are available remedies (such as a discrimination claim). Workers are not willing 
to initiate discrimination claims before the courts (due to the associated costs, length of 
procedure, uncertain prospects of success, etc.), even when the facts of the case are such 
that the existence of direct discrimination based on pregnancy is fairly obvious. Hopefully 
this practice will begin to change after a recent decision by the Supreme Court in which it 
clearly  stated  that  where  non-continuation  of  a  contractual  relationship  is  related  to 
pregnancy, it constitutes discrimination.241  

  Maternity leave 

5.3.1  Maternity leave in national law (Article 8(1) and (2) of Directive 92/85) 

The national legislation provides for maternity leave. Maternity leave is the period off work 
available on the birth of a child. Article 15 of the Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits 
regulates the duration of maternity leave for employed and self-employed mothers. The 
total length of maternity leave is 28 days before the expected date of birth until the child 
turns six months old. In exceptional cases, maternity leave may start 45 days before the 
expected birth, depending on the state of pregnancy and health condition of the pregnant 
woman, which is determined by the gynaecologist. Maternity leave consists of two parts: 
non-transferable  obligatory  maternity  leave  and  additional  maternity  leave  which  is 
transferable to the father. Obligatory maternity leave lasts for 98 days: 28 days before 
the birth and 70 days after the birth. The estimated due date is determined by the woman’s 
chosen gynaecologist within mandatory health insurance. Additional maternity leave starts 
after the  expiry of the obligatory maternity leave and lasts until the child is six months 
old.  Additional  maternity  leave  may  be  transferred  to  the  father  with  his  consent  in  its 
entirety or partially or used on a part-time basis. If a child is born prematurely, additional 
maternity leave is extended by the number of days between the premature birth and the 
expected due date. A child is considered to be born prematurely if they are born before 
the end of the 37th  week  or 259th day  of pregnancy, which has to  be determined by a 
special  expert  commission  of  the  Croatian  Health  Insurance  Fund  based  on  medical 
documentation. 

The same provisions apply in the public and the private sector. 

5.3.2  Maintenance  of 
Directive 92/85)  

income  and  other  employment  rights  (Article 11(2)  of 

Article 32 of the Labour Act stipulates that, if the prior duration of employment is important 
to acquire specific rights arising from employment or related to employment, the periods 
of  maternity,  parental  or  adoption  leave  and  the  use  of  other  related  rights  will  be 
considered as work in full-time working hours. Article 32(1) of the Act on Maternity and 
Parental  Rights  guarantees  the  right  of  an  employed  or  self-employed  parent  to  salary 
compensation  during  maternity  and  parental  leave.  Accrual  of  annual  leave  is  assured 
during maternity leave. Unused annual leave from the previous calendar year typically has 
to  be  used  by  30 June  of  the  next  calendar  year  at  the  latest,  unless  a  worker  was  on 
maternity, parental, adoption or leave to take care for a child with severe developmental 
difficulties,  in  which  case  the  unused  annual  leave  from  the  previous  year  can  be 
transferred  and  used  by  the  end  of  the  calendar  year  a  worker  returns  to  work 
(Article 84(1), (4) and (5), Labour Act). Equal conditions for the accrual of occupational 
pension  rights  and  membership  in  voluntary  pension  funds  during  interruptions  due  to 

240  See Article 2(2)(c) and 14(1) of Directive 2006/54, and case law of the Court of Justice of the European 

Union (CJEU), judgment of 4 October, 2001, Jiménez Melgar, C-438/99, 
https://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=46246&pageIndex=0&doclang=en&mo
de=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=194401.  

241  Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, Rev-382/2020.  

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maternity  leave  or  child-raising  responsibilities  is  guaranteed  (Article 183(5),  Act  on 
Voluntary Pension Funds).242 

5.3.3  Paid maternity leave (Article 11(3) and (4) of Directive 92/85)  

Maternity benefits (paid during maternity leave) for employed or self-employed persons 
amount to 100 % of the monthly earnings of the insured person, calculated on the basis 
of  the  average  salary  received  in  the  six  months  preceding  the  maternity  leave 
(Article 32(1), Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits). There is no ceiling. The allowance 
is  higher  than  the  average  pay  during  sick  leave.  The  average  amount  of  salary 
remuneration during sick leave is at least 70 % of the previous salary, depending on the 
reason and duration of the sick leave. It is at least 70 % of the calculation base (average 
salary during the six months prior to the sick leave) and in any case the resulting amount 
cannot  be  lower  than  25 %  of  the  budget  calculation  base243  for  full-time  work 
(Article 55(1) of the Mandatory Health Insurance Act). Maternity benefits are paid at the 
expense and from the budget of the statutory health insurance fund. 

A minimum period of insurance is required for the payment of maternity benefits at the 
full  amount  corresponding  to  100 %  of  the  prior  average  wage.  The  required  minimum 
period  of  insurance  is  nine  months  of  consecutive  insurance  or  12  months  with 
interruptions in the past two years (Article 32(8), Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits). 
The prescribed insurance period is the period that the person has accumulated on the basis 
of their employed or self-employed activity or on the basis of salary compensation after 
the  termination  of  employment.  If  this  condition  is  not  fulfilled,  the  insured  person  is 
entitled to a compensation which cannot exceed 125 % of the budget calculation base for 
full-time work (Article 32(8), Act on Maternity  and Parental Benefits)  which amounts to 
EUR 551.80. 

5.3.4  Right to return to the same or an equivalent job (Article 15 of Directive 2006/54) 

Article 36(1)  and  (2)  of  the  Labour  Act  guarantees  the  right  of  workers  returning  from 
maternity,  paternity,  parental,  adoption  leave  or  other  types  of  leave  associated  with 
childcare responsibilities to go back to the same job they performed before exercising one 
of those rights. A worker is obliged to inform the employer about their intention to return 
to work at least 30 days in advance, with the exception of workers exercising paternity 
leave. If the need for their job no longer exists, the employer must offer the worker an 
employment contract for another appropriate job and the conditions of that job must not 
be  less  favourable  than  the  conditions  of  the  previous  job.  The  decision  to  allocate  the 
worker  to  another  post  cannot  be  made  unilaterally  by  the  employer  –  an  offer  for  the 
conclusion  of  an  employment  contract  for  another  appropriate  job  has  to  be  made. 
However, if there are no equivalent jobs, the employer would be entitled to dismiss the 
worker  (provided  that  the  worker  is  not  using  any  of  the  maternity  or  parental  rights 
granted under the Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits), with the prescribed or agreed 
notice period and severance pay. This would be considered a regular dismissal for which 
the employer has to have a justifiable reason and the decision on dismissal has to be in 
writing and contain a statement of reasons.244 

242  Act on Voluntary Pension Funds (Zakon o dobrovoljnim mirovinskim fondovima), NN Nos. 19/14 and 29/18. 
243  The budget calculation base is the basis for the calculation of allowances and other income paid from the 

State Budget, based on specific rules (i.e. within the social security system), which is determined at a fixed 
amount for each year. The budget calculation base in 2023 is EUR 441.44. See Act on Execution of the 
State Budget of the Republic of Croatia for 2023 (Zakon o izvršavanju Državnog proračuna Republike 
Hrvatske za 2023. godinu), NN Nos. 145/2022 and 63/2023, Articles 39(1) and (2). 

244  Opinion of the Ministry of Labour and Pension System, 7 July 2015, available at: 

http://www.mrms.hr/pitanje/pravo-povratka-na-prethodne-ili-odgovarajuce-poslove/. 

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Article 36(4)  of  the  Labour  Act  stipulates  that  a  worker  who  has  used  some  of  their 
maternity  and  parental  rights  is  entitled  to  additional  professional  training  if  there  has 
been a change in working techniques or methods during the use of one of those rights and 
is entitled to any other benefit arising from improved working conditions. 

5.3.5  Case law on maternity leave 

Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, Revr-1150/12 – the right to return to the same 
or equivalent post is violated when the employer hires another worker on an open-ended 
contract to replace the worker on maternity/parental leave. After the worker returned from 
parental leave, she was given the same job (sales clerk), but one month after that, she 
was dismissed for business reasons, because the employer did not need two workers for 
the  same  job.  The  dismissal  was  outside  the  protected  period  of  15  days  following  the 
return to work, but the lower and appeal courts found that it was illegal because it violated 
the right to return to the same or equivalent post. 

Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, Revr-211/06 – protection against dismissal does 
not cover other cases of termination of the employment relationship, notably the expiry 
of a fixed-term employment contract. The fact that a worker is on maternity leave does 
not prevent the expiry of a fixed-term employment contract. 

Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, Revr-1642/14 – failure of a worker to request 
protection of violated rights from the employer in accordance with a prescribed procedure 
and within the prescribed period results in the fact that the worker loses the right to initiate 
court  proceedings.  Direct  court  action  does  not  replace  the  worker’s  request  for  the 
protection of rights. 

Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, Revr-1227/09 – dismissal given on the first day 
after the worker returned from maternity leave is contrary to the prohibition of dismissal. 
The  worker  notified  the  employer  of  the  fact  that  she  is  on  maternity  leave  within  the 
prescribed period of 15 days and filed a law suit within another 15 days from the day of 
notification,  thereby  complying  with  all  procedural  requirements.  The  fact  that  the 
employer  claims  not  to  have  been  aware  of  that  condition  cannot  be  taken  against  the 
worker,  because  the  employer  did  not  pick  up  the  registered  mail  sent  by  the  worker 
informing the employer about the condition and containing the decision of the competent 
Croatian Health Insurance Fund about the recognition of maternity leave. 

Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, Revr-1381/12 – notice of dismissal given to the 
worker on the first day that she was supposed to come back to work after maternity leave, 
with an indication that the employment relationship would terminate 15 days thereafter: 
dismissal is nevertheless prohibited. 

Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, Revr-1553/12 – where a worker did not exercise 
the right guaranteed under the Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits, even though she 
was entitled to it, means that a dismissal ban does not apply. 

Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, Revr-1314/10 – dismissal is prohibited if the 
employer  was  aware  and  notified  of  the  pregnancy  and  sick  leave  due  to  complications 
with the pregnancy, even if the employee fails to deliver the formal notice of incapacity 
for work issued by the employee’s doctor. 

High Administrative Court, Usž-600/22: maternity leave is not an individual right of each 
parent,  but  the  right  of  a  mother,  who  has  a  mandatory  health  insurance.  Additional 
maternity leave therefore cannot be transferred to a father, where a mother has no status 
in the Croatian mandatory health insurance. 

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High Administrative Court, Usž-2442/21: additional maternity leave cannot be granted to 
a father, where a mother, based on her express decision, did not use the obligatory part 
of maternity leave.  

Ombudsperson  for  Gender  Equality,  PRS-01-06/17-03  –  the  usual  practice  is  for  junior 
resident doctors to be obliged to continue working for a certain period after completion of 
their specialisation in the same institution that financed their specialisation. However, one 
hospital required junior residents to sign a contract, undertaking the obligation to extend 
the period of work obligation, if during that time they were absent from work more than 
30 days per year, due to ‘maternity, parental leave or other circumstances’. Thus, junior 
resident 
their 
pregnancy/maternity/parental  rights,  which  is  clearly  an  example  of  unfavourable 
treatment  based  on  pregnancy  and  maternity  and  as  such  prohibited.  After  the 
recommendation  of  the  Ombudsperson  for  Gender  Equality,  the  hospital  changed  this 
practice.  

doctors  were 

practically 

punished 

some 

using 

for 

of 

Ombudsperson for Gender Equality, PRS-01-03/17-24 – the question of recognising the 
time spent on pregnancy-related sick leave, maternity and/or parental leave as necessary 
work experience (not the service period) required for promotion in certain professions is 
often  misused  by  employers.  This  case  concerned  a  police  worker  who  was  on 
maternity/parental leave, during which time she was not able to take a specific exam that 
would enable her to be promoted to senior police officer and receive a higher salary. The 
applicable regulation prescribed that the year in which a police officer ‘was absent from 
work longer than six months’ is not calculated in the required period, which is obviously 
detrimental  to  people  on  family-related  leave,  especially  women.  Consequently,  the 
necessary  time  period  for  promotion  is  in  fact  longer  for  workers  (usually  women)  on 
pregnancy  and  maternity-related  leave,  which  is  contrary  to  the  principle  of  equal 
treatment.  The  Ministry  of  the  Interior  has  acknowledged  the  recommendation  of  the 
Ombudsperson for Gender Equality on including the time spent on pregnancy-related sick 
leave, maternity/parental leave in the period required for promotion. 

5.3.6  Table on maternity leave 

Table 3 Maternity leave: 

Duration 

Obligatory 
period 

Possibility to 
share 
maternity 
leave? 

Payment or 
allowance 

28 
(exceptionally 
45) days before 
expected birth 
until a child is 
six months old. 

98 days 
(28 days 
before 
expected 
birth until 70 
days after 
birth). 

Yes, 
additional 
leave (from 
71st day after 
birth until a 
child is six 
months old). 

Allowance (at the 
level of 100 % of 
average salary 
received in six 
months before 
leave; if a minimum 
period of prior 
insurance is not 
fulfilled, maximum 
allowance at the 
level of 125 % of 
the budget 
calculation base). 

Right to 
return 
after the 
end of 
maternity 
leave 
Yes. 

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  Paternity leave 

5.4.1  Paternity  leave  in  national  law  (recital  26  Directive of  2006/54  and  Articles  3(a) 

and 4 of Directive 2019/1158)  

Paternity leave is a period of leave for employed or self-employed fathers, or persons with 
equal status who take care of a child, on the occasion of the birth of a child for the purposes 
of  providing  care  (Article 7(1)(14),  Act  on  Maternity  and  Parental  Benefits).245  The 
employed or self-employed father of a child is entitled to take paternity leave on the birth 
of a child for an uninterrupted period of 10 working days for one child or 15 working days 
for  twins,  triplets  or  the  simultaneous  birth  of  multiple  children  (Article 16(1),  Act  on 
Maternity and Parental Benefits).246 This is an individual and non-transferable right of the 
father, to be used independently of the working status of the mother. It can be used until 
the child reaches six months of age, provided that the father is not simultaneously using 
any  other  right  under  the  Act  on  Maternity  and  Parental  Benefits  (Article 16(2),  Act  on 
Maternity and Parental Benefits). 

Paternity leave is also granted in case of the stillbirth or death of a child during paternity 
leave (Article 21(2), Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits). 

The understanding of the working day is based on the worker’s weekly schedule, meaning 
that a full-time worker  works an  eight-hour working day (Article 7(1)(15) of the Act  on 
Maternity and Parental Benefits). Full-working time is limited to 40 hours per week by law 
(Article 61(1), Labour Act), meaning five full eight-hour working days per week; whether 
the working days include weekends or just weekdays is irrelevant. 

The worker has a duty to inform the employer of the intended use of paternity leave at 
least 15 days before the expected date of birth or the intended date of the start of paternity 
leave  (Article 59(2),  Act  on  Maternity  and  Parental  Benefits).  There  is  no  provision  for 
when a baby is born prematurely and the father had not yet informed the employer of the 
intention to take paternity leave from the moment of the child’s birth. 

The same rules apply in the public and the private sector. 

5.4.2  Paid paternity leave (Article 8(1) and (2) of Directive 2019/1158) 

Paternity  leave  is  paid  for  its  entire  duration.  Paternity  benefits  (allowance  or  salary 
compensation) during paternity leave amount to 100 % of the salary calculation base, in 
accordance  with  the  rules  on  mandatory  health  insurance  (i.e.  the  average  monthly 
earnings in the six months preceding the leave is the basis for calculation). There is no 
ceiling. The benefit is paid at the expense of the state budget. The level of benefit is higher 
than the level of income a worker would receive during sick leave for personal illness. The 
right to paternity leave is not subject to qualifying conditions, including the period of work 

245  There  is  a  discrepancy  between  the  definition  of  paternity  leave  (Article 7(1)(14),  Act  on  Maternity  and 
Parental  Benefits)  and  the  provision granting  paternity  leave  (Article 16(1),  Act on Maternity  and  Parental 
Benefits),  because  the  definition  refers  to  ‘other  persons  with  equal  status  to  employed  or  self-employed 
father who take care of a child’, whereas the provision granting that right does not. In general, all benefits 
under the Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits can be exercised by the child’s mother and father, as well 
as other persons who exercise parental care based on a decision by the competent body, adoptive parents, 
guardians, foster parents or other natural persons to whom a minor child has been entrusted for daily care 
following  a decision by  a  competent body,  under  the conditions  prescribed  in  the Act  (Article 3(3), Act on 
Maternity and Parental Benefits). The provision granting the right to paternity leave expressly refers only to 
employed  or  self-employed  fathers,  which  seemingly  narrows  down  the  definition  of  paternity  leave  from 
Article 7(1)(14).  The  only  other  category  of  beneficiaries  that  has  a  right  which  is  equivalent  to  paternity 
leave are adoptive parents. A special ‘right to leave of the other adoptive parent’ exists for employed or self-
employed adoptive parents (Article 45(5), Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits), which is equivalent to in 
terms of content and manner of use to ‘paternity leave’, but it is gender neutral and can be used within six 
months from the date the adoption decision becomes final. 

246  The expression is vague and there is no guidance on whether ‘simultaneous birth of multiple children’ means 
children born to the same mother at the same time or children borne by different women (at the same time). 

59 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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qualification or a length of service requirement. However, the amount of paternity benefits 
(allowance  or  salary  compensation)  depends  on  the  prior  period  of  work.  The  required 
minimum  period  of  work  (i.e.  period  of  insurance)  for  this  purpose  is  six  months  of 
consecutive  insurance  or  nine  months  with  interruptions  in  the  past  two  years 
(Article 32(8), Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits). If this condition is not fulfilled, the 
allowance for full-time work amounts to 125 % of the budget calculation base.247 

5.4.3  Legal  protection  of  the  right  to  paternity  leave  (Articles  10,  11  and  12  of 

Directive 2019/1158) 

The maintenance of rights is explicitly guaranteed for paternity leave (Article 32, Labour 
Act). If the prior duration of employment relationship  is a prerequisite for acquisition of 
specific  rights  from  employment  relationship  or  in  connection  therewith,  time  spent  on 
paternity leave is considered as full-time work. 

The  right  to  return  to  the  same  or  equivalent  job  is  explicitly  guaranteed  for  paternity 
leave  (as  well  as  for  other  maternity  and  parental-related  rights)  (Article 36(1),  Labour 
Act). 

Workers who request any of the rights guaranteed under the Labour Act, any of the rights 
guaranteed under other acts, regulations, collective agreements, agreements between the 
workers’ council and the employer, employment rules or employment agreement (which 
includes paternity leave) or who use those rights shall not be placed in a less favourable 
position as a result (Article 133(7), Labour Act). 

Article 34(1) of the Labour Act prohibits dismissal during paternity leave (as well as other 
types  of  leave  in  relation  to  pregnancy,  maternity,  parenting  and  adoption),  including 
15 days following the last day of the use of those rights.  

Exceptions include the winding-up of a company or a similar procedure for the termination 
of a company under special acts or dismissal during insolvency procedures (Article 34(4), 
Labour Act; Article 191(3), Insolvency Act).  

In  labour  disputes  concerning  dismissal  in  general,  the  burden  of  proof  concerning  the 
existence  of  a  justified  reason  for  dismissal  lies  with  the  employer  if  the  employer 
terminated the contract, and with the worker only if a worker terminated the employment 
relationship by submitting an extraordinary notice of termination (Article 135(3), Labour 
Act). In case of a dispute about the placing in a less favourable position of a worker who 
submitted  a  request  for  maternity  or  parental  rights  in  accordance  with  applicable 
regulations, or for rights in connection with the provision of personal care under the Labour 
Act, where a worker provides facts that show that they were placed in a less favourable 
position,  the  burden  of  proof  lies  with  the  employer  to  prove  that  the  worker  was  not 
placed  in  a  less  favourable  position  based  on  those  reasons,  i.e.  that  a  worker’s  right 
derived from the employment relationship was not violated (Article 135(5), Labour Act). 
This reversal of the burden of proof is not limited to dismissal, but to any violation of a 
right derived from the employment relationship for these reasons. 

5.4.4  Case law on paternity leave 

There  is  still  no  case  law  on  paternity  leave,  although  this  right  was  first  introduced  in 
August 2022. 

247  I.e. EUR 551.80 per month. 

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5.4.5  Table on paternity leave 

Table 4 Paternity leave: 

Who is 
entitled? 

Duration 

Father. 

10 working days (1 
child). 

15 working days 
(twins, triplets, or 
simultaneous birth 
of multiple 
children). 

  Adoption leave 

Possibility to 
share 
paternity 
leave? 
No. 

Payment 
or 
allowance 

Qualifying 
conditions for 
allowance 

Allowance. 

Six months of 
consecutive 
insurance or nine 
months with 
interruptions in the 
last two years. 

5.5.1  Adoption leave in national law (recital 27 of Directive 2006/54)248 

Employed and self-employed adoptive parent has a right to adoption leave, provided that 
the spouse of the adoptive parent is not the child’s biological parent.  

The duration of adoption leave is six months for a child younger than 18. If spouses adopt 
a child jointly, they share adoption leave in equal parts, unless they agree otherwise in 
writing (Article 45(1) and (3), Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits). In the event of the 
adoption of twins or the simultaneous adoption of two or more children or if the adopted 
child is a third or consecutive child in the family, or in the event of the adoption of a child 
with a developmental disability, the adoption leave of six months is prolonged by 60 days 
(Article 45(2),  Act  on  Maternity  and  Parental  Benefits).  The  right  to  adoption  leave  is 
acquired on the day that the adoption decision becomes final, but it can be used from the 
day the adoptive parent determines in the request. 

Adoption leave is regarded as an equivalent to maternity leave, so there is no change in 
length  if  only  one  parent  takes  adoption  leave.  The  allowance  for  adoption  leave  is  the 
same  amount  as  for  maternity  leave  (i.e.  100 %  of  average  salary  six  months  prior  to 
event, paid at the expense of the State Budget). After the expiry of the adoption leave, 
the  adoptive  parent  is  entitled  to  parental  leave  as  stipulated  for  biological  parents,  in 
accordance with the Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits. Parental leave can be taken 
until a child is eight years old, which means that there will be no parental leave in relation 
to adopted children above that age. 

A  right  equivalent  to  paternity  leave  is  envisaged  for  one  employed  or  self-employed 
adoptive  parent  in  case  of  joint  adoption  (the  Croatian  name  for  this  leave  is  ‘other 
adoptive  parent’s  leave’).  This  leave  can  be  used  within  six  months  from  the  date  the 
adoption decision becomes final and its duration is ten working days for the adoption of 
one child and 15 working days for the adoption of twins or the simultaneous adoption of 
two or more children or if the adopted child is a third or consecutive child in the family, or 
in the event of the adoption of a child with a developmental disability (Article 45(5), Act 
on Maternity and Parental Benefits). This is basically an equivalent to paternity leave, but 
the language is neutral and it is not limited to adoptive fathers only. The allowance is paid 

248  Adoption leave is defined at EU level as an individual and non-transferable right to leave of men and 

women subsequent to the adoption of a child. While in the case of birth there are two distinct rights to 
create an early bonding with the child, i.e. maternity leave for the delivering mother and paternity leave for 
the other parent, in the case of adoption there is an only right to leave (adoption leave), which under the 
EU definition should be the same for each adoptive parent. 

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at the level set for paternity leave (i.e. 100 % of average salary six months prior to the 
event), at the expense of the State Budget. 

The same rules apply in the public and the private sector. 

5.5.2  Legal protection of the right to adoption leave (Article 16 of Directive 2006/54) 

Article 34(1)  of  the  Labour  Act  prohibits  dismissal  during  adoption  leave  and  other 
adoptive parent’s leave (as well as during pregnancy and other maternity and parenting 
related rights), including 15 days following the last day of the use of those rights. 

After the expiry of adoptive leave (including the ‘other adoptive parent’s leave’, which is 
equivalent to paternity leave), the worker has the right to return to the same or equivalent 
job  (Article 36(1)  and  (3),  Labour  Act).  The  employer  is  obliged  to  offer  the  worker 
equivalent  work  if  the  need  for  a  job  performed  by  the  worker  before  the  use  of  those 
rights has ceased, with the conclusion of a new employment contract under the conditions 
which must not be less favourable than the previous working conditions. A worker has to 
notify  the  employer  of  the  intention  to  go  back  to  work  at  least  30  days  in  advance 
(Article 36(2),  Labour  Act).  A  worker  is  also  entitled  to  additional  vocational  training  if 
there has been a change in the technique or manner of work, as well as any other benefits 
arising  from  improved  working  conditions  to  which  he  or  she  would  be  entitled 
(Article 36(4), Labour Act). 

5.5.3  Case law on adoption leave 

There is no available case law concerning issues related to adoption leave. 

  Parental leave 

5.6.1  Parental leave in national law (Article 5 (1), (2) and (4) of Directive 2019/1158) 

Parental leave is defined as leave for employed or self-employed parents or persons with 
equal status who take  care of a child,249 available on the birth  or adoption of a  child to 
raise and take care of that child (Article 7(1)(13), Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits). 
Parental leave is proclaimed as a personal right of each employed or self-employed mother 
and  employed  or  self-employed  father.  However,  the  use  of  parental  leave  for  fathers 
depends  on  the  working  status  of  the  mother:  a  mother  must  be  employed  or  self-
employed at the time of the birth (Article 17(3), Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits). 
Exceptionally, even if this condition is not satisfied, a father would be entitled to parental 
leave  if  a  mother  has  not  used  or  fulfilled  the  conditions  for  using  the  maternity  and 
parental benefits for unemployed persons, persons with other income or persons outside 
of the labour market (Article 17(4), Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits). Given these 
conditions, it cannot be claimed that parental leave is implemented as an individual right 
of each parent, despite the wording of Article 17(3) of the Act on Maternity and Parental 
Benefits (‘Right to parental leave is a personal right…’). 

249  In  general,  all  benefits  under  the  Act  on  Maternity  and  Parental  Benefits  can  be  exercised  by  the  child’s 
mother and father, as well as other persons who exercise parental care based on a decision of the competent 
body, adoptive parents, guardians, foster parents, or other natural persons to whom a minor child has been 
entrusted for daily care following a decision by a competent body, under the conditions prescribed in the Act 
(Article 3(3), Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits). There is no definition of ‘persons with equal status to 
employed or self-employed parents who take care of a child’, but it cannot be automatically assumed that 
their personal scope is identical to that of beneficiaries other than the mother and father. It definitely includes 
adoptive parents, because parental leave for adoptive parents is expressly recognised in Article 46 of the Act 
on Maternity and Parental Benefits. However, there are special rights for certain categories of other persons 
who  take  care  of  a  child,  such  as  foster  parents  (i.e.  foster  parent  leave),  leading  to  the  conclusion  that 
parental leave for ‘persons with equal status to employed or self-employed parents who take care of a child’ 
exists only where this is specifically prescribed in the Act itself. 

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Parental leave may be used until the child turns eight. The duration of parental leave is 
eight months combined (for the first and the second child) or 30 months combined (for 
the third and each child thereafter or for twins), to be split in equal parts between both 
parents, as a rule. Parental leave is transferable to the other parent. Each parent keeps 
two months of leave which are not transferable to the other parent (Article 18(4), Act on 
Maternity and Parental Benefits). Simultaneous, individual or alternating use is allowed. If 
only one parent uses the parental leave, as agreed by the parents or because the other 
parent has no right to parental leave, the duration of parental leave is six months for the 
first  and  second  child  or  28  months  for  twins  or  the  third  and  each  consecutive  child 
(Article 18(5), Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits).  

Parental leave for adoptive parents of children under eight years of age is granted under 
the  same  terms  as  for  biological  parents  (Article 46,  Act  on  Maternity  and  Parental 
Benefits). 

There  are  no  qualifying  conditions  for  the  use  of  parental  leave  for  employed  or  self-
employed  mothers.  Article 17(3)  of  the  Act  on  Maternity  and  Parental  Benefits  can  be 
interpreted  as  imposing  qualifying  conditions  for  parental  leave  of  employed  or  self-
employed fathers: it depends on the working status of the mother (the mother must be 
employed or self-employed at the time of the birth). Qualifying conditions (requisite prior 
period of insurance) apply for the calculation of parental benefit. 

The same rules apply in the public and the private sector.  

5.6.2  Period of notice (Article 5(3) of Directive 2019/1158) 

Employed  parents  who  intend  to  start  exercising  parental  leave,  which  does  not  start 
immediately after using maternity leave, or employed parents who intend to change the 
arrangements  for  exercising  a  certain  right  (e.g.  switching  from  full-time  to  part-time 
parental leave), are required to inform their employer of this intention in writing at least 
30 days before the intended beginning of the leave period or change of arrangements or 
before taking up an unused part of the pertinent right (Article 59(1), Act on Maternity and 
Parental Benefits). Employed parents are required to indicate the intended beginning and 
end of parental leave (Article 59(6), Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits). The employer 
is  obliged  to  issue  written  consent  to  this  intention  within  eight  days.  Failing  that,  the 
Croatian Health Insurance Fund shall issue a decision recognising the right, beginning 30 
days from the day the employed parent has indicated in their request (Article 59(4), Act 
on Maternity and Parental Benefits). 

A worker is also required to request the recognition of the right granted under the Act on 
Maternity and Parental Benefits from the competent office of the Croatian Health Insurance 
Fund,  at  the  latest  15  days  before  the  intended  start  of  its  use  (Article 56(4),  Act  on 
Maternity and Parental Benefits). 

5.6.3  Postponement of parental leave (Article 5(5) of Directive 2019/1158) 

The  solution  contained  in  Article 59(4)  of  the  Act  on  Maternity  and  Parental  Benefits 
actually allows the automatic postponement of parental leave. An employee is required to 
notify the employer of the intention to start using parental leave, if the parental leave does 
not  start  immediately  following  the  maternity  leave  at  least  30  days  in  advance 
(Article 59(1),  Act  on  Maternity  and  Parental  Benefits).  An  employer’s  failure  to  issue 
written consent within eight days of receiving the worker’s notice triggers a decision by 
the Croatian Health Insurance Fund, recognising the requested right, starting 30 days from 
the day that the worker indicated in the notice. It follows that, under this provision, the 
employer is not permitted to postpone the beginning of parental leave, but that a 30-day 
delay actually results from the fact that the employer has not issued written consent to 
the  worker’s  written  notice  of  intention  to  use  parental  leave.  The  employer’s  only 

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possibility is to either issue written consent or to refrain from taking any action at all, in 
which case the beginning of the parental leave will be postponed for 30 days anyway. This 
unusual  normative  solution  is  not  in  line  with  the  purpose  of  Article 5(5)  of 
Directive 2019/1158,  as  it  actually  exonerates  the  employer  from  providing  reasonable 
reasons  for  postponement  (which  it  tacitly  provokes,  by  not  providing  the  worker  with 
written consent). 

5.6.4  Flexible take-up of parental leave (Article 5(6) of Directive 2019/1158) 

Workers are entitled to use parental leave in its entirety or in parts, either as full-time or 
part-time leave. If used in parts, it can be used in up to two periods per year, each time 
for at least 30 days. Part-time use of parental leave is regulated as a right to work half of 
the full working time (Article 19(4), Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits), lasting twice 
as long as the remaining unused part of parental leave. Any flexibility in deciding how to 
use part-time parental leave (e.g. to work only some days a week) will depend entirely on 
the will of the employer, since the law is silent on this issue. 

5.6.5  Special rules for adoptive parents, parents with a disability and parents of children 

with a disability or a long-term illness (Article 5(8) Directive 2019/1158) 

Parental leave for adoptive parents of children under eight years of age is granted under 
the  same  terms  as  for  biological  parents  (Article 46,  Act  on  Maternity  and  Parental 
Benefits).  

There are no specific measures for parents with disability. 

There are special leave options for employed or self-employed parents of children with a 
disability or a long-term illness. They are separate from maternity and parental leave250 
and include:  

1. 

2. 

3. 

part-time work (half of the full working time) due to increased care for a child under 
three  years  of  age:  after  parental  leave,  one  of  the  employed  or  self-employed 
parents  is  granted  this  right  if  a  child  needs  increased  care  for  health  or 
developmental reasons, according to the professional opinion of and an assessment 
by the family physician and the competent committee of physicians designated by 
the  Croatian  Health  Insurance  Fund  (Article 20,  Act  on  Maternity  and  Parental 
Benefits); 

leave of absence due to care for a child with severe developmental disabilities until 
the child turns eight: after maternity or after/during parental leave, one employed 
or self-employed parent of a child with a severe physical or mental impairment or 
severe  mental  illness  is  granted  this  right  based  on  the  findings  and  professional 
opinion of the competent body for medical expertise in accordance with the rules of 
the  mandatory  health  insurance  system.  Both  parents  must  be  employed  or  self-
employed  before  taking  up  this  right  and  for  its  entire  duration  (Article 28(1)  and 
29, Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits); and 

part-time  work  (half  of  the  full  working  time)  due  to  care  for  a  child  with  severe 
developmental disabilities until the child turns eight and after that time for as long 
as  the  need  exists:  after  maternity  or  after/during  parental  leave,  one  of  the 
employed  or  self-employed  parents  of  a  child  with  a  severe  physical  or  mental 
impairment or severe mental illness is granted this right based on the findings and 
professional opinion of the competent body for medical expertise in accordance with 
the rules of the mandatory health insurance system. Both parents must be employed 

250  These rights, as well as all other rights related to maternity and parental benefits, are granted on the basis 
of a decision by the Croatian Health Insurance Fund, in accordance with the Act on Maternity and Parental 
Benefits. 

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or  self-employed  before  taking  up  this  right  and  for  its  entire  duration.  This  right 
may  be  granted  for  a  certain  period  of  time,  depending  on  the  findings  of  the 
competent body for medical expertise (Article 28(2), Act on Maternity and Parental 
Benefits).  The  employer  and  employee  may  agree  to  rearrange  working  time 
patterns  on  an  individual  basis  (i.e.  to  work  some  days  a  week),  but  the  working 
time must always correspond to 50 % of the full working time. The employer must 
take  into  account  the  purpose  of  this  right  when  determining  the  working  time 
pattern,  unless  this  is  impossible  for  business  reasons  (Article 59(5),  Act  on 
Maternity and Parental Benefits). 

Remuneration during these types of leave is granted in the form of salary compensation 
payable  from  the  state  budget,  based  on  the  prescribed  parameters  of  calculation  in 
Article 34 of the Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits. 

5.6.6  Paid parental leave (Article 8(1) and (3) of Directive 2019/1158) 

Parental benefits (allowance or salary  compensation) are paid for the  entire duration of 
parental leave. They are paid at the expense of the state budget and amount to 100 % of 
the monthly earnings (average earnings in the six months preceding the start of the use 
of parental leave), but cannot exceed a maximum of 225.5 % of the budget calculation 
base (EUR 995.40). The amount cannot be lower than 70 % of the budget calculation base 
(EUR 309), regardless of whether the worker works full or part time (Article 32(3) and (9), 
Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits). The required minimum period of insurance for the 
calculation of parental benefits is six months of consecutive insurance or nine months with 
interruptions in the last two years. The prescribed insurance period is the period that the 
person has accumulated on the basis of their employed or self-employed activity or on the 
basis of salary compensation after the termination of employment. If this condition is not 
fulfilled,  the  insured  person  is  entitled  to  salary  compensation  (parental  benefits) 
amounting  to  125 %  of  the  budget  calculation  base  (EUR 551.80  per  month) 
(Article 32(8), Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits). For parents of twins, the third and 
each  consecutive  child,  after  eight  months  (if  both  parents  exercised  the  leave)  or  six 
months (if only one parent used the leave), parental benefits are reduced for the remaining 
period of parental leave (total duration is 30 months if both parents use the leave or 28 
months if only one parent uses the leave). It amounts to 125 % of the budget calculation 
base (EUR 551.80). 

Since the level of parental benefit depends on the previous average salary, but is subject 
to the upper ceiling, better earning parents will be more reluctant to take the leave, and 
vice versa, i.e. when fathers earn less than mothers, they might be more ready to take 
parental leave. This partly explains the extremely low uptake of parental leave by fathers, 
although other factors (such as traditional division of family roles) probably have a more 
significant impact.251  

Whether  the  level  of  compensation/parental  benefit  is  adequate  in  light  of  recital  31  of 
Directive 2019/1158 to guarantee a decent living standard is a matter of debate. Since 1 
August 2022, the upper limit has been substantially increased, to 225.5 % of the budget 
calculation base, which is at roughly the same level as the average net salary.252 The living 
standard  of  better-earning  parents,  with  above  average  net  salary,  will  therefore 
deteriorate  more  because  of  the  ceiling.  Another  factor  to  take  into  account  is  that  the 
median net salary is lower than the average net salary.253 This means that the ceiling will 
not substantially affect the living standard of employees earning less than median salary, 

251  The  number  of  fathers  taking  parental  leave  doubled  in  the  period  from  2014  to  2019  (from  4.42 %  to 
8.71 %), but it unexpectedly dropped  by half in 2020, and has remained roughly at the same level since.  
See Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2024), Annual Report for 2023, p. 73. 

252  Croatian Bureau of Statistics, Average monthly net and gross wages of employed persons in January 2023, 

available at: https://podaci.dzs.hr/2023/hr/58151.  

253  Median salary is a figure which shows that half of the reported salaries are less than that number, and half 

are higher. In Croatia, the median net salary is about 15 % lower than the average net salary. 

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because the upper limit of the benefit is now higher than the median net salary. However, 
it  should  not  be  forgotten  that  the  average  net  wage  in  Croatia  is  well  below  the  EU 
average. There are recurring discussions concerning the necessity to  abolish the ceiling, 
in view of demographic circumstances and as  a measure  of demographic policy, and to 
pay the benefit in the  amount of average  salary received prior to taking up of parental 
leave, but the upper ceiling still applies. 

5.6.7  Legal  protection  of  the  right  to  parental  leave  (Articles  10,  11  and  12  of 

Directive 2019/1158) 

The maintenance of rights is explicitly guaranteed for  parental leave (Article 32, Labour 
Act). If the prior duration of employment relationship is a prerequisite for acquisition of 
specific  rights  from  employment  relationship  or  in  connection  therewith,  time  spent  on 
parental leave is considered as full-time work. 

After  the  expiry  of  parental  leave,  the  worker  has  the  right  to  return  to  the  same  or 
equivalent  job  (Article 36(1)  and  (3),  Labour  Act).  The  employer  is  obliged  to  offer  the 
worker equivalent work if the need for a job performed by the worker before the use of 
this  right  has  ceased,  with  the  conclusion  of  a  new  employment  contract  under  the 
conditions  which  must  not  be  less  favourable  than  the  previous  working  conditions.  A 
worker has to notify the employer of the intention to go back to work at least 30 days in 
advance  (Article 36(2),  Labour  Act).  A  worker  is  also  entitled  to  additional  vocational 
training if there has been a change in the technique or manner of work, as well as any 
other  benefits  arising  from  improved  working  conditions  to  which  he  or  she  would  be 
entitled (Article 36(4), Labour Act). 

Workers who request any of the rights guaranteed under the Labour Act, any of the rights 
guaranteed under other acts, regulations, collective agreements, agreements between the 
workers’ council and the employer, employment rules or employment agreement (which 
include parental leave)  or who use those  rights shall not be placed in  a less  favourable 
position as a result (Article 133(7), Labour Act). 

Article 34(1) of the Labour Act prohibits dismissal during parental leave (as well as during 
pregnancy and other maternity and parenting related rights), including 15 days following 
the last day of the use of those rights. Exceptions include the winding-up of a company or 
a similar procedure for the termination of a company under special acts or dismissal during 
insolvency procedures (Article 34(4), Labour Act; Article 191(3), Insolvency Act).  

In  labour  disputes  concerning  dismissal  in  general,  the  burden  of  proof  concerning  the 
existence  of  a  justified  reason  for  dismissal  lies  with  the  employer  if  the  employer 
terminated the contract, and with the worker only if a worker terminated the employment 
relationship by submitting an extraordinary notice of termination (Article 135(3), Labour 
Act). In the case of a dispute about the placing in a less favourable position of a worker 
who  submitted  a  request  for  maternity  or  parental  rights  in  accordance  with  applicable 
regulations, or for rights in connection with the provision of personal care under the Labour 
Act, where a worker provides facts that show that they were placed in a less favourable 
position,  the  burden  of  proof  lies  with  the  employer  to  prove  that  the  worker  was  not 
placed  in  a  less  favourable  position  based  on  those  reasons,  i.e.  that  a  worker’s  right 
derived from the employment relationship was not violated (Article 135(5), Labour Act). 
This reversal of the burden of proof is not limited  to dismissal, but to any violation of a 
right derived from the employment relationship for these reasons. 

5.6.8  Case law on parental leave 

The majority of complaints to the Ombudsperson for Gender Equality in the field of parental 
leave over the years primarily relate to the actions of the Croatian Health Insurance Fund. 
For example, when a person returns to work from maternity or parental leave and has to 

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take sick leave, the salary compensation during sick leave is calculated on the basis of the 
average amount of parental benefits in the period preceding the sick leave, which is lower 
than the average salary that the employee would have received had there been no parental 
leave.254  There  was  a  case  in  which  a  father  was  denied  the  option  to  take  additional 
maternity and parental leave because his wife, the child’s mother, was a foreign citizen 
with  private  health  insurance  and  was  not  registered  as  an  insured  person  with  the 
Croatian Health Insurance Fund.255 He was denied this right with reference to the status 
of his wife, despite the fact that he was a Croatian citizen and insured with the national 
health insurance and despite the fact that maternity  and parental leave are deemed as 
personal rights of both parents. The appellate body annulled this decision, but there is no 
further available information as to the outcome of the case. 

5.6.9  Table on parental leave 

Table 5: Table on parental leave 

Flexibility 
(e.g. full-
time, part-
time, 
piecemeal? 
Yes. 

Possibility 
to share 
parental 
leave? 

Yes, except 
for two non-
transferable 
months. 

Duration and 
period 

8 months (first 
and second 
child) or 30 
months (twins, 
third and each 
consecutive 
child) if both 
parents use the 
right; 6 or 28 
months if only 
one parent 
uses the right. 

Qualifying 
conditions for 
payment or 
allowance? 

Six months of 
consecutive 
insurance or 
nine months 
with 
interruptions in 
the last two 
years for full 
compensation. 

Payment or 
allowance? 

Allowance (100 % 
of average salary 
in the last six 
months, up to 
225.5 % of the 
budget calculation 
base).  
For parents of 
twins, third and 
subsequent 
children, after 
eight months (if 
both parents 
exercised the 
leave) or six 
months (if only 
one parent used 
the leave), 
parental benefits 
are reduced for the 
remaining time of 
parental leave to 
125 % of the 
budget calculation 
base. 
If qualifying 
condition not 
fulfilled: fixed 
allowance (125 % 
of budget 
calculation base). 

254  See, e.g. case PRS-01-05/23-18, Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2024), Annual Report for 2023, 

p. 76. 

255  Ombudsperson for Gender Equality, case PRS-01-06/18-10, Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2019), 

Annual Report for 2018, p. 72.  

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  Child-related leave in relation to surrogacy 

5.7.1  Prohibition of surrogacy 

Surrogacy  is  not  legally  regulated  in  Croatia.256  Consequently,  only  legally  recognised 
types of leave (such as adoption leave following legal adoption of a child) would be possible 
here. All maternity and parental benefits and leave are granted to a child’s parents (mother 
or father, including adoptive parents), guardian or foster parent or other person to whose 
care a child has been entrusted by the decision of a competent body (Article 3(3), Act on 
Maternity and Parental Benefits). It is irrelevant whether parents or other beneficiaries are 
in a marital  or extra-marital relationship or  outside  of any such relationship.  There is a 
legal presumption that a child’s mother is the woman who gave birth to the child (Article 58 
of the Family Act)257 and the child’s father is the woman’s husband, if a child was born 
during marriage or within 300 days after the termination of the marriage (Article 61(1) of 
the Family Act). Otherwise, parenthood has to be determined by a court decision and/or 
recognition and surrogacy would cause a multitude of legal issues, not least concerning 
the possibility of leave.258 There exists no legally regulated possibility of leave in relation 
to surrogacy. 

5.7.2  Child-related leave in relation to surrogacy 

Not applicable. 

5.7.3  Case law on child-related leave in relation to surrogacy 

No available case law. 

  Carers’ leave 

5.8.1  Carers’  leave  in  national  law  (Articles  3(1)(c),  (d)  and  (e)  and  6  of 

Directive 2019/1158) 

The provisions of Directive 2019/1158 on carers’ leave were implemented in the Croatian 
legal system through amendments to the Labour Act in 2022.259 Carers’ leave is regulated 
as unpaid leave for the total duration of five working days per year for the provision of 
personal care to a close family member or a member of the same household and which is 
necessary for a serious medical reason (Article 87(2) and (3), Labour Act). Unpaid leave 
for  the  provision  of  personal  care  (i.e.  carers’  leave  within  the  meaning  of  the  WLB 
Directive) is formulated as a worker’s right (see Article 87(3), Labour Act), whereas in any 
other case unpaid leave is granted at the employer’s discretion (the employer ‘may grant 
unpaid leave at the worker’s request’, see Article 87(1), Labour Act). The Croatian wording 
of this provision refers only to the provision of ‘care’, without any reference to the provision 
of ‘support’. The right to carers’ leave is an individual and non-transferable right of each 
worker, for its whole duration. 

256  This effectively means prohibition, and ensuing problems with the recognition of the status of Croatian 

citizenship for children born abroad to surrogate mothers, where this practice is not prohibited. See e.g. 
Ombudsperson for Children, Reaction of 19 January 2024, https://dijete.hr/hr/reakcija-pravobraniteljice-
za-djecu-u-povodu-medijskih-objava-i-komentara-na-aktivnosti-usmjerene-zastiti-prava-djece-koju-su-u-
inozemstvu-rodile-zamjenske-surogat-majke/.  

257  Family Act (Obiteljski zakon), NN Nos. 103/2015, 98/2019, 49/2023 and 156/2023. 
258  See, e.g., a case reported in the Ombudsperson for Children (2023), Annual Report for 2022, p. 15, 
concerning the entry in the Registry of Births for a child born abroad to a surrogate mother and the 
Croatian father. 

259  Act on Amendments to the Labour Act (Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama Zakona o radu, NN No. 151/2022), 
entered  into  force  on  1 January 2023,  which  means  that  the  transposition  was  not  within  transposition 
deadline set in Article 20(1) of the WLB. 

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A definition of a close family member is regulated in the provision concerning paid leave 
(Article 86, Labour Act), to include: spouse, blood relatives in direct line and their spouses, 
brothers and sisters, stepchildren and adopted children, children in foster care, stepmother 
and stepfather, adoptive parents, a person to whom the worker is obliged to pay statutory 
maintenance,  or  a  person  living  in  an  extra-marital  relationship  or  same-sex  life 
partnership or informal same-sex life partnership with the worker (Article 86(3), Labour 
Act). The same household is considered to be a community of persons, as defined under 
the rules regulating the field of social welfare (Article 87(5), Labour Act).260 

An employer is entitled to require proof of a serious medical condition, for the purpose of 
approving the right to unpaid leave for the provision of personal care. There is no further 
detail  requiring  a  certain  degree  of  seriousness  or  specifying  what  is  meant  by  serious 
medical reason. No minimum period of employment is required under this provision. 

There is no specification as to whether leave can be taken in instalments. 

Carers’ leave is regulated as unpaid leave, so there is no payment or allowance during the 
leave. 

Apart from unpaid leave  for the provision of personal care (i.e. carers’ leave within the 
meaning of Article 6 of the WLB Directive), there are two other options for workers who 
take care of sick family members: paid leave under the Labour Act (Article 86, Labour Act) 
and sick leave under the Mandatory Health Insurance Act.261  

Paid leave for important personal needs (wedding, birth of a child or severe illness or death 
of  a  close  family  member,  etc.)  is  regulated  as  the  right  of  a  worker,  for  a  duration  of 
seven  working  days  per  calendar  year,  unless  stipulated  differently  in  the  collective 
agreement, employment rules or employment contract (Article 86(1) and (2), Labour Act). 
Time spent on paid leave is considered as time spent at work for the purposes of acquiring 
the rights from or in relation to the employment relationship (Article 86(9) of the Labour 
Act).  

Given the similar purpose of unpaid leave for the provision of personal care and paid leave 
for  important  personal  reasons  (especially  in  connection  with  severe  illness  of  a  close 
family member), there may be overlapping and inconsistent application in practice. 

In  practice,  sick  leave,  as  a  form  of  paid  leave  and  a  social  security  benefit  under  the 
Mandatory Health Insurance Act, is often taken by workers who have to take care of close 
family  members,  even  in  force  majeure  situations.  This  is  a  more  favourable  option  for 
workers,  because  unlike  carers’  leave,  sick  leave  is  paid  and  its  duration  is  longer  and 
calculated per case of illness. However, sick leave is more limited in terms of close family 
members  as  beneficiaries  of  care  (i.e.  a  child,  a  spouse  or  a  same-sex  life  partner).  It 
remains  to  be  seen  whether  this  practice  will  continue  now  that  the  provisions  of 
Directive 2019/1158 on carers’ leave and time off from work on grounds of force majeure 
have been implemented. 

Under Article 39(1)(5) of the Mandatory Health Insurance Act,262 a worker is entitled to 
paid  leave  to  take  care  of  a  close  family  member  (a  child,  a  spouse  or  a  same-sex  life 
partner). Conditions for eligibility and duration of time off from work are regulated in the 
Mandatory Health Insurance Act and in regulations.263 The duration of this type of leave is 

260  A  household  is  a  community  of  persons  who  live  together  and  jointly  cover  household  expenses.  See 
Article 15(1)(3), Social Welfare Act (Zakon o socijalnoj skrbi), NN Nos. 18/2022, 46/2022 an 119/2022. 

261  Mandatory Health Insurance Act (Zakon o obveznom zdravstvenom osiguranju), NN Nos. 80/2013, 

137/2013, 98/2019 and 33/2023. 

262  Mandatory Health Insurance Act (Zakon o obveznom zdravstvenom osiguranju), NN Nos. 80/2013, 

137/2013, 98/2019 and 33/2023. 

263  Articles 39 and 45 of the Mandatory Health Insurance Act; Article 52 of the Rules on conditions for 

realisation of rights from the mandatory health insurance (Pravilnik o uvjetima i načinu ostvarivanja prava 

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limited  per  case  of  illness.  The  beneficiary  is  entitled  to  salary  compensation  for  the 
duration of 60 days per illness for a child younger than  seven, 40 days per illness for a 
child aged between seven and 18 and 20 days per illness for a child older than 18 years 
or a spouse or life partner (Article 45(1)-(4), Mandatory Health Insurance Act).  

In exceptional circumstances, leave for taking care of a child below 18 years of age may 
be extended, if the health condition of the child so requires. In that case, the duration of 
the leave will be determined by the medical committee of the Croatian Health Insurance 
Fund  (Article 45(2),  Mandatory  Health  Insurance  Act).  Caring  for  a  child  over  18  or  a 
spouse or life partner is granted only where that family member is suffering from a serious 
health condition caused by illness or injury, to be determined by the worker’s physician 
based  on  medical  documentation  from  the  beneficiary  family  member  (Article 45(5), 
Mandatory Health Insurance Act). Leave is taken on a full-time or a part-time basis (right 
to work half of the full working time (Article 45(6), Mandatory Health Insurance Act).  

Salary compensation for sick leave is paid by the employer, at the expense of the Croatian 
Health Insurance Fund (i.e. the employer is reimbursed for the full amount by the Croatian 
Health  Insurance  Fund).  The  amount  of  compensation  is  100 %  of  the  calculation  base 
(the average salary in the six months preceding the care leave) if a child is younger than 
three, and 70 % of the calculation base in all other cases. Salary compensation may not 
exceed EUR 565.04. The size of the employer is irrelevant. 

5.8.2  Legal  protection  of  the  right  to  carers’  leave  (Articles  10,  11  and  12  of 

Directive 2019/1158) 

Rights  and  obligations  from  the  labour  relationship  or  in  connection  therewith  are  in 
abeyance during unpaid leave for the provision of personal care (i.e. carers’ leave within 
the meaning of Article 6 of Directive 2019/1158) (Article 87(2), Labour Act). This means 
that no new rights and obligations accrue during the leave, but the employee keeps the 
rights and obligations obtained prior to leave, and continues to use them after the leave. 
The  employer  shall  not  deregister  a  worker  from  mandatory  insurances  (i.e.  health 
insurance, pension insurance) during carers’ leave (Article 87(7), Labour Act).  

There is no express guarantee concerning the right to return to the same or equivalent 
job after carers’ leave.  

Prohibition  of  discrimination  is  guaranteed.  Workers  who  request  any  of  the  rights 
guaranteed  under  the  Labour  Act,  any  of  the  rights  guaranteed  under  other  acts, 
regulations,  collective  agreements,  agreements  between  the  workers’  council  and  the 
employer, employment rules or employment agreement or who use those rights shall not 
be placed in a less favourable position as a result (Article 133(7), Labour Act). 

There is no express prohibition of dismissal during carers’ leave.  

In  labour  disputes  concerning  dismissal  in  general,  the  burden  of  proof  concerning  the 
existence  of  a  justified  reason  for  dismissal  lies  with  the  employer  if  the  employer 
terminated the contract, and with the worker only if a worker terminated the employment 
relationship by submitting an extraordinary notice of termination (Article 135(3), Labour 
Act). In case of a dispute about the placing in a less favourable position of a worker who 
submitted  a  request  for  maternity  or  parental  rights  in  accordance  with  applicable 
regulations, or for rights in connection with the provision of personal care under the Labour 
Act, where a worker provides facts that show that they were placed in a less favourable 
position,  the  burden  of  proof  lies  with  the  employer  to  prove  that  the  worker  was  not 
placed  in  a  less  favourable  position  based  on  those  reasons,  i.e.  that  a  worker’s  right 
derived from the employment relationship was not violated (Article 135(5), Labour Act). 

iz obveznog zdravstvenog osiguranja), NN Nos. 49/2014, 51/2014, 11/2015, 17/2015, 123/2016, 
129/2017, 9/2021, 90/2022, 147/2022, 156/2022, 73/2022 and 76/2023.  

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This reversal of the burden of proof is not limited to dismissal, but to any violation of a 
right derived from the employment relationship for these reasons. 

5.8.3  Case law on carers’ leave 

Carers’  leave  is  a  new  right  which  was  introduced  to  implement  Article 6  of 
Directive 2019/1158. The relevant national provision entered into force on 1 January 2023 
and there is still no available case law yet concerning this issue. The Ministry of Labour, 
Pension System, Family and Social Policy has published an explanatory opinion concerning 
the conditions for granting carers’ leave, stating that the employer is entitled to request, 
in addition to the proof of serious medical condition, a proof that the beneficiary shares 
the same household with the worker (i.e. proof of residence).264  

  Time off for force majeure 

5.9.1  Time off for force majeure (Article 7 of Directive 2019/1158) 

Time off from work for force majeure is regulated as the right of a worker to time off from 
work during one working day, once in a calendar year, for especially important and urgent 
family  reasons  in  the  case  of  illness  or  accident,  making  the  immediate  attendance  of 
worker indispensable (Article 87.a, Labour Act).265  

The  entitlement  is  limited  to  a  single  day  per  calendar  year.  Longer  periods  of  time  off 
from work can be stipulated in a collective agreement, employment rules or employment 
contract (Article 87a(3), Labour Act). There is no explicit reference to family members for 
the purposes of this provision, as it refers solely to ‘family reasons’. The Labour Act defines 
‘close family members’ for the purposes of its application (Article 86(3), Labour Act), but 
there  is  no  reference  to  this  term  in  the  provision  regulating  time  off  from  work 
(Article 87.a, Labour Act). 

There  is  no  explicit  provision,  but  the  time  off  from  work  is  paid  by  the  employer.  It  is 
considered as time spent at work for the purposes of acquiring the rights from or in relation 
to the employment relationship (Article 87a(3), Labour Act). 

There is no definition of ‘especially important and urgent family reason’ and/or ‘illness or 
accident making the immediate attendance of the worker indispensable’. The wording of 
this provision seems more specific than the wording from Article 7 of Directive 2019/1158, 
which refers only to urgent family  reasons. Whether the wording from  Article 87a(1) of 
the  Labour  Act  was  meant  to  highlight  the  exceptionality  of  the  situation  or  to  limit  its 
application in violation of the Directive will be revealed in its practical implementation. In 
any case, it entails unnecessary complexity in interpretation and application. 

There is no qualifying period in connection with the use of this right. Time off from work 
is the worker’s individual and non-transferable right. 

5.9.2  Legal protection  of the  right to time-off for  force majeure (Articles 10 and 11  of 

Directive 2019/1158) 

Time off from work is considered as time spent at work for the purposes of acquiring the 
rights from or in relation to the employment relationship (Article 87a(3), Labour Act). 

264  Ministry of Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy, Opinion of 31 January 2023, available at: 

https://uznr.mrms.hr/neplaceni-dopust-radi-pruzanja-osobne-skrbi/.  

265  This provision and type of leave was introduced to implement Article 7 of the WLB Directive with the Act on 
Amendments  to  the  Labour  Act  (Zakon  o  izmjenama  i  dopunama  Zakona  o  radu,  NN  No. 151/2022).  The 
provision  entered  into  force  on  1 January 2023,  which  means  that  the  transposition  was  not  within  the 
transposition deadline set in Article 20(1) of the WLB Directive. 

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Prohibition  of  discrimination  is  guaranteed.  Workers  who  request  any  of  the  rights 
guaranteed  under  the  Labour  Act,  any  of  the  rights  guaranteed  under  other  acts, 
regulations,  collective  agreements,  agreements  between  the  workers’  council  and  the 
employer, employment rules or employment agreement or who use those rights shall not 
be placed in a less favourable position as a result (Article 133(7), Labour Act). 

5.9.3  Case law on force majeure 

This is a new right introduced to implement Article 7 of Directive 2019/1158 and it entered 
into force on 1 January 2023. There is still no available case law concerning this issue.  

 Flexible working time arrangements (FWAs) 

5.10.1 Right to FWAs (Article 3(1)(d) and (f) and 9 of Directive 2019/1158) 

The obligations concerning flexible working arrangements from Directive 2019/1158 were 
implemented through the 2022 amendments to the Labour Act, which brought some new 
and specific rights for working parents and carers: the right to request working from home 
(Article 17.c(2), Labour Act) and the right to request a switch from full-time to part-time 
work  or  to  readjust  working  time  patterns  (Article 68(3),  Labour  Act).266  Prior  to  these 
amendments, apart from part-time use of parental leave and other arrangements of leave 
for employed or self-employed parents under the Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits, 
there were no specific flexible working arrangements for working parents under the Labour 
Act. 

A  worker  who  works  at  the  employer’s  premises  may  propose  the  amendment  of  the 
employment  contract  to  stipulate  work  away  from  the  employer’s  premises267  for  a 
determined period, with a view to achieving work-life balance or to satisfy personal needs 
(Article 17c(2),  Labour  Act).  The  reasons  to  propose  such  an  amendment  of  the 
employment contract are stipulated in a non-exhaustive manner, to include protection of 
health due to a diagnosed illness or disability (Article 17c(2)(1), Labour Act); pregnancy 
or parenting commitments for children under eight years of age (17c(2)(2), Labour Act); 
or provision of personal care necessitated by a close family member or a person living in 
the worker’s household, due to a serious medical condition (17c(2)(3), Labour Act). This 
would include parents and carers, as defined in Directive 2019/1158, although the term 
‘carer’ as  such is not  expressly defined in the Labour Act. There is no specific length of 
service requirement. 

The  right  to  work  away  from  the  employer’s  premises  (Article 17c(2),  Labour  Act)  is  a 
relative right (right to request). The employer is obliged to consider the worker’s request, 
taking  into  account  the  worker’s  and  business  needs,  and  to  provide  a  substantiated 
written response within a reasonable timeframe, at the latest within 15 days from the day 
of its receipt, in case of a refusal or if the employer intends to grant the right but with a 
postponement (Article 17c(4), Labour Act). There is no specific time limit or requirement 
of  a  written  response  for  cases  in  which  the  employer  grants  the  right  without  any 
postponement. 

Another flexible working arrangement under the 2022 Labour Act amendments includes 
the right to request a switch from full-time to part-time work or to request readjustment 
of the working time patterns (Article 68(3), Labour Act). A worker who is a parent of a 
child under eight years of age or a worker providing personal care (from Article 17c of the 
Labour Act) may request an amendment of the employment contract for personal reasons, 
so as to switch from full-time to part-time work, or to change working time patterns. The 

266  Act on Amendments to the Labour Act (Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama Zakona o radu, NN No. 151/2022). 
267  Work ‘away from the employer’s premises’ means work from home or other premises with a similar purpose, 
as  agreed  between  the  worker  and  the  employer  and  which  are  not  the  employer’s  premises  (see 
Article 17(1), Labour Act). 

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length of service requirement for this right is six months of prior employment with that 
employer,  regardless  of  whether  they  are  in  an  open-ended  or  fixed-term  employment 
contract. 

The  right  to  request  a  switch  from  full  to  part-time  work  or  to  readjust  working  time 
patterns is a relative right. Taking into account the worker’s and work organisation needs, 
the  employer  must  consider  the  request  and  respond  in  writing  within  a  reasonable 
timeframe,  at  the  latest  within  15  days  of  receipt  of  such  a  request.  The  employer  is 
entitled to refuse or postpone such a request, by providing a written, reasoned explanation 
(Article 68(5), Labour Act). 

The  regulation  of  working  time  under  the  Labour  Act  is  mostly  neutral  in  relation  to 
workers’  parenting  or  caring  responsibilities.  Other  than  the  two  flexible  working 
arrangements for parents/caregivers described above, workers have no right to adjust and 
establish  their  working  time  patterns,  because  the  employer  decides  on  working  time 
patterns, subject to limitations set out in the Labour Act. However, working parents and 
caregivers  are  protected  when  it  comes  to  uneven  distribution  of  working  time  and 
readjustment of working time patterns, because a pregnant worker, a parent with a child 
under eight years of age or a worker working half of the full working time in accordance 
with the Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits must provide a written statement of their 
voluntary  consent  to  an  uneven  distribution  of  working  time  under  Article 66  and  for  a 
readjustment of working time patterns under Article 67 of the Labour Act (Article 68(2) of 
the Labour Act). 268  

The  worker’s  working  time  may  be  evenly  or  unevenly  distributed  over  days,  weeks  or 
months. Uneven distribution of working time under Article 66 of the Labour Act is limited 
by law or collective agreement and includes overtime (Article 66(2), (3) and (4), Labour 
Act). Uneven distribution of working time under a collective agreement may be stipulated 
as a total fund of working hours over a certain period. Uneven distribution of working time 
depends on the employer’s needs and not on the worker’s wishes.  

Employers also have the right to redistribute  working time patterns if the nature of the 
work  so  requires  (Article 67  of  the  Labour  Act).  The  average  working  time  during 
redistribution may not be longer than full or part-time work (i.e. 40 hours per week or less 
if agreed upon in the employment contract). The duration of the redistribution is limited 
to  12  consecutive  months.  This  redistribution  of  working  hours  is  agreed  in  the 
employment contract, in a collective agreement or in an agreement concluded between 
the  employer  and  the  works  council.  If  redistribution  is  not  agreed  in  any  of  these 
agreements, the employer determines working time redistribution in the work plan, which 
must  be  submitted  to  the  labour  inspectorate.  The  working  time  redistribution  under 
Article 67  of  the  Labour  Act  does  not  exclude  the  possibility  of  working  for  a  longer  or 
shorter time on certain days a week or not to work at all on certain days.  

Flexible working-time arrangements are also available for specified categories of workers 
under Article 88(3) of the Labour Act. Where working time is impossible to measure or set 
in advance or where workers determine working hours independently due to the specific 
nature of the work (managers, employed family members living in a joint household with 
the employer etc.), the provisions of the Labour Act regulating working time, night work, 
daily and weekly rest periods are not applicable, provided that such provisions are inserted 
into the employment contract. The categories of workers falling under this provision are 
listed  in  an  exemplary,  non-exhaustive  manner.  This  provision  relates  to  the  issue  of 
working hours. The preconditions for its application are that working time is impossible to 
measure  or  set  in  advance  or  that  workers  determine  working  hours  independently. 

268  Ordering these categories of workers to work in uneven or  readjusted working time patterns without their 
written consent is punishable as the most severe misdemeanour offence by employers with a monetary fine 
ranging from EUR 8 090 to EUR 13 270 under Article 229(1)(36) of the Labour Act. 

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Consequently,  the  part-time/full-time  work  distinction  is  not  directly  relevant  for  its 
application. 

Full-time workers may submit a request to the employer to switch to part-time work and 
vice  versa  (Article 62(6)  of  the  Labour  Act).  The  employer  is  obliged  to  take  into 
consideration such a request only where such a work option is available.  

There is a specific form of the right to disconnect prescribed in Article 60a(8) of the Labour 
Act, whereby during the use of vacation and other types of leave under the Labour Act, 
both  employer  and  worker  have  to  take  into  account  work-life  balance  and  the  right  to 
disconnect,  unless  there  is  an  urgent  need  or  the  nature  of  work  does  not  allow  for  a 
disconnection  or  when  this  is  stipulated  in  the  collective  agreement  or  employment 
contract. 

5.10.2 Duration of FWAs (recital 35 and Article 9(1) and (3) of Directive 2019/1158)  

The duration of flexible working arrangements is not limited by law to a specific period. 
The only limitation for working away from the employer’s premises or working remotely in 
general  concerns  jobs  performed  under  special  conditions  or  jobs  for  which  it  is  not 
possible to ensure the worker’s protection from harm even under the application of safety-
at-work measures (Article 17(4), Labour Act). These jobs cannot be performed remotely 
or away from the employer’s premises. 

A worker is entitled to request to return to working under the previous work arrangement 
even  before  expiry  of  the  agreed  period  of  flexible  working  arrangements  (i.e.  working 
away from the employer’s premises under Article 17c(3), Labour Act; or working part-time 
or to a readjusted working time schedule under Article 68(6), Labour Act). The employer 
shall consider such a request, but there is no obligation to accept it before the expiry of 
the initially agreed period.  

There is no explicit guarantee regarding the right to return to the original working pattern 
after the expiry of flexible working arrangements. Theoretically, a worker returns to the 
original  employment  conditions,  but  there  are  other  possibilities  under  the  Labour  Act 
where the employer is allowed to unilaterally, under certain conditions, change the working 
pattern in accordance with business needs. 

5.10.3 Legal protection of the right to FWAs (Articles 11 and 12 of Directive 2019/1158) 

Prohibition  of  discrimination  is  guaranteed.  Workers  who  request  any  of  the  rights 
guaranteed  under  the  Labour  Act,  any  of  the  rights  guaranteed  under  other  acts, 
regulations,  collective  agreements,  agreements  between  the  workers’  council  and  the 
employer, employment rules or employment agreement or who use those rights shall not 
be placed in a less favourable position as a result (Article 133(7), Labour Act). 

There is no express prohibition of dismissal for parenting/caring related flexible working 
arrangements.  

In  labour  disputes  concerning  dismissal  in  general,  the  burden  of  proof  concerning  the 
existence  of  a  justified  reason  for  dismissal  lies  with  the  employer  if  the  employer 
terminated the contract, and with the worker only if a worker terminated the employment 
relationship by submitting an extraordinary notice of termination (Article 135(3), Labour 
Act). In the case of a dispute about the placing in a less favourable position of a worker 
who  submitted  a  request  for  maternity  or  parental  rights  in  accordance  with  applicable 
regulations, or for rights in connection with the provision of personal care under the Labour 
Act, where a worker provides facts that show that they were placed in a less favourable 
position,  the  burden  of  proof  lies  with  the  employer  to  prove  that  the  worker  was  not 
placed  in  a  less  favourable  position  based  on  those  reasons,  i.e.  that  a  worker’s  right 

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derived from the employment relationship was not violated (Article 135(5), Labour Act). 
This reversal of the burden of proof is not limited to dismissal, but to any violation of a 
right derived from the employment relationship for these reasons. 

5.10.4 Case law on FWAs and legal protection of the right to FWAs 

The specific right to work away from the employer’s premises and the right to switch to 
part-time  work  or  to  readjust  working  time  patterns  for  employed  parents/carers  are 
relatively novel rights, implemented under the 2022 amendments of the Labour Act which 
entered into force on 1 January 2023. There are still no reports of difficulties concerning 
their  practical 
flexible  working 
implementation.  The  existing  experience  with 
arrangements, which were not specifically tied to parenting/caring responsibilities, shows 
that,  given  the  rather  rigid  legislative  framework,  in  many  cases  it  all  depends  on  the 
goodwill of the employer and agreement between the employer and employee to readjust 
working patterns within the limits of the law. Some larger companies, especially in the IT 
sector, implement flexible working policies or pilot projects during which time they monitor 
the effects of such flexible working arrangements.269 

 Evaluation of implementation 

The  main  implementation  gaps,  which  have  been  discussed  in  the  previous  sections, 
concerning the following issues: 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

The  right  to  parental  leave  as  individual  right  (Article 5(1),  Directive 2019/1158): 
father’s  exercise  of  the  right  to  parental  leave  is  dependent  on  the  employment 
status of the mother at the time of the birth (Article 17(3) and (4), Act on Maternity 
and Parental Benefits); 

Employer’s option to postpone parental leave/duty to offer flexible forms of parental 
leave  (Article 5(5)  and  (7),  Directive 2019/1158):  the  legal  provisions  make  an 
automatic  postponement  possible,  without  requiring  the  employer  to  substantiate 
the reasons for postponement for important business reasons (Article 59(4), Act on 
Maternity and Parental Benefits); 

The  right  to  return  to  the  original  working  pattern  after  FWAs  (Article 9(3), 
Directive 2019/1158): missing/unclear guarantees (Article 68(5), Labour Act); 

The right to return to the same or equivalent post after carers’ leave and to benefit 
from  any  improvements  (Article 10(2),  Directive 2019/1158):  no  such  explicit 
guarantee concerning carer’s leave; and 

The protection from dismissal in relation to carers’ leave or use of flexible working 
arrangements 
(Article 12(1),  Directive 2019/1158):  no  explicit  guarantee 
concerning carer’s leave. 

 Remaining issues 

Nothing further to report. 

269  See, for example: http://www.poslovni.hr/hrvatska/raste-interes-poslodavaca-za-fleksibilnim-oblicima-

rada-predvodnici-ina-rba-i-ent-348890. 

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6 

Occupational social security schemes (Chapter 2 of Directive 2006/54) 

  General (legal) context 

6.1.1  Issues related to gender equality and social security 

Occupational  social  security  schemes  in  Croatia  are  rare.  The  legal  possibility  of 
establishing occupational pension schemes does exist within the framework of the Act on 
Voluntary Pension Funds. This act regulates both open-ended and closed voluntary pension 
funds. Both types of funds are part of the third or voluntary pension pillar. The difference 
is  that  a  member  of  voluntary  open-ended  funds  can  be  any  natural  person,  whereas 
voluntary  closed  pension  funds  are  financed  by  employers,  unions  or  associations  of 
independent  or  occupational  activities  and  only  members  of  those  entities  can  be 
associated with the voluntary closed pension funds.270 There are currently about 20 closed 
voluntary  pension  funds  operating  occupational  pension  schemes  in  Croatia.  The  legal 
framework for their operation clearly implements gender equality guarantees. 

Gender  equality  issues  arise  primarily  in  the  context  of  statutory  pension  schemes.  In 
order to properly understand the gender dimension of the pension  system in Croatia, a 
brief overview of the system is required. The pension system in Croatia is based on three 
pillars: the first pillar is a public mandatory pension insurance based on inter-generational 
solidarity (PAY-G), the second pillar is a private mandatory pension insurance based on 
capitalisation,  with  individual  savings  accounts  and  defined  contributions,  and  the  third 
pillar is based on private voluntary pension savings accounts. The initial pension reform 
and introduction of the three-pillar system started in 1998 and the pillar structure became 
operational from 2002. At that time, all people under 40 were required to join the second 
pillar,  whereas  those  between  40  and  50  could  choose  whether  to  join.  People  over  50 
remained insured in the first pillar only. The scope of insured persons in mandatory pension 
insurance is very broad (Articles 9-23 of the Pension Insurance Act), covering the working 
population,  but  also  other  categories  (such  as  students  and  pupils  on  traineeships  or 
registered unemployed persons) to a limited extent and under specific circumstances. 

The  pension  reform  was  implemented  in  the  period  after  the  Homeland  War,  when  the 
country  began  to  recover  from  the  war  and  the  negative  effects  of  the  transition  to  a 
market  economy.  Many  companies  and  businesses  were  destroyed  and  many  workers 
were  forced  to  retire  early,  with  relatively  lenient  conditions.  This  ‘culture’  of  early 
retirement has had a long-term negative impact on gender equality, which is evident in 
the high gender pension gap (i.e. the difference in the level of pensions between men and 
women), and the fact that the risk of poverty for women aged 65+ is significantly higher 
than for men in the same age group.271  

The gender pension gap is around 20 %, which is almost twice as high as the gender pay 
gap.  The  reason  for  this  lies  in  the  fact  that  women  retire  earlier  than  men  (different 
retirement and early retirement ages are permissible during the transition period), which 
means  that  they  have  paid  pension  contributions  for  a  shorter  period  than  men.  In 
addition, women take longer and more frequent career breaks as a result of family and 
child-caring responsibilities. To address the gender pension gap in the statutory pension 
system,  added  pension  service  time  was  introduced  from  1 January 2019,  to  grant  six 
months of added pension service time per child to the calculation of the amount of pension 
to a parent – the mother or adoptive mother, and exceptionally the father if he has used 
the majority of the additional maternity leave.272 The first preliminary findings have shown 
that the pensions of women who retired after 1 January 2019, when this provision entered 

270  Act on Voluntary Pension Funds (Zakon o dobrovoljnim mirovinskim fondovima), NN Nos. 19/14 and 29/18. 
271  Croatian Bureau of Statistics, ‘Women and Men in Croatia 2023’; Indicators of poverty and social exclusion, 

both available at: https://www.dzs.hr. 

272  Pension Insurance Act, Article 32a. 

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into force, are slightly higher due to this increment.273 Another factor that contributes to 
the  pension  gap  lies  in  the  structure  of  the  pension  system  itself.  A  survey  from  2012 
predicted  the  potential  difference  in  pensions  between  men  and  women,  by  applying  a 
calculation  model  that  considers  the  situation  of  a  hypothetical  male  and  female  in  a 
hypothetically identical situation and having the same characteristics. The only different 
parameter  in  the  calculation  was  the  statutory  retirement  age.  During  the  prescribed 
transition period for the gradual equalisation of retirement ages between men and women, 
women  are  able  to  retire  at  an  earlier  age  than  their  male  colleagues  until  the  end  of 
2029.274 Women who decide to retire within this period, and who are insured under both 
pension pillars, may expect to receive a lower pension than their male counterparts with 
identical characteristics (length of service, amount of salary, etc).275 On the other hand, if 
the same model is applied, but the woman is insured only within the first pillar, the amount 
of  pension  would  be  identical  to  the  amount  of  pension  of  a  typical  hypothetical  male 
worker. This shows a systemic inequality that is linked to the different retirement age of 
women and not to the actuarial calculations because they are not linked to sex.276 

Current data show that women retire, on average, three years earlier than men, but due 
to differences in life expectancy, women are expected to receive pension benefits for four 
years longer than men.277 

6.1.2  Political and societal debate and pending legislative proposals 

The amendment to the Act on Voluntary Pension Funds was adopted on 15 December 2023 
and entered into force on 1 January 2024, but it is unrelated to gender equality issues and 
concerns  mainly  the  liberalisation  of  investments,  flexibility  of  pension  payments, 
improvements in the supervisory framework and adaptations to the euro.278  

  Direct and indirect discrimination 

Article 8(1)(3) of the Anti-Discrimination Act includes in its field of application the area of 
social security, including social welfare, pension, health and unemployment insurance. It 
does not differentiate between statutory and occupational social security schemes.  

The  Act  on  Voluntary  Pension  Funds  specifically  refers  to  the  transposition  of  Recast 
Directive 2006/54 and  Directive 2010/41 (Article 2). Article 183  of the  Act requires that 
the application of the statutes  of the  closed voluntary pension  funds  will not directly  or 
indirectly cause any differential treatment of men and women or allow inequalities in rights 
from  voluntary  pension  insurance  based  on  gender.  Examples  of  prohibited  differential 
treatment are listed in a non-exhaustive manner and include: access to membership; the 
compulsory  or  optional  nature  of  participation;  laying  down  different  rules  regarding 
access  to  membership  or  the  minimum  period  of  membership  required  to  obtain  the 
benefits;  setting  different  conditions  in  the  event  of  the  suspension  of  rights  during 

273  See Glas umirovljenika (2019), ‘Rodni jaz kod novih mirovina se smanjuje’ (Gender gap for new pensions is 

decreasing) No. 273, p. 9. 

274  The transition period was shortened to 2027, from 1 January 2019, and then again prolonged to 2030, from 

1 January 2020. 

275  Nestić D., Tomić I. (2012), ‘Primjerenost mirovina u Hrvatskoj: što mogu očekivati budući umirovljenici?’ 
(‘Adequacy of pensions in Croatia: What can tomorrow’s pensioners expect?’) PKIEP 130 (2012) 61-99; 
pp. 74-75, available at: https://hrcak.srce.hr/83125.  

276  Nestić D., Tomić I. (2012), ‘Primjerenost mirovina u Hrvatskoj: što mogu očekivati budući umirovljenici?’ 
(‘Adequacy of Pensions in Croatia: What can tomorrow's pensioners expect?’) PKIEP 130 (2012) 61-99; 
p. 75, available at: https://hrcak.srce.hr/83125. 

277  In 2018, the average retirement age for old-age pensions was 63 years and 5 months for men and 60 
years and 11 months for women. See Bejaković P. (2019), ‘Uzroci poteškoća u mirovinskom sustavu i 
razlozi zašto treba očuvati kapitalizirano mirovinsko osiguranje u Hrvatskoj’ (‘The causes of problems in the 
public pension system and reasons why funded pension insurance should be preserved in Croatia’), 
Rev.soc.polit. 26 (1):37-53, p. 42. See also Croatian Bureau of Statistics, ‘Women and Men in Croatia 
2022’, p. 55, available at: https://podaci.dzs.hr/media/04pff1do/women_and_man_2022.pdf. 

278  Act on Amendments to the Act on Voluntary Pension Funds, NN No. 156/2023. 

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maternity  leave  or  taking  care  of  children;  and  different  conditions  applicable  only  to 
members of one sex upon the termination of membership. 

The  Act  on  Pension  Insurance  Companies279  also  transposes  Directive 2006/54  and 
Directive 2010/41 in its field of application (the establishment and operation of statutory 
and voluntary pension insurance companies and the regulation of statutory and voluntary 
pension  schemes).  It  contains  a  specific  clause  on  gender  equality  (Article 105),  which 
specifies  that  the  calculation  of  the  pension  paid  under  the  act  must  not,  directly  or 
indirectly, result in inequality or a denial of rights based on gender. It further states, in a 
non-exhaustive manner, what is understood under inequality or a denial of rights (different 
conditions  for  calculating  qualifying  periods,  different  ages  as  a  condition  for  the 
recognition of rights, unless otherwise prescribed, and different amounts of pension due 
to diverging conditions that are applicable solely to persons of one sex). 

  Personal scope 

Closed  voluntary  pension  funds  financed  by  employers,  unions  or  associations  of 
independent  or  occupational  activities  by  their  legal  definition  can  accept  only  workers 
employed by the employer, members of the union or members of the association and self-
employed persons as their members (Article 120, Act on Voluntary Pension Funds). The 
personal scope of the Act is in line with the personal scope of  Directive 2006/54. There 
are open voluntary pension funds, where membership is not limited to a certain branch or 
profession, but these are not considered as occupational social security schemes. 

  Material scope 

The Anti-Discrimination Act prohibits discrimination in the field of social security, without 
differentiating  between 
schemes 
(Article 8(1)(3), Anti-Discrimination Act). There are practically no other occupational social 
security  schemes  apart  from  closed  voluntary  pension  funds  in  Croatia.  Consequently, 
Article 7 and other provisions of Chapter 2 of Directive 2006/54 apply only in respect to 
closed voluntary pension funds.  

statutory  and  occupational 

security 

social 

  Exclusions 

There  are  no  exclusions  from  the  material  scope  as  specified  in  Article 8  of 
Directive 2006/54. 

  Laws  and  case  law  falling  under  the  examples  of  sex  discrimination 

mentioned in Article 9 of Directive 2006/54 

There  are  no  laws  or  case  law  falling  under  the  examples  of  sex  discrimination  as 
mentioned in Article 9 of Directive 2006/54. Article 183 of the Act on Voluntary Pension 
Funds  almost  literally  transposes  Article 9(1)(a)  to  (k)  of  Recast  Directive 2006/54.  As 
always  when  such  an  approach  to  transposition  is  used,  there  are  discrepancies  in  the 
wording, which may be  the unintentional result of translation and  simplification.  In any 
case,  only  practice  will  show  whether  true  compliance  with  Article 9  of  Recast 
Directive 2006/54 has been achieved. What was lost in translation should be interpreted 
in  line  with  the  recast  directive.  For  example,  different  rules  for  the  ‘reimbursement  of 
contributions’ from Article 9(1)(d) of the recast Directive are transposed as different rules 
in relation to expected rights upon the termination of membership in Article 183(2)(1) of 
the  Act  on  Voluntary  Pension  Insurance  Funds.  This  is  a  rather  vague  term  and  it  is 
questionable  whether  it  includes  the  reimbursement  of  contributions  as  well.  However, 
since  Article 183  of  the  Act  on  Voluntary  Pension  Funds,  like  Article 9(1)  of  Recast 
Directive 2006/54,  contains  examples  of  discrimination,  it  calls  for  the  widest  possible 

279  Act on Pension Insurance Companies (Zakon o mirovinskim osiguravajućim društvima), NN Nos. 22/2014, 

29/2018 and 156/2023. 

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interpretation.  This  means  that  other  discriminatory  behaviour,  which  is  not  expressly 
mentioned, could be sanctioned as well. 

  Actuarial factors 

Sex is not used as an actuarial factor in occupational social security schemes. 

  Difficulties 

There  are  no  difficulties  concerning  gender  equality  in  relation  to  occupational  social 
security schemes. 

  Evaluation of implementation 

Occupational  social  security  schemes  are  relatively  underdeveloped  in  Croatia,  because 
they  include  only  closed  pension  insurance  funds  financed  by  employers,  unions  or 
associations of independent or occupational activities. They accept only workers employed 
by the employer, members of the union or members of the association and self-employed 
persons  as  their  members.  However,  the  closed  voluntary  pension  funds  seem  to  have 
rapidly expanded over recent years. Out of 29 registered voluntary pension funds, 21 are 
closed voluntary pension funds. In the majority of cases, they are established by relatively 
successful private and public companies, as well as certain trade unions. Their membership 
is rising slowly, but continuously, and has increased by almost 60 % in the last five years, 
to  approximately  48 000  members  at  the  end  of  2023.  This  is  still  relatively  modest  in 
comparison  with  the  membership  of  the  open  voluntary  pension  funds  (over  388 000 
members at the end of 2023) and, of course, mandatory pension funds (over 2.2 million 
members in 2023).280 

So far, there are no reported gender equality issues in the operation of closed voluntary 
pension schemes and the legislative framework seems satisfactory. 

 Remaining issues 

There are no further issues to report. 

280  Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency (HANFA), Statistics – Pension Funds, available at: 

https://www.hanfa.hr/statistika/mirovinski-fondovi/. 

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7 

Statutory schemes of social security (Directive 79/7) 

  General (legal) context 

7.1.1  Overview of national acts 

The  relevant  national  acts  include  the  Pension  Insurance  Act,281  the  Act  on  Mandatory 
Pension Funds,282 the Mandatory Health Insurance Act283 and the Labour Market Act.284 

The  Pension  Insurance  Act  regulates  mandatory  pension  insurance  based  on  inter-
generational  solidarity  (first  pillar  of  the  pension  system)  and  the  payment  of  pensions 
from all pension pillars.  The second  pension pillar is  also mandatory,  but it is based  on 
individualised capitalised savings.285 The operation of the second pillar mandatory pension 
funds  is  regulated  by  the  Act  on  Mandatory  Pension  Funds.  The  main  types  of  benefits 
within the pension insurance system include old-age (and early old-age) pension, disability 
and  survivor’s  pensions.  Cash  benefits  and  benefits  in  kind  for  accidents  at  work  and 
occupational diseases are provided within the statutory  pension and healthcare system. 
The Mandatory Health Insurance Act regulates mandatory health insurance, the scope and 
exercise of rights from health protection and the financing and organisation of healthcare 
provision. The main types of benefits include sickness (cash) benefits and benefits in kind 
(health  treatments).  Maternity,  parental  and  other  related  rights  are  provided  from  the 
health  insurance  system.  Mandatory  pension  and  health  insurance  are  financed  from 
contributions.  Unemployment  insurance  is  a  tax-financed  statutory  insurance  with 
unemployment benefits regulated under the Labour Market Act. 

7.1.2  Political and societal debate and pending legislative proposals 

The Pension Insurance Act and the Mandatory Health Insurance Act are subject to frequent 
partial amendments, primarily aimed at patching up the recurring weaknesses and issues 
in  their  application.  There  are  some  positive  impacts  of  these  amendments  concerning 
gender equality issues, even though it can be debated whether their true motive was to 
genuinely improve the position of insured persons and beneficiaries or just to buy social 
peace in the short term. 

The pillared pension system still  causes occasional debates,  even though  it has been in 
application  for  20  years.  Since  the  second  (mandatory)  pension  pillar  is  based  on 
capitalisation of the personal assets of the insured person, and the amount of contribution 
is  5 %  (as  opposed  to  15 %  for  the  first  pillar),  in  the  years  following  its  introduction 
participants  could  not  have  accumulated  sufficient  savings,  resulting  in  a  much  lower 
amount  of  pension  from  both  pillars  than  the  amount  of  pension  received  by  those 
remaining  under  the  first  pillar  only.  Debates  have  been  less  intense  since  legislative 
interventions in 2019 introduced a pension supplement and a choice for pensioners who 
were insured prior to 2002 to switch all their accumulated assets and receive their pension 
from the first pillar only. This pension issue is also linked to gender equality issues, because 
the  retirement age  for  women is still lower than that for men and it  is more likely that 
women  would  be  more  affected  by  the  lower  pensions.  A  legislative  intervention  which 
entered  into  force  on  1 January 2019286  introduced  a  legal  concept  of  added  pension 

281  Pension Insurance Act (Zakon o mirovinskom osiguranju), NN Nos.157/2013, 151/2014, 33/2015, 93/2015, 

120/2016, 18/2018, 62/2018, 115/2018, 102/2019, 84/2021 and 119/2022. 

282  Act on Mandatory Pension Funds (Zakon o obveznim mirovinskim fondovima), NN Nos. 19/2014, 93/2015, 

102/2015, 64/2018, 115/2018, 58/2020 and 156/2023. 

283  Mandatory Health Insurance Act (Zakon o obveznom zdravstvenom osiguranju), NN Nos. 80/2013, 

137/2013, 98/2019 and 33/2023. 

284  Labour Market Act (Zakon o tržištu rada), NN No. 118/2018, 32/2020, 18/2022 and 156/2023. 
285  Pension contributions are paid on gross earnings (for employees) or defined income base (for self-

employed) for those insured under both pension pillars (15 % to the first pillar and 5 % to the second 
pillar). 

286  Pension Insurance Act, NN Nos. 153/2013, 151/2014, 33/2015, 120/2016, 18/2018, 62/2018, 115/2018, 

102/2019, 84/2021 and 119/2022, Article 32a. 

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service time for the calculation of the pension amount (six months for each biological or 
adopted child). The added pension service time is applicable to parents, primarily women. 
Exceptionally, a father or adoptive father can make use of this entitlement, if he was the 
one to use maternal leave in accordance with the rules on maternity and parental leave. 287 
This provision serves the aims of demographic policies, but it might have contributed to a 
reduction  in  the  gender  pension  gap,  since  the  pensions  of  women  who  retired  after 
1 January 2019  when  this  provision  entered  into  force  are  slightly  higher  due  to  this 
increment.288 

A  referendum  initiative  in  2019289  led  to  legislative  amendments  which  abandoned  the 
planned increase of the statutory retirement age from 65 to 67 and extended the transition 
period for the gradual equalisation of the pensionable age for women and men to 2030.290 
The conditions for receiving an old-age pension are 65 years of age and 15 years of service. 
The conditions for receiving an early old-age pension are 60 years of age and 35 years of 
service. 

Pensioners are allowed to work part-time, while continuing to receive a pension. In 2021, 
amendments to the Pension Insurance Act291 also enabled beneficiaries of the survivor’s 
pension, the majority of whom are women,292 to enjoy this right. This category of people 
was  previously  precluded  from  this  right  which  left  a  very  vulnerable  group  with  low 
pensions without the ability to improve their standard of living.293 The main argument for 
the previous legislative solution was that the aim of the survivor’s pension is to provide 
maintenance  for  widows/widowers  who  have  lost  their  means  of  subsistence  after  the 
death  of  the  insured  person  (their  marital  or  extra-marital  partner).  The  argument 
continues  that  if  the  widow/widower  is  working,  they  are  able  to  provide  for  their  own 
maintenance and the survivor’s pension should be suspended. It is said that if they were 
allowed to work part-time and continue to the receive survivors’ pension, it could serve as 
a motivation to take out a survivor’s pension earlier than necessary, and thus the number 
of  beneficiaries  would  increase.294  This  argument  was  abandoned  and  the  2021 
amendments recognise that this category of persons (more than 200 000 pensioners) is 
more at risk of poverty than the general population of pensioners. However, there was no 
mention of the gender dimension of this issue. 

In  contrast,  the  gender  dimension  was  acknowledged  in  the  2022  amendments  to  the 
Pension Insurance Act. It provided for the possibility of receiving a survivor’s pension in 
addition to the personal pension for widows and widowers.295 Before these amendments, 
a beneficiary in the pension system was entitled to only one pension (i.e. either personal 
old-age or early old-age or disability pension, or survivor’s pension, whichever was more 
beneficial). This meant that the surviving spouse was potentially more exposed to the risk 

287  Pension Insurance Act, Article 32a. 
288  See Glas umirovljenika (2019) ‘Rodni jaz kod novih mirovina se smanjuje’ (Gender gap for new pensions is 

decreasing) No. 273, p. 9. 

289  Although a referendum never actually took place, over 740 000 signatures were collected to initiate the 
calling of the referendum, which eventually led to legislative amendments. For more information see 
Country report Gender equality Croatia 2022, p. 82. See also Government of the Republic of Croatia, 
Legislative proposal with explanation, PZ No. 761, available at: 
https://www.sabor.hr/sites/default/files/uploads/sabor/2019-10-10/153004/PZ_761.pdf. 

290  Act on Amendments to the Pension Insurance Act (Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama Zakona o mirovinskom 
osiguranju), NN No. 102/2019. In the transition period between 2020 to 2029, the retirement age for 
women increases by three months each year (i.e. from 62 years and 6 months in 2020 to 64 years and 9 
months in 2029). 

291  Act on Amendments to the Pension Insurance Act (Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama Zakona o mirovinskom 

osiguranju), NN No. 84/2021. 

292  93.29 % of beneficiaries of survivor’s pensions are women. See Croatian Bureau of Statistics (2019), 

‘Women and Men in Croatia 2019’, available at: https://www.dzs.hr. 

293  The average amount of the survivor’s pension under the Pension Insurance Act is around EUR 260, which 

means that this group is extremely exposed to poverty. 

294  See Government of the Republic of Croatia, Legislative proposal with explanations, PZ No. 452, available 

at: https://www.sabor.hr/sites/default/files/uploads/sabor/2019-01-18/081605/PZ_452.pdf. 

295  Act on Amendments to the Pension Insurance Act (Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama Zakona o mirovinskom 

osiguranju), NN No. 119/2022. 

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of poverty, because with the death of a spouse they were also losing a portion  of their 
total household income.296 The negative impact on women was disproportionate, because 
in  2022,  the  share  of  women  beneficiaries  of  survivor’s  pensions  was  93 %.  Since  the 
entry into force of these amendments on 1 January 2023, they are entitled to receive a 
personal pension with an increment of 27 % of the survivor’s pension, provided that the 
widow/widower is the only beneficiary of the survivor’s pension (with limited exceptions in 
the case of someone who has a child with a disability), is older than 65 and their personal 
pension  is  below  a  certain  threshold  (currently  EUR 868.80).  Approximately  100 000 
beneficiaries exercised their right to this increment during 2023, fewer than was initially 
estimated  when 
the  amendments  were  adopted  (the  estimate  was  150 000 
beneficiaries)297. 

Voluntary  and  involuntary  early  retirement  seems  to  be  a  recurring  problem  for  the 
Croatian public pension insurance. The link between the traditional  role of women, who 
are expected to take primary responsibility for family members (children, grandchildren, 
parents and other close relatives) and early retirement has not been investigated enough. 
There  is  a  perception  that  women  are  more  likely  to  retire  early,  because  of  these 
responsibilities  and  because  of  the  fact  that  the  transition  period  for  the  gradual 
equalisation of the (early) retirement age between men and women is still ongoing. Early 
retirement  implies  that  they  will  have  lower  pensions.  However,  one  study  shows  that 
early retirement in Croatia is perceived as a shelter for people who work in tougher working 
conditions  with  lower  economic  security,  mostly  in  the  private  sector,  who  have  a  poor 
quality of life and are less educated or in poor health.298 There was no particular link to 
gender concerning the personal intention to retire early. In fact, men were more likely to 
report the intention to take early retirement, whereas no statistically significant difference 
was discovered for participants who were looking after grandchildren or living in the same 
household  with  minor  children.299  This  finding  seems  surprising,  given  the  prevailing 
perception. Further investigation is needed before definite conclusions can be reached. 

For the purposes of the application of the Pension Insurance Act, family members include 
not  just  a  spouse,  or  a  former  spouse  (if  a  maintenance  obligation  exists),  but  also  an 
extramarital partner, registered life partner or informal life partner, and even children or 
parents of deceased registered or informal life partners who are supported by the insured 
person  (Articles 22  and  22a,  Pension  Insurance  Act).  Extramarital  and  informal  life 
partnerships have to have lasted at least three years and this fact  must be proved in a 
non-contentious court procedure. The Mandatory Health Insurance Act, on the other hand, 
until  amendments  which  were  adopted  in  2023,  expressly  recognised  only  spouses  or 
extramarital  partners  as  the  insured  person’s  family  members  (Article 10(1)(1), 
Mandatory Health Insurance Act).  

More  specific  provisions  regulating  the  status  of  registered  life  partners  in  pension 
insurance,  health  insurance  and  social  welfare  are  contained  in  the  Same-Sex  Life 
Partnership Act (Articles 61-68). Under Article 4(2) of the Same-Sex Life Partnership Act, 
informal same-sex life partners have the same status as extramarital partners in the field 
of  inheritance,  the  tax  system,  pension  and  mandatory  health  insurance,  rights  and 
obligations  arising  from  employment  relations,  etc.  As  of  1 April 2023,  the  Mandatory 

296  For more information see Government of the Republic of Croatia, Legislative proposal with explanation, 

PZ No. 308, available at: https://www.sabor.hr/sites/default/files/uploads/sabor/2022-09-
09/141802/PZ_308.pdf. 

297  Croatian Pension Insurance Institute (Hrvatski zavod za mirovinsko osiguranje), Current statistics for 
January 2024, available at: https://www.mirovinsko.hr/UserDocsImages/statistika/korisnici-mirovina-
2024/korisnici-mirovina-2-2024-za-1-2024.pdf.  

298  Bađun M., Smolić Š. (2018), ‘Predictors of early retirement intentions in Croatia’, Društv.istraž.Zagreb 

(2018)7(4):671-690, p. 684. 

299  Bađun M., Smolić Š. (2018), ‘Predictors of early retirement intentions in Croatia’, Društv.istraž.Zagreb 

(2018)7(4):671-690, p. 679. 

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Health Insurance Act expressly includes life partners and informal life partners as family 
members of insured persons (Article 10(1)(2), Mandatory Health Insurance Act).300 

  Implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women in 

matters of social security 

Although  there  are  no  specific  guarantees  of  equal  treatment  in  legislative  instruments 
regulating social security benefits (i.e. the Pension Insurance Act, the Mandatory Health 
Insurance Act, the Labour Market Act, etc.), the general provisions of the Gender Equality 
Act and the Anti-Discrimination Act cover this field and fully implement Directive 79/7. For 
example, Article 8(1) of the Anti-Discrimination Act defines its field of application, explicitly 
referring  to  social  security,  including  the  areas  of  social  welfare,  pensions,  health  and 
unemployment insurance (Article 8(1)(3), Anti-Discrimination Act). 

In  addition,  guarantees  of  equality  between  part-time  and  full-time  workers  are 
implemented throughout the labour and social security legislation. Under the Labour Act, 
when  the  duration  of  a  previous  employment  relationship  with  the  same  employer  is 
relevant for the exercise of rights arising from the employment relationship, any periods 
of part-time work must be regarded as full-time work (Article 62(4), Labour Act). Whether 
a person works part-time or full-time is also irrelevant for establishing the status of insured 
person under the mandatory social (health and pension) insurance. 

If prior periods of insurance are necessary for  the realisation and/or duration of certain 
social security rights or for determining the level of allowance,301 it is irrelevant whether a 
person was in part-time or full-time work. 

In  pension  insurance,  part-time  work  is  treated  as  full-time  work  when  calculating  the 
insurance periods necessary for the insured persons to be entitled to rights arising from 
the  pension  insurance  (old-age  pension,  early  retirement  pension,  professional 
rehabilitation,  disability  pension  and  survivor’s  pension,  Article 27(3)  and  (8)  of  the 
Pension Insurance Act). This provision was introduced in the Pension Insurance Act with 
effect  from  1 January 2015.302  It  guarantees  equality  between  part-time  and  full-time 
workers when it  comes to the acquisition  of pension  rights from the  pension insurance. 
When  it  comes  to  calculating  the  actual  amount  of  pension,  a  pro  rata  temporis  rule 
applies, i.e. the duration of the insurance period will depend on the time spent at work 
(Article 27(3),  Pension  Insurance  Act).  It  should  be  highlighted  that  part-time  work  in 
Croatia is not widespread, and is below the EU average.303 The share of women in part-
time  work  is  around  60 %,  but  there  is  no  indication  of  indirect  discrimination  in  the 
application of the pension formula for the calculation of the amount of the pension. 

The  possibility  of  earlier  retirement  applies  equally  to  men  and  women.  Gradual 
equalisation  of  the  retirement  age  between  men  and  women  for  early  retirement  is  in 
progress and will be completed by the end of 2029 (Article 182, Pension Insurance Act). 
Women cannot be forced to take early retirement. Concerning old-age pensions, women 
keep  the  right  to  retire  earlier  than  men  during  the  transition  period  for  the  gradual 
equalisation of the retirement age for old-age pensions, once they reach the prescribed 

300  Act on Amendments to the Mandatory Health Insurance Act (Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama Zakona o 

obveznom zdravstvenom osiguranju), NN No. 33/2023. 

301  I.e. whether the level of allowance is determined as a share (percentage) of average salary received in a 
certain period preceding the materialisation of insured risk or as a share (percentage) of a fixed monthly 
budget calculation base. 

302  According to the explanation accompanying this amendment, its specific aim was to clarify the 

implementation of Directive 97/81 on part-time work in the field of pension insurance. See Draft Act P.Z.E. 
No. 804, p. 26, https://sabor.hr/sites/default/files/uploads/sabor/2019-01-18/080804/PZE_804.pdf. See 
also Regulation on Amendments to the Pension Insurance Act (Uredba o izmjenama i dopunama Zakona o 
mirovinskom osiguranju), NN No. 151/14; Act on Amendments to the Pension Insurance Act (Zakon o 
izmjenama i dopunama Zakona o mirovinskom osiguranju), Official Gazette Narodne novine No. 33/2015. 
303  In 2022, it was 4.7 % of the total employment. See Eurostat, Persons in part-time employment, available 

at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/TPS00159__custom_5762434/default/table?lang=en.  

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pensionable age in a certain year.  However, women keep the right to continue working 
until the age of 65, because the Labour Act prescribes the termination of the employment 
contract by force of law when the employee (regardless of gender) reaches 65 years of 
age and 15 years of insurance (Article 112(1)(6), Labour Act).304 The right of women to 
continue working even after reaching the currently prescribed retirement age for women 
(until  reaching  the  retirement  age  currently  prescribed  for  men)  has  been  confirmed  in 
case law. 

  Personal scope 

Article 2 of Directive 79/7 covers all statutory social security schemes. The personal scope 
of  the  national  statutory  social  security  schemes  is  broader  than  specified  in 
Directive 79/7, because it covers the working population, but also other categories of the 
otherwise  non-active  population  (e.g.  students  on  traineeships,  unemployed  persons 
during professional rehabilitation or vocational training, etc.) under specific circumstances 
and with a more limited coverage. 

  Material scope 

Statutory  social security schemes  cover all  schemes that provide protection against the 
risks listed in Article 3 of Directive 79/7. 

  Exclusions 

Under the provisions that were in force until 31 December 2018, the different pensionable 
ages  for  male  and  female  workers  and  self-employed  persons  were  to  be  gradually 
equalised between 2010 and 2030 and the retirement age was to be gradually increased 
from 65 to 67 (for both sexes) by 2038. Under the 2018 Act on Amendments to the Pension 
Insurance Act, which entered into force on 1 January 2019, the pace for equalisation and 
increase  of  the  pensionable  age  was  accelerated,  so  that  the  transition  period  was 
supposed to end in 2027, while the increase of the pensionable age to 67 was supposed 
to  start  from  2028  and  finish  by  2033.  This  changed  once  more  with  the  legislative 
amendments  in  October  2019,  which  entered  into  force  on  1 January 2020.305  The 
pensionable age will not increase to 67 and the gradual equalisation of the pensionable 
age between men and women has been extended again, to 2030. 

  Actuarial factors 

Sex is not used as an actuarial factor in statutory social security schemes. 

  Difficulties 

Statutory  health  insurance:  an  example  of  the  less  favourable  position  of  women  in 
statutory  health  insurance  in  practice  includes  lower  salary  compensation  for  sickness 
when a woman takes sick leave (e.g. to take care of a sick child) in the six months after 
her  return  from  parental  leave.  This  is  because  sickness  benefits  are  calculated  in  the 
range of 100 % to 70 % of a calculation base, which is the average salary paid in the six 
months prior to the month in which sick leave is taken, depending on the reason for sick 
leave.  However,  the  calculation  base  for  the  sickness  benefits  of  a  woman  who  returns 
from parental leave and who takes sick leave to take care of a sick child under the age of 
three will include the average amount of cash allowances received during parental leave 
(which, until amendments in 2022, could not be more than 120 % of the calculation base, 
i.e. around EUR 536), resulting in much lower sickness benefits than those calculated from 
the  average  salary.  Since  only  around  4-5 %  of  fathers  take  parental  leave,  female 

304  Unless the worker and the employee agree otherwise. 
305  Act on Amendments to the Pension Insurance Act (Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama Zakona o mirovinskom 

osiguranju), NN No. 102/2019. 

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workers are usually more severely affected by this provision. The adverse consequences 
of the rule on calculation of sickness benefit will probably be alleviated by the fact that the 
new  rule  increased  the  maximum  amount  of  parental  benefit  to  225.5 %  of  the  budget 
calculation base (EUR 995.40).306  

Another issue in connection with the statutory health insurance concerns the recognition 
and  payment  of  maternity  benefits  during  maternity  leave.  The  competent  body  (the 
Croatian Health Insurance Fund) applies rigorous insurance verifications when it suspects 
that the employment contract was concluded by a pregnant worker solely for the purpose 
of  acquiring  the  rights  under  the  Act  on  Maternity  and  Parental  Benefits  (fictitious 
employment). Even though cases of abuse of rights certainly exist, such a practice may 
effectively  negate  the  opportunity  for  pregnant  women  to  enter  into  employment 
contracts.  This  means  that  they  will  be  excluded  from  the  status  of  employed  persons 
under the act and, consequently, from being awarded more beneficial rights available to 
those who have that status.  

In practice, even in many cases where the result of this verification was dubious at best, 
women were not able to successfully prove their cases in the courts. In 2021, the ECtHR 
found  that  the  practice  amounts  to  unjustified  direct  sex  discrimination  in  violation  of 
Article 14  ECHR.307  The  case  was  about  a  woman  who  underwent  in  vitro  fertilisation 
shortly  before  employment  and  who  was  denied  the  status  of  employed  person  for  the 
purposes  of  insurance  benefits  (salary  compensation  for  sick  leave  due  to  pregnancy-
related  complications)  mainly  for  that  reason.  The  competent  body  considered  that  her 
employment was fictitious, because she was medically unfit to perform her work tasks at 
the moment of the conclusion of the contract, as her doctor advised her to rest following 
the in vitro fertilisation procedure.308  

The importance of this ECtHR judgment reaches far beyond this individual case, because 
the ECtHR expressed its concern that the gender stereotyping displayed by the Croatian 
Health Insurance Fund in its practice of insurance verifications implies that women should 
not  work  or  seek  employment  during  pregnancy  or  the  mere  possibility  thereof,  which 
presents a serious obstacle to the achievement of real substantive gender equality and is 
in direct contravention of both domestic and international law. The new Act on Maternity 
and Parental Benefit expressly prescribes the right and obligation(!) of the Croatian Health 
Insurance Fund to challenge employment contracts concluded during the exercise of rights 
under  that  Act  before  competent  courts  if  those  contracts  are  deemed  fictitious,  i.e. 
concluded with the sole purpose of exercising the rights  within the system of maternity 
and parental benefits, and not for the genuine performance of work.309 The Act is, however, 
silent  when  it  comes  to  challenging  contracts  concluded  immediately  before  a  person 
requested the recognition of a certain right under that Act. 

Statutory  pension  insurance:  the  existence  of  different  pensionable  ages  for  men  and 
women  causes  difficulties  in  practice  concerning  severance  pay.  Due  to  the  ongoing 
transition  period  for  the  gradual  equalisation  of  the  pensionable  age  between  men  and 
women, if a person decides to terminate their employment relationship and take severance 
pay, the amount of severance pay may be lower for women than  for  men.  This applies 
particularly  where  the  employer  links  the  amount  of  severance  pay  with  the  legally 

306  Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits (Zakon o rodiljnim i roditeljskim potporama), NN No. 152/2022. 
307  European Court of Human Rights, Jurčić v. Croatia, Application No. 54711/15. 
308  This case is also a reminder of the long duration of the proceedings before Croatian courts, especially when 
the results of those proceedings are not satisfactory and the applicant has to seek protection from the 
ECtHR, which takes additional time and effort. Duration of proceedings ranks high among the deterring 
factors for victims to seek remedies in discrimination cases. Many women do not have the patience and the 
resources to pursue such claims. In this case, ten years have elapsed from the time the applicant was 
denied the insurance status, until she was finally awarded the just satisfaction from the ECtHR (the 
procedure before the Croatian courts, including the Constitutional Court, took five years). 

309  Article 58(6)  in  connection  with  Article 13,  Act  on  Maternity  and  Parental  Benefits  (Zakon  o  rodiljnim  i 

roditeljskim potporama), NN No. 152/2022. 

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prescribed pensionable age. The Ombudsperson for Gender Equality reports that she has 
intervened  in  court  proceedings  concerning  this  issue,  where  the  county  court  reversed 
the  finding  of  the  municipal  court  that  there  was  discrimination.  The  county  court’s 
reasoning is that the employer has not discriminated against the claimant in establishing 
that  she  is  entitled  to  a  lower  amount  of  severance  pay,  because  the  fact  that  ‘the 
applicable Croatian legislation leaves a possibility of discriminatory interpretation towards 
insured persons – women – cannot be interpreted at the defendant’s expense, nor should 
the  defendant  bear  the  adverse  consequences’  of  such  an  interpretation.  The  Supreme 
Court of the Republic of Croatia annulled this decision in the revision procedure, and the 
case was subsequently decided in favour of the claimant.310  

In a similar case involving severance pay for public servants and employees, the county 
court in Osijek decided that the claimant was not discriminated against on the ground of 
age  or  sex.  Under  a  disputed  decision  on  the  severance  pay  for  public  servants  and 
employees,  the  claimant  was  not  entitled  to  severance  pay  for  the  termination  of 
employment  in  a  case  of  restructuring  and  downsizing  that  was  more  advantageous 
because it represented a certain percentage of the previous salary, but only to an amount 
of severance pay limited to three budget calculation bases. The female worker was denied 
the more advantageous option, even though her male colleagues of the same age would 
still be able to use it. This is the direct result of the fact that female workers reach the 
prescribed  pensionable  age  earlier  than  male  workers.  The  court  found  that  the  limited 
severance pay applies to all persons who have reached pensionable age, as prescribed by 
law, regardless of whether they are male or female. The more advantageous severance 
pay is aimed only at those persons who have not reached pensionable age and it is more 
advantageous because  its aim is to  rationalise  business. The court  established that this 
was  a  legitimate  aim  and  that  the  difference  in  treatment  was  objectively  justified  and 
proportionate by referring to Article 2(5) of Directive 2000/78/EC.311 This case also shows 
that there is a pressing need for the highest court to take a stand on this issue and end 
discriminatory interpretations by lower courts. 

A mother who was recognised as having the status of a parent–caregiver of a child with 
severe disability could  not simultaneously continue to receive  her pension, because she 
gained  a  separate  status  in  the  pension  insurance  system  as  a  parent–caregiver  in 
accordance with the rules on social welfare. The court ruled that her constitutional rights 
were not violated as a result of the automatic suspension of the payment of the pension.312 

  Evaluation of implementation 

In many gender equality aspects, especially concerning the scope of insured persons and 
their  family  members  and  their  social  security  status,  the  Croatian  legislation  is  rather 
advanced,  because  it  includes  extramarital  partners,  as  well  as  registered  and  informal 
same-sex life partners. However, a requirement to prove the existence of extramarital or 
informal life partnerships before the court may discourage or at least make it more difficult 
for those persons to acquire and realise their rights. 

The  overall  comment  on  the  field  of  social  security  is  that  there  are  no  comprehensive 
publicly available surveys or research concentrated on the gender equality aspects of the 
current legislative framework. Existing inequalities in the social security system cannot be 
ascribed solely to legislation or lack of adequate legislative provisions, but to the lack of 
overall  policy  approach  to  certain  issues,  hasty  and  frequent  legislative  amendments, 
absence of a constructive public debate and low public awareness of and interest in those 
issues. 

310  As reported by the Ombudsperson for Gender Equality in the Annual Report for 2021, p. 17, and Annual 

Report for 2018, pp. 30-32. 

311  County Court in Osijek, Gž R-519/2017. 
312  Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, U-III-B-170/2015. 

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  Remaining issues 

There is nothing further to report. 

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8 

Self-employed  workers  (Directive 2010/41/EU  and  some 
provisions of the Recast Directive)313 

relevant 

  Implementation of Directive 2010/41/EU 

Directive 2010/41/EU  is  implemented  in  the  Croatian  legal  system  through  the  Gender 
Equality  Act  (express  referral  to  implementation  of  Directive 2010/41/EU  –  Article 1a; 
prohibition  of  gender  discrimination  in  the  field  of  employment,  self-employment  and 
professions  –  Article 13(1)(1)  of  the  Gender  Equality  Act);  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act 
(field of application – Article 8); the Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits (provisions on 
the  right  to  maternity  and  parental  benefits  and  the  calculation  of  benefits  for  self-
employed  people  are  regulated  in  the  same  way  as  for  those  who  are  employed  – 
Articles 15-37), the Act on Pension Insurance Companies (included in the definition of key 
concepts for the application of that act – Article 8; and insured persons – Article 10), and 
the  Act  on  Voluntary  Pension  Funds  (express  referral  to 
implementation  of 
Directive 2010/41/EU – Article 2; definition of self-employed persons for the purposes of 
application of that act – Article 3; and provision on membership in closed pension funds – 
Article 120(1)). 

  Personal scope 

8.2.1  Scope 

National legislation covers the personal scope of Directive 2010/41/EU, with several acts 
containing  references  to  self-employed  persons  or  self-employed  activities.  It  is  not 
customary to use the term self-employed workers in the Croatian language and legislation, 
because the term worker implies dependent work. 

8.2.2  Definitions 

Apart  from  the  social  security  and  gender  equality  legislation  which  concerns  employed 
and self-employed persons in the same manner, other national legislation regulating the 
position  of  self-employed  persons  includes  the  Income  Tax  Act,314  the  Act  on 
Contributions315 and the Crafts and Trades Act,316 as well as other acts regulating certain 
professions. 

The Income Tax Act provides the most detailed description of self-employed activities for 
the purposes of the taxation of income from those activities. In addition to the activities 
of tradespeople, self-employed activities include four categories of independent activities 
performed  by  1.  health  workers,  veterinarians,  lawyers,  notaries,  auditors,  engineers, 
architects,  tax  advisers,  insolvency  managers,  court  interpreters,  translators,  tourist 
guides  and  similar;  2.  freelance  scientists,  writers,  innovators  and  similar;  3.  freelance 
teachers and similar; 4. freelance journalists, artists and sportspeople.317  

The Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits defines self-employment as ‘work by a natural 
person by which he/she independently performs gainful economic or professional activity 
as his/her only or main occupation and is subject to an obligation to pay income or profit 

313  See Barnard, C. and Blackham, A. (2015), Self-Employed: The implementation of Directive 2010/41 on the 
application of the principle of equal treatment between men and women engaged in an activity in a self-
employed capacity, European network of legal experts in gender equality and non-discrimination, available 
at: https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/2732-self-employed-en. 

314  Income Tax Act (Zakon o porezu na dohodak), NN Nos. 115/2016, 106/2018, 121/2019, 32/2020, 

138/2020, 151/2022 and 114/2023. 

315  Act on Contributions (Zakon o doprinosima), NN Nos. 84/2008, 152/2008, 94/2009, 18/2011, 22/2012, 

144/12, 148/2013, 41/2014, 143/2014, 115/2016, 106/2018, 33/2023 and 114/2023. 

316  Crafts and Trades Act (Zakon o obrtu), NN Nos. 143/2013, 127/2019 and 41/2020. 
317  Article 29, Income Tax Act. Under certain conditions, income from activities in agriculture and forestry, as 

well as from producing electricity from self-supply sources is also considered as taxable income. 

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tax,  in  accordance  with  tax  laws  and  regulations’  (Article 7(1)(2),  Act  on  Maternity  and 
Parental Benefits). 

The Act on Voluntary Pension Funds defines self-employed persons as those who ‘perform 
independent  work,  for  example  crafts  and  trades  or  similar  activity,  freelancers,  people 
employed  in  agriculture  and  others,  or  a  self-employed  person  in  accordance  with  the 
regulations of another Member State’ (Article 3(1)(13), Act on Voluntary Pension Funds). 

8.2.3  Categorisation and coverage  

Croatian law mainly defines self-employment in terms of tax obligations and not so much 
in terms of the beneficiaries of employment rights. Due to the existence of several different 
categories  of  self-employment  in  the  Republic  of  Croatia,  there  is  still  some  confusion 
about  the  precise  definition  of  self-employment.  A  positive  development  is  that  social 
protection  legislation  uses  the  term  self-employed  persons,  which  is  broader  and  can 
encompass  all  sub-categories  of  self-employed  persons,  thus  minimising  the  risk  of 
exclusion from coverage. The agricultural and forestry sectors are included in the definition 
of self-employment. Life partners  enjoy the same scope of social rights as  spouses and 
the legal effects of long-term cohabitation (longer than three years) are the same as the 
legal effects of marriage. Social legislation explicitly includes partners within the personal 
scope. 

8.2.4  Recognition of life partners 

The status of the life partners of self-employed persons is regulated in the same manner 
as those of employed persons. 

  Material scope 

8.3.1  Implementation of Article 4 of Directive 2010/41/EU 

Article 8(1)(1)  of the Anti-Discrimination Act regulates its field  of application in a broad 
manner  by  stating  that  it  applies  to  all  conduct  by  state  authorities,  local  and  regional 
authorities, legal persons with public prerogatives and the conduct of all legal and natural 
persons in various areas, including the possibility of performing self-employed activities. 
This  field  of  application  is  broad  enough  to  include  the  widest  possible  cases  of 
discrimination in the area of self-employment. 

8.3.2  Material scope 

The material scope of gender equality protection for self-employed persons is the same as 
that specified in Article 4 of Directive 2010/41/EU. 

  Positive action 

Examples  of  positive  action  can  be  found  in  active  labour  market  policy  measures  or 
targeted projects aimed specifically at increasing the employability of women, as well as 
subsidised loans for female entrepreneurship.  

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The  majority  of  active  labour  market  policy  measures  are  framed  in  a  gender-neutral 
manner,  without  specifically  targeting  women.318  For  example,  measures  aimed  at  the 
employment  of  disadvantaged  persons  in  the  labour  market  include,  among  others,  all 
active  persons  above  50  years  of  age,  or  members  of  the  Roma  population,  without 
specifically targeting women in these categories, even though they are in an even more 
vulnerable position. Public works, as a type of active employment policy measures target, 
again  gender  neutrally,  parents  with  four  or  more  children,  children  with  a  disability  or 
victims of domestic violence. The share of female and male beneficiaries of active labour 
market policy measures implemented by the Croatian Employment Service is balanced,319 
but  some  of  the  measures,  such  as  incentives  for  self-employment  activities,  are 
particularly important for boosting female entrepreneurship. 

The  Ministry  of  Labour,  Pension  System,  Family  and  Social  Policy  implements  projects 
financed from the European Social Fund targeted at the employment of vulnerable groups, 
which includes women,320 in particular women above 50 years of age, those with education 
to secondary level, women with disabilities, female victims of trafficking, former addicts, 
female survivors of domestic violence and homeless women.  

The Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR) implements a programme 
of  subsidised  loans  for  female  entrepreneurs.321  In  2023,  loans  of  a  total  value  of 
EUR 37.02  million  (compared  with  EUR 16.83  million  in  2022)  were  granted  to  female 
entrepreneurs, but the share of women entrepreneurs is still low.322  

  Social protection 

There  is  no  special  system  of  social  protection  for  self-employed  persons  (i.e.  they  are 
covered by the same legislation that applies to employed persons i.e. workers). The social 
protection system in the Republic of Croatia is available to  employed and self-employed 
persons. It covers mandatory pension, social and health insurance. Self-employed persons 
are  entitled  to  the  following  benefits  in  the  public  social  protection  system:  disability, 
survivor’s,  sickness,  work  injury,  occupational  disease,  unemployment,  maternity  and 
parental  benefits,  new-born  child  assistance,  income-based  child  allowance  and  social 
welfare. Self-employed persons can also establish or join closed (occupational) voluntary 
pension  insurance  funds.  Spouses  and  life  partners  are  eligible  to  benefit  from  social 
protection in accordance with relevant national law. This is a mandatory requirement: for 
example, the health or pension insurance of the main beneficiary covers spouses, minor 
children and life partners.  

318  See, e.g. Croatian Employment Service, Archive of measures for 2023, available at: 

https://mjere.hzz.hr/katalog-mjera/arhiva-mjera-za-2023-godinu/. See also Croatian Employment Service 
(2021), Mjere aktivne politike zapošljavanja u nadležnosti Hrvatskog zavoda za zapošljavanje. Uvjeti i 
načini korištenja sredstava za provođenje mjera u 2022. godini (Active labour market policy measures 
implemented by the Croatian Employment Service. Conditions and methods for implementation of 
measures in 2022). 

319  The share of women beneficiaries in 2022 was 52.89 %, and in 2023 54.37 %. The share of women 

beneficiaries of self-employment incentives, as a specific active labour market policy measure, is around 
40 %. For more information see: Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2024), Annual Report for 2023, 
pp. 56 – 57; Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2023), Annual Report for 2022, pp. 31, 48.  

320  More information available at: https://www.hzz.hr/projekti/zazeli-program-zaposljavanja-zena-faza-iii/. 

New projects are foreseen and implemented under the ESF+ instrument in the period from 2021 to 2027. 

321  Under the HBOR General criteria of eligibility (3 December 2021), female entrepreneurs are defined as 
business subjects in which at least one or more women own more than a 50 % share and which are 
simultaneously managed by a woman. For entrepreneurs which are not considered micro- or small 
entrepreneurs, one or more women can own less than a 50 % share to be eligible, provided that at least 
one woman holds a key management position concerning finances and/or operative business and/or 
strategy. See HBOR General criteria of eligibility (3 December 2021), p. 2, available at: 
https://www.hbor.hr/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Opci-kriteriji-prihvatljivosti-1.3.2022.pdf. 

322  For more information, see: Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2024), Annual Report for 2023, pp. 57-58; 

Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2023), Annual Report for 2022, pp. 42 - 49. 

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Self-employed persons are entitled to the same rights as employed persons concerning all 
maternity and parental benefits. There are some differences concerning the base for the 
calculation  of salary compensation during maternity, parental or  related types  of leave, 
but  in  any  case,  the  Croatian  Health  Insurance  Fund  bears  these  costs.  For  employed 
workers, the basis for the calculation of salary compensation during maternity and parental 
leave,  for  example,  is  the  average  salary  received  in  the  six  months  before  take-up  of 
maternity  or  parental  leave  (a  ceiling  applies  for  parental  leave).  For  self-employed 
persons,  the  basis  is  the  monthly  insurance  base  for  the  calculation  and  payment  of 
mandatory  health  insurance  contributions  in  the  last  six  months  before  the  take-up  of 
leave, minus the amount of mandatory contributions, taxes and surcharges (a ceiling also 
applies for parental leave). The salary compensation during sick leave (including sick leave 
to take care of a sick child or spouse) is covered by the self-employed for the first 42 days 
of leave and afterwards at the expense of the Croatian Health Insurance Fund. 

  Maternity benefits 

The status of self-employed parents regarding maternity/parental rights is equal to that 
of parents who are employees (Article 15(1) of the Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits), 
provided that they have the status of an insured person in compulsory health and pension 
insurance.323  Self-employed  parents  within  the  meaning  of  the  Act  on  Maternity  and 
Parental  Benefits  include  persons  who  independently  perform  gainful  economic  or 
professional activity as their only or main occupation and are subject to an obligation to 
pay income or profit tax, in accordance with tax laws and regulations (Article 7(1)(2), Act 
on Maternity and Parental Benefits). Consequently, the position of the female spouses of 
self-employed workers (including non-married partners) is determined according to their 
own employment, self-employment, unemployment or other status within the meaning of 
the Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits. Under the Crafts and Trades Act324 (Article 30) 
members  of  the  tradesperson’s  family  (spouse,  children,  parents,  adoptive  parents, 
adopted children, children of a spouse and other dependent family members) are entitled 
to assist the tradesperson in the performance of their activities (without having to be in 
employment relationship with the tradesperson). However, there is no provision granting 
the  spouses  of  self-employed  workers  social  protection  or  maternity  benefits  based 
exclusively on this family relationship. These entitlements are provided in accordance with 
their personal status in the statutory insurance (i.e. pension, sickness, unemployment). 

The maternity allowance meets the requirement of sufficiency because it covers the total 
amount  of  previous  remuneration  as  stipulated  in  Article 8(3)  of  Directive 2010/41/EU. 
The criterion used in Croatian legislation is the one stipulated in subparagraph (b), i.e. the 
average  loss  of  income  in  relation  to  a  comparable  preceding  period.  The  maternity 
allowance is granted on a mandatory basis but is based on the request from the applicant. 
There  is  no  choice  of  systems  available.  The  Croatian  Health  Insurance  Fund  pays  the 
allowance. In relation to Article 8(4), there are no existing services supplying temporary 
replacements or access to services as an alternative to or part of the allowance. 

  Occupational social security 

8.7.1  Implementation of provisions regarding occupational social security 

The principle of equal treatment of self-employed persons in occupational pension schemes 
is  implemented  through  the  gender  equality  clause  in  the  Act  on  Pension  Insurance 
Companies (Article 105), which specifies that the calculation of a pension paid under that 

323  The Constitutional Court has found a violation of the general constitutional anti-discrimination clause from 
Article 14 of the Constitution, in connection with the right to maternity and parental benefits under the Act 
on Maternity and Parental Benefits, where the self-employed mother was denied payment of maternity and 
parental benefits because of her outstanding debt for mandatory health insurance contributions to the 
Croatian Health Insurance Fund; see Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, U-III-3641/2020, 
Decision of 27 June 2023.  

324  Crafts and Trades Act (Zakon o obrtu), NN Nos. 143/2013, 127/2019 and 41/2020. 

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act will not, directly or indirectly, result in inequality or a denial of rights based on gender. 
It further states, in a non-exhaustive manner, what is understood by ‘inequality or a denial 
of  rights’  (different  conditions  for  calculating  qualifying  periods,  different  ages  as  a 
condition for the recognition of rights, unless otherwise prescribed, and different amounts 
of  pension  due  to  diverging  conditions  applicable  solely  to  persons  of  one  sex).  Closed 
pension  funds  financed  by  associations  of  independent  or  occupational  activities  are 
obliged  to  accept  all  members  of  the  association  and  self-employed  persons  as  their 
members (Article 120, Act on Voluntary Pension Funds). 

8.7.2  Application  of  exceptions  for  self-employed  persons  regarding  matters  of 

occupational social security (Article 11 of Recast Directive 2006/54) 

No use is made of this possibility. 

  Prohibition of discrimination 

Article 8(1)(1)  of  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act  prescribes  its  field  of  application  in  broad 
areas of private and public life. It is applicable to the conduct of all state authorities, local 
and regional authorities, legal persons with public prerogatives and to the conduct of all 
legal  and  natural  persons  in  relation  to  the  possibilities  for  the  performance  of  self-
employed activities. 

  Evaluation of implementation 

National  law  implements  the  gender  equality  protection  of  self-employed  workers  in  a 
satisfactory manner. The realisation of all gender equality standards is guaranteed in the 
same way for self-employed workers and dependent workers. There is no denying that the 
status of self-employed persons may be more precarious in practice, due to economic and 
financial risks inherent in the performance of self-employed activities. 

 Remaining issues 

As  expected,  the  COVID-19  pandemic  has  negatively  affected  the  business  of  self-
employed persons and micro- and small entrepreneurs. Data from April 2020 shows that 
the majority of beneficiaries of job preservation measures during the (first) lockdown were 
microbusinesses (employing up to ten workers) and small entrepreneurs (employing from 
11 to 50 workers).325 However, a  slight rise in  self-employment was  evident during the 
pandemic in 2020 and 2021.326 It is possible that people who lost employment during the 
COVID-19 pandemic were turning to self-employment and using the existing incentives in 
this area to provide for their livelihood, but additional research is needed to demonstrate 
the gender dimension of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on self-employment. It is 
particularly important to keep and publish easily accessible gender segregated data, which 
is currently not the case.  

325  The share of microentrepreneurs was 40 %, and the share of small entrepreneurs was 25 % in the overall 
number of beneficiaries. There are no available data on how many self-employed persons (i.e. individual 
entrepreneurs, tradespeople and other freelance professionals) benefit from various measures of support. 
See: https://www.hzz.hr/objavljen-popis-korisnika-potpore-za-ocuvanje-radnih-mjesta-za-ozujak-2020/.  

326  See Croatian Employment Service (CES) (2021), Monthly Statistics Bulletin 2/2021, p. 45; and Croatian 

Employment Service (CES) (2021), Monthly Statistics Bulletin 2/2020, p. 45. For more information see 
Country report Gender equality Croatia 2022, pp. 93 - 94. 

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One study published in 2021 shows the importance and effectiveness of policies specifically 
targeting female entrepreneurs.327 It analysed the effectiveness of grant schemes awarded 
exclusively to female entrepreneurs during the recession period from 2008 to 2012 and 
found that there is robust evidence for the positive impact of small business development 
grants aimed exclusively at women, since the benefits of the grant scheme outweigh its 
costs.  The  authors  also  show  that  such  a  grant  scheme  designed  to  foster  female 
entrepreneurs is particularly effective for more experienced entrepreneurs and that part 
of  the  positive  effects  was  achieved  through  using  bank  financing  opportunities,  i.e.  by 
increasing financial demand.328 The authors of the study conclude that these findings are 
a valuable lesson and guideline for the creation of subsidies in the aftermath of the COVID-
19 crisis, which will affect female entrepreneurs excessively. 

327  Srhoj, S., Škrinjarić B., Radas, S., Walde, J. (2021), ‘Small matching grants for women entrepreneurs: 

lessons from the past recession’, Small Bus Econ (published online 1 August 2021), available at: 
https://link.springer.com/epdf/10.1007/s11187-021-00524-2?sharing_token=Q11AuqiUDpCqR-
YBCdLCq_e4RwlQNchNByi7wbcMAY5txv7BhjlEj7tL5JvnyVvOW48aPE7_9yf8VoYDIhnzY0zLhqTn4Clw9FpNx_k
VYs7PwN-LCBENeumSh6VwPaYXN4-2xkuiuwwAzYZBM8UHG1w1G9VTG_hqoFsLQeKguWQ%3D. See also 
Škrinjarić, B. (2021) Ekonomski institut Zagreb, EIZ komentar, Poticaji za žene poduzetnice: populizam ili 
promišljena politika? (Incentives for women entrepreneurs: populism or prudent policy?), available at: 
https://www.eizg.hr/poticaji-za-zene-poduzetnice-populizam-ili-promisljena-politika/5729. 

328  Srhoj, S., Škrinjarić B., Radas, S., Walde, J. (2021), ‘Small matching grants for women entrepreneurs: 

lessons from the past recession’, Small Bus Econ (published online 1 August 2021), available at: 
https://link.springer.com/epdf/10.1007/s11187-021-00524-2?sharing_token=Q11AuqiUDpCqR-
YBCdLCq_e4RwlQNchNByi7wbcMAY5txv7BhjlEj7tL5JvnyVvOW48aPE7_9yf8VoYDIhnzY0zLhqTn4Clw9FpNx_k
VYs7PwN-LCBENeumSh6VwPaYXN4-2xkuiuwwAzYZBM8UHG1w1G9VTG_hqoFsLQeKguWQ%3D. 

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9 

Goods and services (Directive 2004/113)329 

  General (legal) context 

9.1.1  Specific  problems  of  discrimination 

in 

the  online  environment/digital 

market/collaborative economy 

No specific problems have so far been  reported  in connection with discrimination in the 
online  environment,  digital  markets  or  the  collaborative  economy.  The  Gender  Equality 
Act and the Anti-Discrimination Act have very broad  fields of application,  covering both 
the private and public spheres. This means that gender equality issues arising in the online 
environment/digital  market/collaborative  economy  are  implicitly  covered.  For  example, 
regardless  of  how  we  treat  individual  relationships  between  the  three  key  actors  in  the 
collaborative  economy  (i.e.  service  provider  –  intermediary  –  client),  the  general 
prohibition  of  gender  discrimination  applies.  However,  given  the  specificities  associated 
with online and digital environments, the application of new technologies results in many, 
so far unobserved legal and practical issues (such as algorithm bias). Therefore, this area 
needs further in-depth investigation and research, not just at national level. This would 
enable the establishment of appropriate responses and mechanisms to remedy potential 
shortcomings and inequality. 

9.1.2  Political and societal debate 

A recurring issue in this area concerns the field of reproductive health and women’s access 
to  specific  services  within  the  healthcare  system.  In  2022,  a  hospital’s  denial  of  a 
termination  of  pregnancy  to  a  woman  carrying  a  foetus  with  severe  congenital 
malformations with no  chance of  survival after birth  caused a massive  public response, 
both in support of and in opposition to the woman’s decision to end her pregnancy. This 
(once  again)  revealed  the  deeply  rooted  inequality,  lack  of  due  consideration  and  even 
prejudice within the health system towards women who wish to  end  their pregnancy in 
accordance  with  the  law.330  Another  deeply  disturbing  aspect  of  this  case  was  that  a 
woman in such a vulnerable situation and her family were exposed to unprecedented public 
scrutiny in the most difficult period of their lives. The case eventually stopped filling the 
headlines, without any substantial improvement to the system.331  

Other areas involving access to and supply of goods and services do not seem to attract 
any public attention. The annual reports by the Ombudsperson for Gender Equality seem 
to  corroborate  the  conclusion  that  recipients  and  providers  of  services  are  generally 
ignorant of their rights/obligations under Directive 2004/113/EC. A cyclical rise and fall in 
complaints in this field can be observed, representing, on average, between  2 to 5 % of 
all cases of gender discrimination reported to the Ombudsperson for Gender Equality.332 
The  perception  of  discrimination  in  the  field  of  health  protection  (including  provision  of 
health  services)  and  the  housing  market  (including  the  rental  of  apartments)  has  been 
increasing  in  recent  years,  whereas  the  perception  of  discrimination  in  the  field  of 

329  See e.g. Caracciolo di Torella, E. (2021) Directive 2004/113EC on Gender equality in goods and services – 

In search of the potential of a forgotten Directive, European network of legal experts in gender equality and 
non-discrimination, available at: https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/5614-directive-2004-113-ec-on-
gender-equality-in-goods-and-services-in-search-of-the-potential-of-a-forgotten-directive-1-38-mb. 

330  See the reaction of the Ombudsperson for Gender Equality, available at: https://www.prs.hr/cms/post/711, 

and of the People’s Ombudsperson, available at: https://www.ombudsman.hr/hr/slucaj-postupanja-
zagrebackih-bolnica-prema-trudnici-4-koraka-kao-odgovor-na-sustavnost-i-doseg-problema/. 

331  A procedure for misdemeanour and payment of a fine for breach of the patient’s rights was initiated against 
the hospital by the health inspectorate from the Ministry of Health, but the woman nevertheless did not get 
the required health treatment in Croatia, and instead had to go to a Slovenian hospital for treatment. See 
Večernji list, 2 June 2022, available at: https://www.vecernji.hr/vijesti/ministarstvo-prekrsena-su-prava-
mirele-cavajde-pokrenut-postupak-protiv-kb-sveti-duh-i-ravnateljice-1591433. 

332  For 2022 data see Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2023), Annual Report for 2022, pp. 9 - 10. 

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commerce  and  services  has  been  in  decline.333  While  the  personal  experience  of 
discrimination in the field of health protection has also been on the rise in recent years, 
discrimination experienced in the general field of commerce and services has stagnated 
and is practically negligible. This does not necessarily imply that discrimination does not 
exist,  but  it  may  mean  that  even  though  there  is  a  growing  public  perception  of 
discrimination  in  these  fields,  it  is  still  difficult  to  recognise  it  in  practice  and  to  use 
appropriate legal instruments to combat it. 

  Prohibition of direct and indirect discrimination 

the  Gender  Equality  Act 

the  Anti-Discrimination  Act  and 

Both 
implement 
Directive 2004/113 in their respective fields of application. Both acts also go beyond the 
scope  of  application  of  the  Directive.  Article 6(4)  of  the  Gender  Equality  Act  explicitly 
prohibits any discrimination in relation to access to and the supply of goods and services. 
Article 8(1)(8) of the Anti-Discrimination Act specifies its field of application in the area of 
access to and the supply of goods and services. Both acts explicitly mention that they are 
aligned with Directive 2004/113 (Article 1a of the Anti-Discrimination Act; Article 1a of the 
Gender Equality Act).334 

  Material scope 

The  material  scope  of  national  law  is  broader,  because  it  covers  the  content  of  media, 
advertising and education. 

Education: in the field of education, the public body in charge of education, agencies for 
training and education and institutions dealing with education as their primary activity are 
obliged to systematically implement measures to ensure equal access to education at all 
levels, as well as activities in relation to advanced vocational training and promotion to 
the  professions  of  employees  in  training  and  education  (Article 14(1),  Gender  Equality 
Act). Gender equality content forms an integral part of curricula at all levels of education 
(including  pre-school),  with  the  aim  of  preparing  both  sexes  for  active  and  equal 
participation in all fields of life and promoting knowledge of non-discrimination among men 
and  women,  eliminating  gender  inequality  and  stereotypes  and  acknowledging  gender 
aspects in all fields of  education (Article 14(2) and (3), Gender Equality Act). Particular 
attention should be devoted to achieving equal representation of both sexes among pupils 
and students, as well as on the management boards of educational facilities (Article 14(4), 
Gender Equality Act). 

Media:  the  media  are  obliged  to  use  their  programmes,  programme  framework, 
programme  guidelines  and  self-regulating  acts  to  promote  awareness  of  the  equality  of 
women  and  men  (Article 16(1),  Gender  Equality  Act).  The  prohibition  of  incitement  to 
gender  inequality  or  inequality  based  on  sexual  orientation  is  prescribed  in  the  Media 
Act.335 Article 14(2), Electronic Media Act336 contains a prohibition of incitement, promotion 
of incitement or spreading of hatred and discrimination based on race or ethnicity, skin 
colour,  gender,  language,  political  or  other  opinion,  national  or  social  origin,  property, 
trade  union  membership,  education,  social  protection,  marital  or  family  status,  age, 
health, disability, genetic heritage, gender identity or expression or sexual orientation in 
audio and/or audiovisual media services. Audiovisual and radio programmes, as well as 
the  content  of  electronic  publications,  should  promote  gender  equality  (Article 15, 
Electronic Media Act). 

333  People’s Ombudsperson (2022), Istraživanje o stavovima i razini svijesti o diskriminaciji i pojavnim oblicima 

diskriminacije 2022 (Research on attitudes and the level of awareness of discrimination and forms of 
discrimination for 2022). For a short summary see EELN (2023) Flash Report Croatia, 1 March 2023.  
334  Article 1a was inserted into the Gender Equality Act with the Act on Amendments to the Gender Equality 

Act (NN No. 69/17). It contains a list of all the EU directives in the field of gender equality with a statement 
that the provisions of the Gender Equality Act are aligned therewith. 

335  Media Act (Zakon o medijima) NN Nos. 59/2004, 84/2011, 81/2013 and 114/2022. 
336  Electronic Media Act (Zakon o elektroničkim medijima) NN Nos. 11/2021 and 114/2022. 

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Advertising: any public display of women and men in an insulting, degrading or demeaning 
manner based  on sex  or  sexual  orientation is  prohibited (Article 16(2), Gender Equality 
Act).  Commercial  audiovisual  communication  must  not  include  or  promote  any 
discrimination  based  on  gender,  race,  ethnicity,  nationality,  religion  or  belief,  disability, 
age  or  sexual  orientation  (Article 21(4)  (2),  Electronic  Media  Act).  Media  outlets  which 
publish programme content or advertisements presenting men and women in an offensive, 
degrading or humiliating manner based on sex or sexual orientation shall be punished by 
a fine of up to EUR 132 700 (Article 36 Gender Equality Act). 

Both  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act  (Article 8(1)(7))  and  the  Gender  Equality  Act 
(Article 6(4))  prohibit  discrimination  in  access  to  and  the  supply  of  goods  and  services, 
without expressly highlighting that the offer and the transaction take place outside of the 
area of private and family life. Both Acts have a very broad scope of application, covering 
public and private spheres of life. For example, they do not limit their scope of application 
and they do not differentiate between services provided by a professional provider or an 
occasional one within the private sphere. However, ‘access to and the supply of goods and 
services’ are generally understood not to cover transactions in the context of private and 
family  life.  Tourist  accommodation  services  (e.g.  short-term  rentals  of  entire  homes) 
provided  by  private  individuals  through  Airbnb  or  similar  platforms  would  not  be 
considered to be carried out in the context of private and family life, but as commercial 
transactions  covered  by  the  gender  equality  legislation.  Anyone  providing  tourist 
accommodation services in their homes, whether entire homes or rooms, would have to 
be registered as a provider of accommodation services within their own household.337 This 
would be considered as the provision of a service outside of private and family life. In that 
case, any difference in treatment would have to be justified and proportional. On the other 
hand, the rental of a room in a private home based on a civil law lease contract would be 
considered to fall into the area of private and family life. In 2019, criminal charges for a 
criminal offence of violation of equality338 were brought against an apartment owner who 
refused to let his apartment to tourists who were a homosexual couple.339 

The Anti-Discrimination Act allows a limited exception concerning the access to and the 
supply  of  goods  and  services,  in  line  with  Article 4(5)  of  Directive 2004/113.  Any  less 
favourable treatment in access to and the supply of goods and services and sports shall 
not  be  deemed  discriminatory  if  the  provision  of  the  goods  and/or  services  is  reserved 
exclusively or primarily to members of one sex or persons with disabilities, provided that 
such treatment is objectively and reasonably justified by a legitimate aim and the means 
of  achieving  that  aim  are  appropriate  and  necessary  (Article 9(2)(7)  of  the  Anti-
Discrimination Act). 

There  is  no  exclusion  from  coverage  in  the  health  sector.  There  are  no  exceptions 
concerning the provision of any healthcare services, in public or in private healthcare. 

  Exceptions 

There are no exceptions from the material scope of Directive 2004/113. 

337  Act on Hospitality Activity (Zakon o ugostiteljskoj djelatnosti), NN Nos. 85/2015, 121/2016, 99/2018, 

25/2019, 98/2019, 32/2020, 42/2020 and 126/2021. 

338  Article 125(1) of the Criminal Code (Kazneni zakon), NN Nos. 125/2011, 144/2012, 56/2015, 101/2017, 

118/2018, 126/2019, 84/2021, 114/2022 and 114/2023. This criminal offence includes denial, limitation or 
conditioning of the acquisition of goods or receipt of services based on differentiation on discriminatory 
grounds. 

339  See https://www.telegram.hr/politika-kriminal/napokon-podignuta-je-optuznica-protiv-zadranina-koji-je-
odbio-gay-paru-iznajmiti-apartman/. Discrimination based on sexual orientation is included within the 
scope of the Gender Equality Act, as well as the Anti-Discrimination Act. 

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  Justification of differences in treatment 

Under  Article 9(2)(7)  of  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act,  any  less  favourable  treatment  in 
access  to  and  the  supply  of  goods  and  services  and  sports  shall  not  be  deemed 
discriminatory  if  the  provision  of  the  goods  and/or  services  is  reserved  exclusively  or 
primarily to members of one sex or persons with disabilities, provided that such treatment 
is objectively and reasonably justified by a legitimate aim and the means of achieving that 
aim are appropriate and necessary. 

Cases involving different prices for men and women for entering certain events, bars and 
clubs  were  relatively  common  before  2020.340  In  2018,  the  Ombudsperson  for  Gender 
Equality received a complaint involving different prices for using the services of a sports 
centre.341 The same sports centre was subject to a complaint concerning the identical issue 
in 2016, when it was determined that there was no discrimination.342 After receiving the 
relevant information on the structure of membership from the sports centre, the analysis 
revealed that the majority of members are women and concluded that even if in the earlier 
case there were objective reasons to motivate more women and female students to join 
the  programmes  in  the  sports  centre,  that  reason  had  been  accomplished.  The 
Ombudsperson for Gender Equality warned the sports centre that different prices in this 
case represented direct discrimination in access to services and recommended the sports 
centre remedy this situation by charging the same prices. The important thing about this 
decision  is  that  the  Ombudsperson  for  Gender  Equality  clearly  stated  that  special 
measures,  as  envisaged  under  Article 9(2)(2)  of  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act,  may  be 
established only in laws and other regulations and certainly not in a unilateral decision by 
a private company. 

A complaint from 2019 concerned the use of sauna facilities at a spa resort on a certain 
day of the week between certain hours, which were reserved only for women, while men 
were denied access during those hours. The explanation provided by the resort was that 
it  was  a  means  of  ensuring  a  (sex)  harassment-free  environment.  However,  the  resort 
complied with the recommendation issued by the Ombudsperson for Gender Equality to 
use other more appropriate means, such as visible signs with rules of behaviour, etc. and 
not a complete ban on the service to male users.343 

Although  sexual  harassment  in  the  field  of  access  to  services,  in  the  form  of  sexist 
statements or conduct, is not uncommon, it is rarely sanctioned. In many situations it is 
considered to be a standard societal communication pattern. Even where such cases are 
reported to the Ombudsperson for Gender Equality, the victim does not usually pursue the 
claim further.344 

  Actuarial factors 

Exceptions to the general prohibition of discrimination on particular discriminatory grounds 
(Article 9,  Anti-Discrimination  Act)  were  amended  and  redefined  in  2012.  A  provision 
which stipulated that the differences in premiums and benefits where the use of sex was 
a factor of calculation was not deemed to be discrimination was removed with effect from 
30 June 2013, in view of the decision by the Court of Justice of the EU in the Test-Achats 
case. Age as a factor in calculation still remains an acceptable exception (Article 9(2)(6), 
Anti-Discrimination Act). 

340  See, for example, Ombudsperson for Gender Equality, PRS-20-01/17-9 – free access to ice-skating rink for 

women and girls. 

341  Ombudsperson for Gender Equality, PRS-18-01/18-06. 
342  Ombudsperson for Gender Equality, PRS-18-01/16-04. 
343  Case PRS-18-01/19-16, Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2020), Annual Report for 2019, pp. 313-314. 
344  Ombudsperson for Gender Equality, PRS-18-01/18-3. 

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  Interpretation of exception contained in Article 5(2) of Directive 2004/113 

Following the Test-Achats ruling by the CJEU, the use of sex as a factor in the calculation 
of  premiums  and  benefits  was  removed  from  the  list  of  acceptable  exceptions  to  the 
prohibition  of  discrimination  listed  in  Article 9  of  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act  with  effect 
from 30 June 2013. Under the  same provision (Article 9(2)(6), Anti-Discrimination Act), 
age still remains an acceptable exception, i.e. placing someone in a less favourable position 
on the ground of age when determining premiums and other insurance conditions based 
on  generally  accepted  risk  assessment  factors  and  in  accordance  with  relevant  and 
accurate statistical data and actuarial factors shall not be deemed as discrimination. 

The Insurance Act of 2005 was also amended in 2013 to implement the Test-Achats ruling 
with  effect  from  the  date  of  Croatia’s  accession  to  the  EU  (1 July 2013).345  The  first 
Ordinance on detailed rules and criteria for respecting the personal circumstance of sex 
was adopted in 2013.346 It literally follows the Commission’s Guidelines on the Test-Achats 
ruling, with the only difference being that the date from which these rules apply was set 
at 1 July 2013 (date of accession).347 The current Insurance Act of 2015, which has been 
in force since 1 January 2016,348 contains a very similar provision implementing the Test-
Achats ruling in its Article 8, prohibiting the use of gender as a determining factor in the 
calculation of premiums and benefits when concluding a new insurance contract.  

The use of gender as a risk factor is allowed for the calculation of premiums and benefits 
at an aggregate level, as long as this does not lead to differentiation at the individual level. 
The insurance company may use gender as a determining factor for reserving and internal 
pricing, reinsurance pricing, marketing and the assessment of risks from the group of life 
insurance  and  certain  classes  of  accident  and  health  insurance.  For  insurance  contracts 
concluded before 1 July 2013, the differences in individual premiums and amounts insured 
may  be  allowed  if  the  insurance  company  used  gender  as  a  factor  in  the  calculation  of 
premiums  and  amounts  insured.  The  method  of  application  of  these  provisions  is 
prescribed in the subsequent Ordinance on detailed rules and criteria for respecting the 
personal circumstance of sex from 2016, in line with the Commission’s Guidelines. 349 The 
text of the new Ordinance is identical to the Ordinance of 2013. The cut-off date for the 
use of gender as a risk factor at individual level is the date of accession (1 July 2013). 

  Positive action measures (Article 6 of Directive 2004/113) 

No specific legislative positive action measures have been adopted in relation to access to 
and  the  supply  of  goods  and  services.  The  Croatian  Bank  for  Reconstruction  and 
Development  (HBOR)  implements  a  programme  of  subsidised  loans  for  female 
entrepreneurs,  which  is  administered  through  commercial  banks  as  partners.350  One 
complaint concerning beneficial loans granted by one bank to female entrepreneurs only 
was reported by the Ombudsperson for Gender Equality.351 The Ombudsperson established 
that  the  bank  was  majority  owned  by  the  state  and  that  it  was  implementing  the 

345  Act on Amendments to the Insurance Act (2005) (Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama Zakona osiguranju 

(2005)) – no longer in force, NN No. 54/2013, Article 2. 

346  Ordinance on detailed rules and criteria for respecting the personal circumstance of sex (2013) (Pravilnik o 

detaljnim pravilima i kriterijima poštivanja osobne okolnosti spola (2013)) – no longer in force, NN 
No. 79/2013. 

347  European Commission, Guidelines on the application of Council Directive 2004/113/EC to insurance, in the 

light of the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Case C-236/09 (Test-Achats), 
OJ C 11, 13.01.2012. 

348  Insurance Act (2015) (Zakon o osiguranju (2015)), NN Nos. 30/2015, 112/2018, 63/2020, 133/2020 and 

151/2022. Some of its provisions, which are not relevant in this context, entered into force before 
1 January 2016. 

349  Ordinance on detailed rules and criteria for respecting the personal circumstance of sex (Pravilnik o 

detaljnim pravilima i kriterijima poštivanja osobne okolnosti spola), NN No. 10/2016. 

350  See Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR), 

https://www.hbor.hr/kreditni_program/poduzetnistvo-mladih-zena-i-pocetnika/#povezani-dokumenti. 

351  Ombudsperson for Gender Equality, PRS-18-01/17-05. 

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Government strategy aimed at boosting female entrepreneurship. Since such conduct is 
essentially a positive action measure, based on a public decision and implemented on a 
temporary basis, there was no discrimination. 

  Specific problems related to pregnancy, maternity or parenthood 

In  recent  years,  many  issues  in  the  field  of  reproductive  health  have  been  revealed, 
primarily  concerning  access  to  legal,  induced  termination  of  pregnancy  and  different 
standards  of  care  and  protection  for  women  during  delivery  (giving  birth)  and  other 
gynaecological  treatments  in  different  hospitals.  These  issues  are  persistent,  with 
occasional high-profile cases that make the headlines and spark a public debate, but the 
root causes of systemic prejudice within the system, especially towards legal termination 
of pregnancy, are never fully dealt with. 

There are three main reasons for  recurring issues in connection with  the termination  of 
pregnancy. The first is associated with the legal framework. The act regulating the right 
to freedom of choice regarding childbirth352 dates back to 1978 and the former Yugoslavia. 
Despite  its  many  deficiencies,  it  still  represents  a  rather  modern  piece  of  legislation, 
protecting women’s rights to bodily integrity. Many conservative forces associate it with a 
liberal approach to birth control during socialist times and would like to see it repealed in 
order  to  limit  access  to  abortion.  The  Constitutional  Court  of  the  Republic  of  Croatia 
decided in 2017 to reject a request for a review of its constitutionality,353 confirming that 
the right of a woman to mental and physical integrity, including the choice of whether or 
not to conceive a child and how to develop the pregnancy, is inherent in the constitutionally 
guaranteed right to privacy. The right to privacy includes self-determination, freedom of 
choice and dignity. The Court therefore confirmed the existing freedom of women to decide 
on the termination of their pregnancy (within the legally prescribed limits), but instructed 
the Croatian legislature to adopt a new act regulating the freedom of choice, because the 
old  1978  act  was  adopted  before  Croatian  independence  and  contains  some  formal 
inconsistencies  with  the  Croatian  Constitution.  However,  any  new  legislative  instrument 
could not prohibit the termination of pregnancy, as it would be contrary to the Constitution. 
The new legislation has not been tabled since.354 Meanwhile, the activities of civil society 
organisations and other interest and religious groups (both for and against the freedom of 
choice) are intensifying.355 

The second reason is that health workers in many health institutions in Croatia refuse to 
perform abortions, based on an appeal to  their conscience or a conscientious objection. 
This is a personal right of health workers, but health institutions are nevertheless obliged 
to engage a qualified person to perform the procedure. However,  in around one fifth of 
health  institutions  authorised  to  perform  abortions  all  health  workers  competent  to 
perform them refrain from doing so because of conscientious objection and a replacement 
is not always available. Many of these hospitals are in rather remote areas, meaning that 
women in need of such a service have to travel to another facility far from their place of 
residence.356 It is estimated that as many as 60 % of health workers who are authorised 
to  perform  a  medical  termination  of  pregnancy  procedures  submit  their  conscientious 

352  Act on health measures for exercising the right to freedom of choice regarding childbirth (Zakon o 

zdravstvenim mjerama za ostvarivanje prava na slobodno odlučivanje o rađanju djece), NN Nos. 18/1978, 
31/1986, 47/1989 and 88/2009. 

353  Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, Decision of 21 February 2017, U-I-60/1991. 
354  A draft Act on Medical Termination of Pregnancy was proposed by the opposition party SDP during 2020, 

but after the debate which took place in the Parliament in May 2022, it was rejected by a majority of votes. 
See Croatian Parliament, https://www.sabor.hr/prijedlog-zakona-o-medicinskom-postupku-prekida-
trudnoce-s-konacnim-prijedlogom-zakona-hitni-0?t=130671&tid=210323. 

355  The latest trend is for men to kneel publicly in the main squares of major cities once a month, praying for 

the chastity of women. See Jutarnji list, 3 December 2022, available at: 
https://www.jutarnji.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/na-trgu-bana-jelacica-muskarci-klecali-i-molili-krunicu-a-kontra-
njih-tiha-misa-pogledajte-prizore-15282427. This movement continued throughout 2023. 

356  Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2015), Annual Report for 2014. See also Ombudsperson for Gender 

Equality (2016), Annual Report for 2015. 

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objection.357  During  2023,  there  were  no  complaints  to  the  Ombudsperson  for  Gender 
Equality concerning a lack of access to abortion due to this reason.358  

It is sometimes difficult even to obtain initial information about abortion. In the case of a 
pregnant woman in 2022, who was carrying a foetus with multiple severe malformations 
and no chance of survival after birth, she was neither given proper treatment, nor proper 
information as to where and how to get help at the Sv. Duh Hospital in Zagreb (where all 
competent  health  workers  express  conscientious  objection).  This  is  a  horrifying  and 
extreme example of the lack of care and consideration for the health and needs of women. 
Complaints  to  the  Ombudsperson  for  Gender  Equality  concerning  the  refusal  by  certain 
health institutions to perform abortions, and the difficulties experienced by women in such 
cases, are quite frequent and very troubling.359  

The third reason for the systemic deficiency regarding the legal termination of pregnancy 
concerns unequal standards of care in different hospitals. For example, the Croatian Health 
Insurance  Fund  covers  the  cost  of  termination  of  pregnancy  only  if  it  is  necessary  for 
medical reasons. Otherwise, the cost of this medical procedure is set by the hospital and 
may vary substantially. Non-surgical termination of pregnancy is available only at some 
facilities.  

The issue of unequal standards of hospital care is not associated only with the termination 
of pregnancy, but also relates to giving birth and other gynaecological procedures. In late 
2018  and  during  2019,  a  campaign  called  Break  the  Silence  (#PrekinimoSutnju)  was 
conducted in Croatia and some other EU states, with the goal of raising awareness and 
putting an end to mistreatment and violence towards women in the field of reproductive 
health, by medical staff in hospitals and other medical institutions. Many women publicly 
shared  their  stories  of  painful  and  inhuman  treatment  in  Croatian  hospitals.  Health 
inspections  were  conducted 
issued 
recommendations concerning the adaptation of procedures for the use of analgesics and 
anaesthetics in painful treatments, as well as the organisation of workshops to improve 
the doctor-patient communication skills of medical staff.360  

the  Ministry  of  Health 

in  hospitals  and 

Unequal  standards  of  care  and  protection  depending  on  the  hospital  also  affect  women 
giving birth. For example, the maternity units in several clinical hospitals do not comply 
with the required quality standards (in terms of equipment and patient’s experience and 
satisfaction), the practice of organising and charging for antenatal classes differs, and the 
possibility of a partner being present during childbirth is limited in some hospitals, etc. 361 
The same problem particularly affects women with disabilities, because many facilities lack 

357  See Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2019), Annual Report for 2018, pp. 80-83. See also research 
conducted by the Platform for Reproductive Justice in 2020, available at: https://www.reproduktivna-
pravda.hr/#. For more information see Country report Gender equality Croatia 2022, pp. 100 – 101. 
358  However, there is a report that one clinical hospital was incorrectly applying the rule concerning the time 
limit in which medical termination of pregnancy is legally allowed, which effectively shortened that period 
by two weeks. See Case PRS-17-01/22-09, reported in Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2024), Annual 
Report for 2023, p. 218. 

359  Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2023), Annual Report for 2022, pp. 189 - 195; Ombudsperson for 

Gender Equality (2018), Annual Report for 2017. For an analysis of case law concerning reproductive rights, 
as well as the available instruments for their protection see more in Fugaj, S. (2022), Pregled sudske 
prakse i drugih mehanizama zaštite reproduktivnih prava žena u Republici Hrvatskoj 2016.-2020. 
(Overview of case law and other mechanisms for protection of reproductive rights in the Republic of Croatia 
2016 – 2020), RODA (Parents in action). 

360  Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2020), Annual Report for 2019, p. 260. Throughout 2022, the 

Ombudsperson for Gender Equality reported many instances of obstetric violence. See Ombudsperson for 
Gender Equality (2023), Annual Report for 2022, pp. 185-186. 

361  See also United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (2015), Concluding 

observations on the combined fourth and fifth periodic reports of Croatia, 28 July 2015, 
CEDAW/C/HRV/CO/4-5. 

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even the basic equipment for accommodating the needs of women with disabilities who 
are receiving health treatment.362 

Other  issues  concerning  access  to  banking  and  financial  services  and  reports  of 
discriminatory  treatment  in  relation  to  the  granting  of  loans  to  pregnant  women  or  to 
persons (of both sexes) who take maternity and parental leave were more frequent before 
2015.363  

 Evaluation of implementation 

Access to and supply of goods and services represents uncharted territory, with very few 
practical examples of sex discrimination other than in the field of reproductive health. This 
can be ascribed to the low level of public awareness about these issues and the fact that 
a  certain  degree  of  discriminatory  behaviour  or  harassment  and  sexual  harassment 
(especially sexist statements) is accepted or at least tolerated as part of traditional societal 
patterns of communication.  

 Remaining issues 

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a tremendous impact on the overall accessibility of health 
services,  as  the  entire  health  sector  was  for  a  long  time  in  a  state  of  emergency  and 
primarily engaged in fighting the pandemic. This will have a lasting adverse impact on the 
population’s  health  in  the  years  to  come.  For  example,  in  2020,  there  were  more  than 
150 000 fewer examinations in women’s primary health services and similar figures were 
reported in relation to referrals for specialist examinations and treatment,364 which means 
that many serious health problems might have gone undetected. 

The  COVID-19  pandemic  has  led  to  further  deterioration  regarding  some  of  the  pre-
existing issues, such as uneven standards of care, difficulties in accessing or the complete 
inaccessibility of certain healthcare services, as well as a lack of available information for 
patients.365 For example, with the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020, the Ministry of Health 
instructed  all  healthcare  facilities  in  Croatia  to  suspend  the  performance  of  medically 
assisted fertilisation procedures, thus stopping the progress and leaving many women in 
the midst of treatment without any other option but to repeat essential examinations and 
tests after the suspension was over.366 The People’s Ombudsperson, in cooperation with 
the Ombudsperson for gender equality, the Ombudsperson for persons with disability and 
the Ombudsperson for children have jointly published their recommendations concerning 
the impact of COVID-19 on human rights and equality, which include the recommendation 
to health authorities to ensure accessibility of all reproductive health services during the 
pandemic.367 

362  Ombudsperson for persons with disability (2023), Annual Report for 2022, pp. 62, 67; Ombudsperson for 

Gender Equality (2023), Annual Report for 2022, pp. 164 - 165. 

363  For more information see Country report Gender equality Croatia 2022, p. 102. 
364  Croatian Institute of Public Health (2022), Korištenje zdravstvene zaštite u djelatnosti zdravstvene zaštite 
žena u Hrvatskoj u 2021. godini (Healthcare utilisation within the women’s health service in Croatia in 
2021). 

365  Ombudsperson for Gender Equality and RODA (Parents in Action) (2020), Tematsko izvješće – Rezultati 
istraživanja udruge Roditelji u akciji i Pravobraniteljice za ravnopravnost spolova o dostupnosti skrbi za 
reproduktivno zdravlje žena u vrijeme pandemije bolesti COVID-19 (Thematic report – Results of the 
survey conducted by the association Parents in action (Roda) and Ombudsperson for Gender Equality about 
the accessibility of reproductive health services during COVID-19 pandemic), Zagreb. 

366  For more information see Country report Gender equality Croatia 2022, pp. 102 - 103. 
367  People’s Ombudsperson (2022) Utjecaj epidemije COVID-19 na ljudska prava i jednakost. Preporuke za 
jačanje otpornosti na buduće krize (The impact of COVID-19 epidemic on human rights and equality. 
Recommendations for strengthening resilience in future crises). 

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10  Violence  against  women  and domestic violence  in  relation to  the Istanbul 

Convention368 

 General (legal) context 

10.1.1 Surveys and reports on issues of violence against women and domestic violence 

Croatia has an elaborate and complicated system with multiple levels of criminalisation of 
domestic  violence  within  the  sphere  of  criminal  and  misdemeanour  law.  The  triple 
criminalisation of domestic violence (as a self-standing criminal offence, as an element of 
other violent criminal offences committed against close persons or family members, and 
as  a  misdemeanour  offence)  is  problematic  and  may  lead  to  inconsistencies  in  practice 
concerning the proper qualification, as well as the application of rules on the concurrence 
of several criminal offences.369 

Despite  frequent  legislative  amendments  of  the  criminal  and  misdemeanour  legal 
framework aiming to improve protection against domestic violence  and violence against 
women,370 many surveys and reports reveal recurring systemic issues which diminish the 
effectiveness  of  proclaimed  guarantees  in  practice.  Since  the  entry  into  force  of  the 
Istanbul  Convention  there  were  noticeable  individual  improvements  across  the 
Convention’s four pillars (prevention, protection, prosecution and co-ordinated policies), 
especially concerning victims’ rights in criminal proceedings. However, there are also many 
shortcomings which require a comprehensive and effective integral response to violence 
against  women  and  domestic  violence  and  not  just  fragmented  individual  solutions  to 
observed problems, as noted and recommended in the first baseline GREVIO Report for 
Croatia.371 Some of the positive effects of the ratification of the Istanbul Convention include 
increased  funding  for  support  services,  opening  of  additional  shelters,  redefinition  of 
certain criminal offences, redefinition of the misdemeanour offence of domestic violence 
to include all four forms of violence under the Istanbul Convention and reduced practice 

368  For more information see Nousiainen, K. and Chinkin, C. (2015), Legal implications of EU accession to the 

Istanbul Convention, European network of legal experts in gender equality and non-discrimination, 
available at https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/3794-legal-implications-of-eu-accession-to-the-
istanbul-convention; and De Vido, S., Sosa, L. (2021) Criminalisation of gender-based violence against 
women in European States, including ICT-facilitated violence, European Commission, available at: 
https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/5535-criminalisation-of-gender-based-violence-against-women-in-
european-states-including-ict-facilitated-violence-1-97-mb. 

369  See qualitative and quantitative analysis of case law reported in Ritossa, D. and Juranović, S. (2019), 

Stručna analiza pravomoćnih kaznenih presuda o nasilju prema ženama 2012 – 2016 (Expert analysis of 
final criminal judgments in cases of violence against women 2012-2016), Ombudsperson for Gender 
Equality, Zagreb, pp. 40-48. See also Rašić, M., Završki, R. and Žigante Živković, B. (2019), Stručna 
analiza pravomoćnih prekršajnih presuda o nasilju prema ženama 2012 – 2016 (Expert analysis of final 
misdemeanour judgments in cases of violence against women 2012–2016), Ombudsperson for Gender 
Equality, Zagreb. 

370  For a detailed account of legislative amendments of the Act on Protection against Domestic Violence in the 

last decade see Country report Gender equality Croatia 2022, pp. 105 - 107. During 2023, another set of 
amendments to the Criminal Act and the Act on Protection against Domestic Violence was in preparation. 
They went through the public debate and were adopted in the first reading in the Parliament in January 
2024. The final adoption in the second reading in the Parliament is expected in March 2024. The 
amendments concern the introduction of a special criminal offence of femicide in the Criminal Act, and the 
deletion of sexual harassment as a form of domestic violence from the Act on Protection against Domestic 
Violence (protection against sexual harassment presently accorded under this Act will be moved to the 
criminal sphere, through the amendment and expansion of the description of the criminal offence of sexual 
harassment). See Final Draft of the Act on Amendments of the Criminal Act, P.Z.E. 615, available at: 
https://www.sabor.hr/sites/default/files/uploads/sabor/2024-02-29/174304/PZE_615.pdf, and Final Draft 
of the Act on Amendments to the Act on Protection against Domestic Violence, P.Z.E. 617, available at: 
https://www.sabor.hr/sites/default/files/uploads/sabor/2024-02-29/174501/PZ_617.pdf.  

371  Council of Europe, GREVIO Baseline Evaluation Report Croatia, 2023. Among the main priorities the Report 

identifies development and systematic application of gender sensitive policies aimed at prevention of 
violence against women and gender-based violence, continuous mandatory education and training of 
professionals, as well as improvement of administrative data collection systems.  

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of  dual  arrests,  372  although  the  implementation  of  other  obligations  from  the  Istanbul 
Convention (especially in the field of prevention) remains problematic.373 

The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns have aggravated partner and domestic violence, 
with  more  frequent  and  intense  occurrences,  including  new  forms  of  violence.374  The 
effects  of  the  pandemic  are  still  present,  as  evident  especially  in  the  continuous  rise  of 
criminal offences against family members or people in close personal relationships.375 This 
may mean that awareness-raising campaigns are proving successful and more cases are 
being reported, but it may also indicate that the sanctioning mechanisms, especially in the 
sphere of misdemeanours, are ineffectively applied in practice and unable to prevent the 
escalation of violence into the criminal sphere. It is observed that courts quite often impose 
lenient, mostly suspended sanctions on perpetrators,376 that the system of implementation 
of  protective  measures  (e.g.  psychosocial  treatment  of  perpetrators)  is  deficient  or 
completely  lacking,  and  that  the  context  and  history  of  domestic  and  gender-based 
violence are often disregarded or not adequately taken into account. The practice of the 
dual  arrest  of  both  the  perpetrator  and  the  victim  is  still  present,  although  to  a  lesser 
extent, along with victim blaming and disparaging attitudes from some authorities.377 In 
misdemeanour proceedings, passivity on the part of the police in the role of prosecutor is 
not  uncommon,  whereas  the  courts  sometimes  approach  cases  of  domestic  violence  as 
routine misdemeanour procedures which need to be resolved as quickly as possible to fulfil 
the norm for judicial performance and according to established templates.378  

All of this leads to the minimisation of violence against women and domestic violence379 
and precludes the effectiveness and dissuasive character of prescribed sanctions. Between 
one fifth (in 2023 and 2022) and one third (in 2021) of all perpetrators of domestic violence 
as a misdemeanour offence are repeat offenders.380 Many repeated cases of violence were 
ignored  until  they  escalated  in  brutality  and  sometimes  ended  in  femicide.  The 

372  European Women’s Lobby (2020), Towards a Europe free from male violence against women and girls. 

Recommendations from the European Women’s Lobby to end violence against women and girls in Europe 
once and for all, p. 37. See also Article 10 of the Act on Protection against Domestic Violence. 

373  The first baseline report within the Convention’s monitoring mechanism was submitted by the State in 

February 2022, along with shadow reports by several NGOs. Reports available at: 
https://www.coe.int/en/web/istanbul-convention/croatia. 

374  Autonomna ženska kuća Zagreb (2020), ‘Gender-based violence during COVID-19 pandemic’, see: 

https://www.prs.hr/cms/post/263. This research was conducted on a limited sample of 152 women. 
375  The rise in reported misdemeanour and criminal offences may also be ascribed to awareness-raising and 
education about domestic violence and violence against women, which is a common occurrence in the 
countries that ratified the Istanbul Convention. See Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2023), Annual 
Report for 2022, pp. 81, 83. 

376  Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2020), Annual Report for 2019, p. 20. Analysis of misdemeanour case 
law has shown that over 90 % of perpetrators were punished with relatively mild financial sanctions, or 
suspended prison sentences, while fewer than 10 % of perpetrators were given custodial sentences. 
Sometimes the courts state the fact that the defendant ‘has shown sincere remorse’ for their actions as the 
ground for lighter punishment. See, for example, presentation of the cases PRS-03-02/16-50, PRS-03-
02/17-9 and PRS-03-04/17-01 in Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2019), Annual Report for 2018. 
When it comes to criminal offences, in the period between 2012 and 2016 suspended prison sentences 
were applied in more than half of cases (56.29 %), whereas unconditional prison sentences were given in 
30 % of cases (with an average prison time of almost four years). For more information see Ombudsperson 
for Gender Equality (2019), Annual Report for 2018, p. 202. The practice of imposing lenient sanctions for 
sexual violence offences, without careful scrutiny and proper consideration of all aggravating circumstances 
and purpose of the punishment (involving a case where a 10-month prison sentence imposed on an 
applicant’s co-worker, after he had been convicted of sexual violence against her, was commuted to 
community service, which was clearly inappropriate given the established facts) was found to violate 
positive obligations from Articles 3 and 8 ECHR. See European Court of Human Rights, Vučković v. Croatia, 
Application No. 15798/20, Judgment of 12 December 2023, paras. 65 – 67.  

377  BaBe: Domestic violence. A handbook for professionals, p. 18. 
378  BaBe: Domestic violence. A handbook for professionals, p. 18. 
379  Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2021), Annual Report for 2021, p. 71; Amnesty International (2019), 

Croatia: Existing laws are failing victims of domestic violence, Amnesty International submission for the UN 
Universal Periodic Review, 36th Session of the UPR Working Group, 4-15 May 2020, p. 7, available at: 
https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/EUR6428422020ENGLISH.PDF. 

380  Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2019), Annual Report for 2018, p. 92; Ombudsperson for Gender 

Equality (2023), Annual Report for 2022, p. 74; Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2024), Annual Report 
for 2023, p. 96. 

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Ombudsperson for Gender Equality has kept a Femicide Watch (an observatory of female 
homicide cases) since 2017, in partnership with the Directorate of Police, Ministry of Justice 
and other stakeholders, with the aim of monitoring and analysing female homicide cases 
and  developing  adequate  policy  responses  and  recommendations.381  Based  on  detailed 
observations  and  analysis  of  statistical  data  and  cases  of  femicide  each  year,  the 
Ombudsperson for Gender Equality warns about a repeated pattern and high risk factors, 
such as the termination of violent relationships, exposure to homicide or suicide threats 
by violent partners, alcoholism or drug addiction, accessibility of weapons etc., which are 
not adequately recognised and treated as such by the police, judiciary or even the victims’ 
closest  relatives.382  This  reveals  a  broader  issue  and  a  culture  of  tolerance  towards 
violence, and not just institutional failure. 

It is important to emphasise that the Croatian legislation is framed in gender-neutral terms 
and laws and bylaws do not have preambles to explain their objectives and link them with 
the  adopted  legislative  solutions.  This  is  about  to  change  with  the  introduction  of  the 
specific  criminal  offence  of  femicide,  which  is  set  to  be  adopted  under  the  expected 
amendments to the Criminal Act, probably at the beginning of 2024. The aim of preventing 
and  combating  violence  against  women  and  the  disproportionate  effect  of  domestic 
violence  on  women  is  not  obvious  in  the  majority  of  legislative  instruments.383  Indirect 
reference  to  the  objectives  behind  a  certain  legislative  solution  exists  only  through  a 
reference to a specific Directive which is being transposed in the Croatian legal system in 
one  of  the  opening  articles  of  a  particular  regulatory  act,  or  it  can  be  read  from  the 
explanations  accompanying  the  draft  acts.  Strategies  and  policies  refer  to  the  gender 
dimension  of  violence  against  women  and  domestic  violence.  In  comparison  to  other 
instruments,  the  gender  dimension  (the  necessity  for  gender-sensitive  assistance  and 
support with the aim of preventing and combating violence against women and domestic 
violence) is most clearly highlighted in protocols on procedure for authorities in cases of 
sexual or domestic violence.384  

Recently published research on the rights of victims in the Croatian criminal system reveals 
that victim protection is improving, but is still not adequate, especially concerning efficient 
and timely individual victim assessment, information about victim’s rights, access to victim 
support  services  (especially  in  rural  and  remote  areas)  and  the  provision  of  adequate 
compensation to victims of criminal offences.385 

10.1.2 Overview of national acts on violence against women, domestic violence and issues 

related to the Istanbul Convention 

The  Act  on  Protection  against  Domestic  Violence386  prescribes  the  rights  of  victims  of 
domestic  violence,  defines  protected  persons  and  forms  of  domestic  violence,  and  sets 
sanctions for misdemeanours, procedures for data gathering and rules of operation for a 
special committee  for the follow-up and improvement of  the  work of  bodies involved in 
criminal or misdemeanour prosecution of domestic violence offences. The Act implements 
Directive 2012/29/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 
establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime, 
and replacing Council Framework Decision 2001/220/JHA (OJ L 315/57), as well as some 
of the rights and standards guaranteed under the Istanbul Convention. 

381  Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2023), Annual Report for 2022, pp. 77 - 80. 
382  Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2023), Annual Report for 2022, p. 80. 
383  European Parliament – FEMM (2020), Tackling violence against women and domestic violence in Europe – 

The added value of the Istanbul Convention and remaining challenges, p. 33. 

384  Such as the Protocol on procedure in cases of sexual violence, NN No. 70/2018. A new protocol is currently 
in preparation, for more information see Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2023), Annual Report for 
2022, p. 235. 

385  Drožđan-Kranjčec, A. (ed.), Žrtve kaznenih djela u hrvatskom kaznenopravnom sustavu – rezultati 

istraživanja i iskustva iz prakse (Victims of criminal offences in the Croatian criminal system – research 
results and practical experiences). 

386  Act on Protection against Domestic Violence (Zakon o zaštiti od nasilja u obitelji), NN Nos. 70/2017, 

126/2019, 84/2021 and 114/2021. 

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The personal scope of the Act on Protection against Domestic Violence is aligned with the 
definition of family members and people in close personal relationships from the Criminal 
Code387 to include: a spouse, extramarital partner, same-sex life partner, informal same-
sex life partner, joint children or children of each partner, lineal blood relative, collateral 
blood relative up to the third degree of kinship, in-laws up to the second degree, adopter 
and adoptee (Article 8 (1), Act on Protection of Domestic Violence).388 It also applies to a 
former spouse, extramarital partner, same-sex life partner, informal same-sex life partner, 
current or former intimate partners, persons who have a mutual child and persons who 
live  in  the  same  household  (Article 8  (2),  Act  on  Protection  of  Domestic  Violence).389 
Extramarital partner is defined as a person who lives in an extramarital relationship of a 
longer duration or shorter duration if a mutual child is born (Article 8(4), Act on Protection 
of Domestic Violence).  Special protection is guaranteed for persons with disabilities and 
the elderly.  

A victim of domestic violence is a person who, due to domestic violence, suffers physical 
or psychological consequences, property damage or an important violation of fundamental 
rights and freedoms (Article 8 (7), Act on Protection against Domestic Violence). Domestic 
violence is defined as: (1) use of force which has not resulted in bodily injury; (2) corporal 
punishment  and  other  humiliating  actions  towards  children;  (3)  psychological  violence 
which has violated the victim’s dignity or caused distress; (4) sexual harassment;390 (5) 
economic violence as a prohibition or prevention from using joint or personal property, or 
disposing  of  personal  income  or  property  acquired  by  personal  work  or  inheritance, 
prevention  of  employment,  denial  of  funds  for  household  maintenance  and  care  of 
children; (6) neglecting the needs of a person with disabilities or an elderly person, causing 
distress or violating their dignity and inflicting bodily or mental harm (Article 10, Act on 
Protection  against  Domestic  Violence).  As  can  be  observed,  all  definitions  of  domestic 
violence and other concepts under the Act on the Protection against Domestic Violence are 
gender neutral. 

The same goes for domestic violence as a criminal offence, which is defined as a violation 
of  the  rules  on  protection  against  domestic  violence  which  causes  a  family  member  or 
someone  in  a  close  personal  relationship  to  fear  for  their  safety  or  puts  them  in  a 
humiliating position or causes them long-term suffering, if a more serious offence has not 
been committed (Article 179a, Criminal Code). It is punishable by imprisonment from one 
to  three  years.  This  norm  contains  a  blanket  reference  to  the  violation  of  rules  on 
protection against domestic violence (which are contained in the Act on Protection against 
Domestic Violence), but it differs from the misdemeanour offence of domestic violence by 
its criminal intensity and consequences.391 It is a subsidiary criminal offence, meaning that 
it  can  be  applied  unless  another  more  serious  criminal  offence  was  committed.  Certain 
criminal  offences  consider  the  fact  that  the  offence  was  committed  against  a  family 
member  or  individual  in  a  close  personal  relationship  as  a  qualifying  or  aggravating 
circumstance  of  the  basic  offence  (e.g.  homicide  (Article 111(3),  Criminal  Act);  bodily 

387  Criminal Code (Kazneni zakon), NN Nos. 125/2011, 144/2012, 56/2015, 61/2015, 101/2017, 118/2018, 

126/2019, 84/2021 and 114/2022. 

388  These persons are defined as ‘family members’ in the Criminal Code (Article 87 (8)). 
389  These persons are defined as ‘close persons’ in the Criminal Code (Article 87 (9)). Some criminal offences 
include the category of ‘family members’ or ‘close persons’ (people in close personal relationships) within 
the description of the offence (see, e.g. criminal offence of domestic violence, Article 179a, Criminal Code). 

390  Sexual harassment as a specific form of domestic violence is about to be deleted from this provision with 
the impending amendments to the Act on Protection against Domestic Violence, the adoption of which is 
expected at the beginning of 2024 (protection against sexual harassment will be moved to the criminal 
sphere, through the amendment and expansion of the description of the criminal offence of sexual 
harassment). See Final Draft of the Act on Amendments to the Act on Protection against Domestic Violence, 
P.Z.E. 617, available at: https://www.sabor.hr/sites/default/files/uploads/sabor/2024-02-
29/174501/PZ_617.pdf.  

391  On the issue of the identity of criminal and misdemeanour offences of domestic violence and the application 

of the principle of ne bis in idem, see the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in the case 
Maresti v. Croatia, No. 55759/09. For more information, see Country report Gender equality Croatia 2022, 
p. 105.  

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injury (Article 117(2), Criminal Act); serious bodily injury (Article 118(2), Criminal Act); 
particularly serious bodily injury (Article 119(3), Criminal Act)). 

The Criminal Procedure Act392 regulates the rights of victims in the criminal proceedings. 

While  the  legislation  is  gender  neutral,  protocols  for  procedure  in  cases  of  domestic  or 
sexual  violence  acknowledge  the  gender  dimension  of  such  violence,  but  do  not  define 
either  gender-based  violence  or  violence  against  women.  The  new  Protocol  on  the 
procedure  in  cases  of  sexual  violence  expressly  acknowledges  in  its  introduction  that 
sexual violence represents the most prevalent form of gender-based violence, and one of 
the most severe forms of violence and discrimination against women, and violation of the 
fundamental  rights  of  women.393  The  Protocol  on  the  procedure  in  cases  of  domestic 
violence  requires  all  bodies  involved  in  providing  protection  and  support  to  victims  of 
domestic  violence  to  protect  the  interests  of  women  exposed  to  gender-based  violence 
and domestic violence in line with the provisions of CEDAW and the Istanbul Convention, 
as well as recommendations of the bodies which monitor their implementation and other 
applicable international instruments.394 

During  2023,  the  draft  amendments  to  the  Criminal  Act  were  put  out  to  public 
consultation.395  These  amendments  will,  for  the  first  time  in  the  Croatian  criminal 
legislation, introduce the definition of the gender-based violence in the Criminal Act, as 
well as the specific criminal offence of femicide. The definition of femicide initially proposed 
396  was  widely  criticised  by  some  of  the  most  influential  representatives  of  the  legal 
profession, including: all judges of the criminal department of the Supreme Court of the 
Republic of Croatia, the Croatian Bar Association, and renowned academics  – experts in 
the field of criminal law and procedure. The main objection was that the proposed provision 
violates the constitutionally guaranteed principle of equality, by putting women in a more 
favourable position in comparison to all other victims of murder. After the public debate, 
the Government decided to change the draft and the description of the criminal offence of 
femicide so that in the final draft it is defined as the ‘gender-based murder of a female 
person’.  It  represents  a  form  of  aggravated  murder,  punishable  by  imprisonment  of  at 
least 10 years or long term imprisonment. When determining whether this criminal offence 
is committed,  circumstances such as the fact that the victim is a close person, a person 
who  was  previously  harassed  by  the  perpetrator,  a  vulnerable  person,  a  person  in  a 
subordinate or dependent position in relation to the perpetrator, or the fact that the act 
was committed under in the context of sexual violence, or a relation that puts women in 
unequal  position,  or  that  there  are  other  circumstances  pointing  to  the  occurrence  of 

392  Criminal Procedure Act (Zakon o kaznenom postupku), NN Nos. 152/2008, 76/2009, 80/2011, 91/2012, 
143/2012, 56/2013, 145/2013, 152/2014, 70/2017, 126/2019 and 80/2022. The amendments to the 
Criminal Procedure Act concerning better protection of victims were prepared and went through the public 
debate during 2023. The Act went through the first reading in the Parliament in January 2024. Final 
adoption in the second reading is expected in March 2024. See Final Draft of the Act on Amendments to the 
Criminal Procedure Act, P.Z.E. 616, available at: 
https://www.sabor.hr/sites/default/files/uploads/sabor/2024-02-29/174401/PZE_616.pdf.  

393  Government of the Republic of Croatia, Office for Gender Equality (2023) Protocol on the procedure in cases 
of sexual violence (Protokol o postupanju u slučaju seksualnog nasilja), September 2023, available at: 
https://ravnopravnost.gov.hr/UserDocsImages/dokumenti/Protokol%20o%20postupanju%20u%20slučaju
%20seksualnog%20nasilja/2023/Protokol%20final.pdf. Its aim is to standardise procedures and unify 
practices in cases of sexual violence, enable better coordination among various institutions and bodies, and 
ensure timely and compassionate, victim-oriented care and emotional support. 

394  Protocol on the procedure in cases of domestic violence (Protokol o postupanju u slučaju nasilja u obitelji), 

adopted by the Government of the Republic of Croatia on 19 June 2019, available at: 
https://mup.gov.hr/UserDocsImages//dokumenti//Protokol_o_postupanju_u_slucaju_nasilja_u_obitelji-
usvojila_Vlada_19_6_2019.pdf.  

395  See Flash Report Croatia, ‘Proposed amendments to the Criminal Act – Will femicide become a specific 

criminal offence?’, available at: https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/5986-croatia-proposed-
amendments-to-the-criminal-act-will-femicide-become-a-specific-criminal-offence.  

396  The wording of the initially proposed offence was: ‘Whoever murders a close female person shall be 

sentenced to prison of a minimum of 10 years, or a long-term prison sentence.’ 

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gender-based  violence  shall  be  taken  into  account.397  The  definition  of  gender-based 
violence against women will be inserted in the Criminal Act as well. It is in line with the 
definition from Article 3(d) of the Istanbul Convention, to mean ‘violence that is directed 
against a woman because she is a woman or that affects women disproportionately’. This 
is  considered  as  an  aggravating  circumstance,  unless  the  specific  offence  prescribes 
stricter punishment.398 

10.1.3 National provisions on online violence including online harassment 

The  amendments  to  the  Criminal  Code  in  2021  have  introduced  a  new  criminal  offence 
under the title ‘Abuse of a recording with sexually explicit content’.399 This is the first time 
that  a  criminal  offence  explicitly  recognises  the  online  context  of  sexual  violence  and 
harassment.400  The  substance  of  this  offence  covers  a  behaviour  known  as  revenge 
porn.401  Whoever  abuses  the  trust  and  without  the  consent  of  a  person  in  a  recording 
makes available that recording containing sexually explicit content to a third person, thus 
violating the privacy of the person in the recording, even if the recording was made with 
the consent of that person and for personal use, shall be punished by imprisonment of up 
to one year. The important element of this offence is that its consequence is a violation of 
privacy. Where such consequence is lacking, the conduct could only be considered as an 
attempt which, given the prescribed punishment, would not be considered as a criminal 
offence.402 The same punishment is prescribed if the recording has been copied or altered 
with  the  use  of  a  computer  system  or  otherwise.  The  qualifying  circumstance  which 
increases the punishment up to three years of imprisonment exists where the recording is 
made available to a larger number of persons through a computer system or network (i.e. 
social media, etc.). This criminal offence is part of the criminal offences against privacy, 
and not a criminal offence against sexual freedoms, and its prosecution is contingent on 
the victim’s request for prosecution (Article 144a (4), Criminal Code). 

10.1.4 Political and societal debate 

The National Plan for combating sexual violence and sexual harassment, together with the 
first three-year action plan for its implementation was adopted at the end of December 
2022.403 It represents the first comprehensive strategic document concerning protection 
against sexual violence and sexual harassment, and its implementation will be assessed 
in the upcoming period. It sets three specific objectives: prevention of sexual violence and 
sexual harassment, improvement of protection mechanisms and access to support services 
for victims, and increased dissuasiveness of sanctions for perpetrators. The new Protocol 

397  See Article 15, inserting Article 111.a to the Criminal Act, Final Draft of the Act on Amendments to the 
Criminal Act, P.Z.E. 615, available at: https://www.sabor.hr/sites/default/files/uploads/sabor/2024-02-
29/174304/PZE_615.pdf.  

398  See Article 12, inserting paragraph 32 to Article 87 of the Criminal Act, Final Draft of the Act on 

Amendments to the Crlminal Act, P.Z.E. 615, available at: 
https://www.sabor.hr/sites/default/files/uploads/sabor/2024-02-29/174304/PZE_615.pdf.  

399  This criminal offence was inserted as Article 144a of the Criminal Code. See Article 13, Act on Amendments 

to the Criminal Code (Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama Kaznenog zakona), NN No. 84/2021. 

400  Previously, this criminal activity was prosecuted under the offences of unauthorised video recording or 

illegal use of personal data. 

401  Other illicit online behaviours which may be described as online violence against women (such as online 
threats, online slander, online sexual harassment, online stalking, online hate speech or incitement to 
violence or hatred) continue to be incriminated only under the wide scope of general criminal offences for 
offline crimes (i.e. criminal offences of threat, slander, sexual harassment, stalking, illegal use of personal 
data, unauthorised visual recording, or public incitement to violence and hatred (hate speech)). 

402  See explanations accompanying the Draft Act on Amendments to the Criminal Code, P.Z.E. No. 147, pp. 

17-18, available at: https://www.sabor.hr/sites/default/files/uploads/sabor/2021-06-
10/165602/PZE_147.pdf. 

403  National Plan for combating sexual violence and sexual harassment for the period until 2027 (Nacionalni 
plan za suzbijanje seksualnog nasilja i seksualnog uznemiravanja, za razdoblje do 2027. godine), with 
Action Plan, available at: https://vlada.gov.hr/sjednice/181-sjednica-vlade-republike-hrvatske-
37587/37587 (the official text has not yet been published on the website of the Ministry of Labour, Pension 
System, Family and Social Policy). 

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on the procedure in cases of sexual violence was adopted in September 2023, to replace 
and update the existing protocol with the same title which has been in force since 2018.404 

In 2023, preparations for the amendment of the Criminal Act, the Act on Protection against 
Domestic Violence, and the Criminal Procedure Act to strengthen the position of the victims 
in criminal procedures, and introduce the criminal offence of femicide and the definition of 
gender-based violence against women were under way. This was accompanied by heated 
public debates about violence against women in the Croatian society. The adaptations of 
the  criminal  legal  framework  for  the  protection  of  women  against  violence  are  a 
continuation and further confirmation of the positive trend which was especially strong in 
the  period  between  2019  and  2021,  and  which  has  contributed  to  amendments  of  the 
criminal and misdemeanour legislation.405  

The COVID-19 pandemic underlined the existing weaknesses in the system of protection 
and also contributed to the aggravation of violence.  For example, since the outbreak of 
the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, there has been an increase in reported cases of rape. 
During 2020 rape cases more than doubled in comparison to the year before, however, 
this  might  partly  be  due  to  the  fact  that  the  definition  of  rape  in  the  Criminal  Act  was 
amended as of 1 January 2020, to include all cases of sexual intercourse without consent. 
Nevertheless, the trend continued in 2021 and 2022, with a 25 % increase in 2021 and a 
further  11 %  increase  in  2022.406  The  unreported  or  unprosecuted  cases  are  certainly 
higher,  as  warned  by  the  Ombudsperson  for  Gender  Equality  who  often  receives 
complaints concerning the lack of sensitivity and victim-blaming attitudes of police officers 
and prosecutors towards victims.407 There is slow but steady progress in this area in the 
reporting  year,  with  the  adoption  of  the  new  Protocol  on  procedure  in  cases  of  sexual 
violence,  and  intensified  education  activities  of  all  stakeholders  involved  in  dealing  with 
victims  of  sexual  violence,  as  envisaged  under  the  National  Plan  for  combating  sexual 
violence and sexual harassment. 

In 2020, a 24/7 national helpline for victims of criminal offences and misdemeanours was 
finally put into operation. It is not specifically targeted at victims of gender-based violence, 
but the proportion of the total number of calls relating to gender-based violence is around 
50 %.  More  importantly,  during  the  first  year  of  its  operation  (25 November 2020  – 
December  2021)  the  share  of  women  callers  reporting  such  violence  was  90 %.408 
However,  evidence  shows  that  many  victims  were  not  able  to  report  violence  during 
lockdown,  because  the  perpetrator  controlled  their  access  to  mobile  phones,  email  and 
social networks (22.6 %), completely banned access to mobile phones (9.7 %), or insisted 

404  Government of the Republic of Croatia, Office for Gender Equality (2023), Protocol on the procedure in 

cases of sexual violence (Protokol o postupanju u slučaju seksualnog nasilja), September 2023, available 
at: chrome-
extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://ravnopravnost.gov.hr/UserDocsImages/dokumenti/P
rotokol%20o%20postupanju%20u%20slu%C4%8Daju%20seksualnog%20nasilja/2023/Protokol%20final.p
df; see also the previous Protocol on the procedure in cases of sexual violence (Protokol o postupanju u 
slučaju seksualnog nasilja), NN No. 70/2018. 

405  For more information, see Country report Gender equality Croatia 2022, pp. 108 - 109. 
406  Ministry of Interior (Ministarstvo unutarnjih poslova) (2021), Pregled osnovnih sigurnosnih pokazatelja I.-

XI. 2021. godine u Republici Hrvatskoj (Basic security indicators in Croatia, January – November 2021), 
available at: https://mup.gov.hr/UserDocsImages/statistika/2021/Web_hrvatski-I-XI-2021.pdf; Ministry of 
Interior (Ministarstvo unutarnjih poslova) (2022), Pregled sigurnosnih pokazatelja u 2022. po mjesecima 
(Overview of security indicators by months in 2022), available at: https://mup.gov.hr/pristup-
informacijama-16/statistika-228/statistika-mup-a-i-bilteni-o-sigurnosti-cestovnog-prometa/pregled-
sigurnosnih-pokazatelja-po-mjesecima/pregled-sigurnosnih-pokazatelja-za-2022-po-mjesecima/290219; 
Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2022), Annual Report for 2021, p. 108; Ombudsperson for Gender 
Equality (2023), Annual Report for 2022, p. 104. 

407  Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2023), Annual Report for 2022, pp. 103 – 104. 
408  See Joint Shadow Report on Implementation on Council of Europe’s Convention on Preventing and 
Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence in Croatia (2022), p. 11, available at: 
https://rm.coe.int/joint-shadow-report-croatia-2022/1680a5b42d. 

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on  being  present  during  their  telephone  conversations  with  relatives  (12.9 %).409  The 
pandemic  has  also  amplified  and  brought  to  the  forefront  weak  areas  in  institutional 
protection.410 More than half of the women who participated in this survey (53.3 %) have 
not even reported the violence, primarily because they thought that the institutions could 
not help them.411 As revealed in the same survey, in two thirds of cases in which women 
reported violence, police officers advised the victim not to provoke the husband/partner.  

 Ratification of the Istanbul Convention 

Five years after the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence 
against  women  and  domestic  violence  (the  Istanbul  Convention)  was  signed  by  the 
Croatian  Government,  the  process  of  its  ratification  was  finally  completed  on 
13 April 2018. The Act on the Ratification of the Istanbul Convention entered into force on 
24 May 2018. Following the deposition of the instruments of ratification on 12 June 2018 
in  Strasbourg,  the  Convention  entered  into  force  in  Croatia  on  1 October 2018 
(Article 76(2) of the Convention). Croatia was the 31st State to ratify the Convention.412 

The following interpretative statement was deposited with the ratification instrument:  

'The Republic of Croatia considers that the aim of the Convention is to protect women 
against any form  of  violence and to prevent, prosecute and  eliminate  any form  of 
violence against women and domestic violence. 

The Republic of Croatia considers that the provisions of the Convention do not contain 
the  obligation  to  introduce  gender  ideology  in  the  Croatian  legal  and  educational 
system, nor the obligation to change the constitutional definition of marriage. 

The Republic of Croatia considers that the Convention is in line with the provisions 
of the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia, especially with the provisions on the 
protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and that the Convention shall 
be  applied  in  accordance  with  the  said  provisions,  principles  and  values  of  the 
constitutional order of the Republic of Croatia.’ 

In accordance with Article 78(2) of the Convention, Croatia has also reserved the right to 
apply  Article 30(3)  of  the  Convention  solely  in  relation  to  victims  who  are  claiming 
compensation  in  accordance  with  the  national  legislation  regulating  the  issue  of 
compensation for victims of criminal offences. 

409  Autonomna ženska kuća Zagreb (2020), ‘Gender-based violence during COVID-19 pandemic’, see: 
https://www.prs.hr/cms/post/263. Information used here has been kindly provided by the principal 
researcher Prof. Anita Lauri Korajlija, University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.  

410  The Ombudsperson for Gender Equality warns about a continuing trend whereby the system actually 
dissuades women from reporting milder forms of violence, until the situation escalates and enters the 
sphere of criminal law. The report concludes that it is preventive mechanisms outside the criminal justice 
system that are inefficient. See Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2021), Annual Report for 2020, p. 78.  

411  Autonomna ženska kuća Zagreb (2020), ‘Gender-based violence during COVID-19 pandemic’.  
412  For more information on the ratification process and fierce political debates surrounding the ratification and 

the Istanbul Convention in general, see Country report Gender equality Croatia 2022, pp. 111 – 112. 

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11  Compliance  and  enforcement  aspects  (horizontal  provisions  of  all 

directives) 

 General (legal) context 

11.1.1 Issues related to the pursuit of a discrimination claim 

A  general  and  prevailing  lack  of  confidence  in  the  judicial  system  is  one  of  the  most 
important  societal  aspects  in  pursuing  discrimination  claims.  Only  up  to  one  fifth  of 
Croatian citizens have some trust in the independence of the judiciary, and would rate it 
as either very good or fairly good, whereas that share for the EU 27 is 53 %.413 The main 
reason for the perceived lack of independence by those rating the national judicial system 
as  poor  lies  in  the  suspicion  that  the  judiciary  is  influenced  by  the  Government  and 
politicians (65 %). These figures have practically remained at the same level in the last 
six years. This perception is exacerbated by sensationalist media coverage of some cases, 
while positive practice examples tend to go unnoticed. It is also due to a long history of 
distrust in institutions, which has been passed on to the younger generations and which 
was  amplified  during  the  period  after  Croatia  gained  independence  from  the  former 
Yugoslavia  and  was  transforming  into  a  market  economy,  when  even  the  most  blatant 
examples of criminal activities in the economic sphere went unpunished. 

11.1.2 Political and societal debate and pending legislative proposals 

There were no substantial legislative amendments or proposals concerning access to the 
courts  for  victims  of  discrimination  in  2023.  The  National  Plan  for  combating  sexual 
violence  and  sexual  harassment  was  adopted  at  the  end  of  December  2022.414  The 
National Gender Equality Plan for the period until 2027, whose formal preparation started 
in 2020, has finally been adopted in March 2023.415 The National Gender Equality Plan is 
the first national act of mid-term strategic planning in the field of gender equality after the 
last national gender equality policy expired in 2015. It includes several measures aiming 
to  improve  monitoring  of  judicial  decisions  involving  cases  of  gender-based  violence 
against women, revision of criminal material and the procedural legislative framework for 
the protection of women against violence and domestic violence, and provides for general 
awareness-raising measures among the judiciary.416 

11.1.3 Gender mainstreaming 

Gender  impact  assessments  and  gender-sensitive  budgeting  are  still  not  part  of  the 
standard procedure in Croatia.417 However, other tools are used to incorporate and take 
account of gender aspects in law and policy making, which involves various actors. The 
Government  has  pledged  to  promote  equality  between  men  and  women  in  society,  the 
labour  market  and  in  the  family  in  its  main  strategic  document,  the  Government 

413  Flash Eurobarometer 503 (2022), ‘Perceived independence of the national justice systems in the EU among 

the general public – Croatia’, available at: 
https://europa.eu/eurobarometer/api/deliverable/download/file?deliverableId=81806. 

414  National Plan for combating sexual violence and sexual harassment for the period until 2027 (Nacionalni 
plan za suzbijanje seksualnog nasilja i seksualnog uznemiravanja, za razdoblje do 2027. godine), with 
pertaining Action Plan, available at: https://vlada.gov.hr/sjednice/181-sjednica-vlade-republike-hrvatske-
37587/37587 (official text is still not published at the web site of the Ministry of Labour, Pension System, 
Family and Social Policy). 

415  See Nacionalni plan za ravnopravnost spolova za razdoblje do 2027. godine (National Gender Equality Plan 

for the period until 2027), with pertaining Action Plan. 

416  For more information see Akcijski plan za implementaciju Nacionalnog plana za ravnopravnost spolova, za 
razdoblje do 2024. godine (Action Plan for Implementation of the National Gender Equality Plan, for the 
period until 2024). For more information on the previous legislative amendments adopted in 2021 providing 
for the possibility of ex officio prosecution of sexual harassment as a criminal offence see Country report 
Gender equality Croatia 2022, p. 114. 

417  This is one of the main challenges identified by the European Institute for Gender Equality for the future of 

gender mainstreaming policy implementation, see European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), 
https://eige.europa.eu/gender-mainstreaming/countries/croatia. 

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in 

the 

implementation  of  policies,  participation 

Programme for the mandate from 2020 to 2024.418 One of the standing committees of the 
Croatian Parliament is the Gender Equality Committee, whose tasks include establishing 
and  monitoring 
the  drafting, 
implementation and analysis of the implementation of the National Gender Equality Policy 
in the Republic of Croatia, co-operation with other bodies and establishing measures and 
activities  to  improve  gender  equality,  proposing  packages  of  measures  to  eliminate 
discrimination  between  the  sexes,  preparing  draft  legislation  and  other  regulations  on 
gender equality, and undertaking efforts to introduce the principles of gender equality in 
education,  healthcare,  public  information,  social  policy,  employment,  free  enterprise, 
decision-making processes, family relations, etc. The Ombudsperson for Gender Equality 
actively participates in the drafting process of legislation concerning gender equality, either 
as  a  member  of  the  working  group  or  by  providing  comments  in  the  process  of  public 
consultations.  The  Office  for  Gender  Equality  serves  as  a  technical  service  of  the 
Government for the preparation of activities related to gender equality and is in charge of 
preparing the national policy for gender equality.419 State bodies appoint coordinators for 
gender  equality.  Local  and  regional  units  of  self-government  establish  gender  equality 
committees, which are in charge of promoting and monitoring gender equality issues at 
local and regional levels (Article 28 Gender Equality Act). 

 Victimisation 

Victimisation  in  relation  to  sex  discrimination  and  other  discriminatory  grounds  is 
prohibited within the material scope of the application of the Gender Equality Act and the 
Anti-Discrimination Act. Article 2 of the Gender Equality Act contains a broad description 
of actions that should not serve as a basis of discrimination.420 It states that no-one should 
be put at a disadvantage or suffer adverse consequences, including being prosecuted or 
exposed to other legal proceedings, as a result of reporting discrimination either officially 
or  unofficially  in  good  faith,  witnessing  discrimination,  refusing  an  instruction  to 
discriminate, testifying in any way in a procedure for protection against sex discrimination 
or  in  any  other  manner  participating  in  any  proceedings  conducted  because  of  sex 
discrimination. No-one should be put at a disadvantage or suffer adverse consequences, 
including being prosecuted or exposed to other legal proceedings, for having alerted the 
public about sex discrimination in good faith. Victimisation is punishable as misdemeanour 
under the Gender Equality Act (Article 33) and the Anti-Discrimination Act (Article 28). 

The  provision  on  victimisation  in  the  Gender  Equality  Act  is  even  wider  in  scope  than 
Article 7  of  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act  because  it  also  includes  protection  against 
victimisation  for  alerting  the  public  about  sex  discrimination.  However,  there  is  still  no 
domestic case law on victimisation. 

418  Government of the Republic of Croatia (2020), Program Vlade Republike Hrvatske 2020 - 2024. 

(Programme of the Government of the Republic of Croatia 2020–2024), available at: 
https://vlada.gov.hr/UserDocsImages/ZPPI/Dokumenti%20Vlada/Program%20Vlade%20Republike%20Hrv
atske%20za%20mandat%202020.%20-%202024..pdf.  

419  In 2017, with the aim of boosting gender mainstreaming and enhancing and strengthening institutional 
mechanisms for gender equality, the Office for Gender Equality published five manuals intended for 
designated stakeholders: Gender mainstreaming manual for judges and legal practitioners; Gender 
mainstreaming manual for political decision makers; Gender mainstreaming manual for gender equality 
coordinators in state administration bodies; Gender mainstreaming manual for town, municipal and county 
committees for gender equality; and Gender mainstreaming manual for employees of the Office for Gender 
Equality. Each manual contains targeted practical advice and case studies on the application of gender 
equality principles, and EU and Croatian gender equality legislation. There is no evidence as to their 
practical effect and use. See Office for Gender Equality, https://ravnopravnost.gov.hr/twinning-projekt-
podrska-ravnopravnosti-spolova/2878.  

420  This broad and detailed legal description of victimisation replaced the previous provision on victimisation in 
2017. See Act on Amendments to the Gender Equality Act, NN No. 69/17. The amendments entered into 
force on 22 July 2017. For more information see Country report Gender equality Croatia 2022, pp. 115 – 
116. 

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 Access to courts 

11.3.1 Difficulties and barriers related to access to courts 

Under  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act,  municipal  courts  have  subject-matter  jurisdiction  in 
litigation  based  on  a  special  legal  action  for  protection  against  discrimination 
(Articles 17(1) and 18(1) of the Anti-Discrimination Act). County courts adjudicate in the 
first instance in disputes prescribed by law and decide on appeals against the decisions of 
the  municipal  courts.  In  the  field  of  equality  law,  county  courts  have  subject-matter 
jurisdiction  for  joint  legal  actions  (representative/associational  actions)  regarding 
protection against discrimination. The Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority and 
is responsible for ensuring the uniform application of laws and the equality of all before 
the law (Article 116 of the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia). In civil proceedings, its 
powers include deciding on appeals against the first-instance decisions of county courts 
and revisions as extraordinary legal remedies against (final and binding) second-instance 
decisions, in cases prescribed by law. 

Apart  from  the  special  legal  action  for  protection  against  discrimination,  the  Anti-
Discrimination Act authorises any person who claims that their rights have been violated 
as a result of discrimination to seek protection in proceedings deciding upon that right as 
the main issue (Article 16(1) Anti-Discrimination Act). The Gender Equality Act authorises 
any  party  who  considers  that  their  rights  have  been  violated  due  to  discrimination 
described  in  the  Act  to  file  a  legal  action  at  the  regular  court  of  general  jurisdiction 
(Article 30(1) Gender Equality Act), in other words, to initiate litigation before a municipal 
court. If the unequal treatment occurred in an employment relationship, procedural rules 
applicable  to  labour  disputes  also  apply.  Despite  the  relatively  satisfactory  normative 
basis, victims of discrimination are often reluctant to initiate court proceedings, given their 
expected length, cost and the ‘stigma’ associated with such cases.421 The latest research 
on  the  attitudes  and  the  level  of  awareness  of  discrimination  shows  that  only  40 %  of 
persons  who  actually  experience  discrimination  (on  any  ground)  do  something  about  it 
and  less  than  one  fifth  of  them  decides  to  file  a  private  law  suit  for  protection  against 
discrimination.422 

An earlier analysis  of  case law on discrimination (covering all grounds) reveals that the 
efficiency  of  court  proceedings  is  very  low,  as  the  majority  of  court  proceedings  on 
discrimination take longer than 12 months.423 Longer court proceedings imply higher costs 
for the claimants, which represents a serious impediment to the protection of their rights. 
The same analysis also warns that victims of discrimination are highly exposed to further 
victimisation during court proceedings, and the fact that the courts are unable to adhere 
to  the  legally  prescribed  principle  of  urgency  of  proceedings  further  aggravates  the 
efficiency of enforcement. The burden of proof rules are especially problematic in labour 
disputes,  where  testimony  of  co-workers  is  needed  to  establish  the  facts.  Fear  of 
victimisation often influences the reliability of testimony, but some courts take into account 
the  fact  that  such  witnesses  of  discrimination  are  also  in  a  position  of  financial  and 
occupational subordination towards the employer, which can affect their testimony.424 

421  Almost 40 % of respondents in a survey on gender equality and discrimination in Croatia conducted in 2010 

replied that they would not report gender discrimination by any of the institutional means (i.e. a complaint 
to the Ombudsperson for Gender Equality, a court, etc.). See Kamenov, Ž., Galić, B. (2011), Rodna 
ravnopravnost i diskriminacija u Hrvatskoj (Gender equality and discrimination in Croatia), Ured za 
ravnopravnost spolova. 

422  People’s Ombudsperson (2022), Istraživanje o stavovima i razini svijesti o diskriminaciji i pojavnim oblicima 
diskriminacije 2022. (Research on attitudes and the level of awareness of discrimination and the forms of 
discrimination for 2022). For a short summary see EELN (2023) Flash Report Croatia, 1 March 2023. 

423  Kesonja, D., Šimonović Einwalter, T. (2017), Analiza sudske prakse u postupcima pred hrvatskim sudovima 
pokrenutima zbog diskriminacije (Analysis of case law in anti-discrimination claims before the Croatian 
courts), CES. 

424  Kesonja, D., Šimonović Einwalter, T. (2017), Analiza sudske prakse u postupcima pred hrvatskim sudovima 
pokrenutima zbog diskriminacije (Analysis of case law in anti-discrimination claims before the Croatian 
courts), CES, p. 20. 

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11.3.2 Availability of legal aid 

Many  civil  society  organisations  involved  in  protection  against  discrimination  offer  free 
legal advice to victims of gender discrimination. The Ombudsperson for Gender Equality 
receives claims of discrimination and many victims feel more confident when complaining 
to the Ombudsperson in out-of-court, less formalistic proceedings at no cost.  People on 
low  incomes  may  obtain  professional  free  legal  aid  in  accordance  with  the  procedure 
envisaged under the Act on Free Legal Aid.425 Under the Free Legal Aid Act, primary legal 
aid is provided by civil society organisations (registered as providers), university law clinics 
and state administration offices in  counties. This covers general legal information, legal 
advice, written submissions and representation before public bodies (but not courts, with 
the exception  of the ECtHR) and assistance in  out-of-court  settlements. Secondary free 
legal  aid  includes  full  representation  by  attorneys-at-law,  but  only  in  specific  civil  and 
administrative proceedings and subject to formal prior authorisation by the relevant body. 
Verification of income and assets is conducted, with very limited exceptions for victims of 
violent  criminal  offences.  There  are  no  special  arrangements  for  victims  of  gender 
discrimination. Women’s NGOs warn about many challenges associated with the provision 
of  free  legal  aid  to  victims  of  domestic  violence  and  sexual  violence,  most  notably 
concerning the deficient legal framework and limited availability of government funding.426 

 Horizontal effect of the applicable law 

11.4.1 Horizontal effect of relevant gender equality law 

So far, there have been no particular problems in connection with the lack of horizontal 
effect of EU directives.  Lower  or appellate  courts do not seem to mind invoking gender 
equality directives in their reasoning, even in horizontal situations.427 However, regardless 
of the fact that directives are sometimes mentioned in the courts’ reasoning, the decision 
itself is always based on national legislative provisions.428 

11.4.2 Impact of horizontal direct effects of the charter after Bauer  

The impact of Bauer or the recognition of horizontal direct effects of the Charter provisions 
is  not  expected  to  have  much  influence  on  the  enforcement  of  the  gender  equality 
provisions in Croatia. This conclusion arises from the fact that the national gender equality 
law  standards  and  obligations  apply  to  public  and  private  spheres  equally  and  Charter 
rights are already guaranteed in the Constitution and various pieces of legislation, such as 
the  Labour  Act  or  the  Act  on  Maternity  and  Parental  Benefits.  In  addition,  the  Croatian 
Constitution  contains  an  open-ended  anti-discrimination  clause  (Article 14(1)  of  the 
Constitution), which can be invoked in discrimination claims. 

 Burden of proof 

The wording of the two main anti-discrimination laws in Croatia, the Anti-Discrimination 
Act and the Gender Equality Act, on the burden of proof differs slightly, which may lead to 
inconsistent  interpretations.  Under  Article 20  of  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act,  a  party 
claiming discrimination does not have to prove it with any degree of certainty – it suffices 
to establish a probability (učiniti vjerojatnim) that the discrimination occurred (‘shall make 
it plausible that discrimination has taken place’), while the respondent has to prove the 
opposite with a sufficient degree of certainty. Failing this, it is considered that the right to 
equal treatment has been violated.  

425  Act on Free Legal Aid (Zakon o besplatnoj pravnoj pomoći), NN Nos. 143/2013 and 98/2019. 
426  See Joint Shadow Report on Implementation on Council of Europe’s Convention on Preventing and 

Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence in Croatia (2022), pp. 130-133, available at: 
https://rm.coe.int/joint-shadow-report-croatia-2022/1680a5b42d. 

427  See, for example, County Court in Osijek, Gž R-519/2017. 
428  In the field of age discrimination see, for example, Administrative Court in Rijeka, Us I-439/2022. 

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In a judgment from 2020, the Zagreb County Court confirmed the finding of the court of 
first  instance  that  the  claimant  established  the  probability  that  the  employer’s  unequal 
treatment  resulted  in  sex  discrimination,  whereas  the  defendant  did  not  offer  adequate 
evidence  to  prove  with  a  sufficient  degree  of  probability  that  such  treatment  was 
justified.429  In  two  Supreme  Court  cases,  Gž-25/11  and  Gž-41/11,430  the  rules  on  the 
burden of proof from the Anti-Discrimination Act were interpreted so as to shift the burden 
of  proof  to  show  that  there  had  been  no  discrimination  to  the  respondent,  when  the 
meaning of the statements made was obvious in itself (degradation and humiliation).431 
In  another  case  dealing  with  the  burden  of  proof  from  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act,  the 
court interpreted the standard of probability to mean that a party claiming discrimination 
has  to  prove  that  ‘he/she  was  placed  in  a  less  favourable  position  which  might  be  a 
consequence of direct or indirect discrimination’ on any of the grounds listed in the act. 432 
This interpretation  seems to  come close to the burden  of proof provision in the  Gender 
Equality Act, although the wording is formulated much more broadly.  

According  to  Article 30(4)  of  the  Gender  Equality  Act,  a  party  claiming  that  their  rights 
have been violated has to present facts that give rise to the suspicion that discriminatory 
behaviour has occurred and the burden of proof then shifts to the opposing party who has 
to prove that there has been no discrimination. Theoretically, this is an even lighter burden 
than proving probability under the Anti-Discrimination Act. The application of the rules on 
the reversal of the burden of proof is a challenging task.  There is a risk that it could be 
interpreted  too  strictly,  thus  making  it  difficult  for  the  claimant  to  establish  prima  facie 
discrimination.433 However, recent case law shows that the required standard to shift the 
burden of proof is the level of probability.434 

Case law involving sex discrimination dealing with the interpretation of the burden of proof 
from the Gender Equality Act is still non-existent. Several discrimination cases interpreting 
the burden of proof rules deal with factual situations that occurred prior to the coming into 
force  of the  Gender Equality Act, and apply the burden  of proof rules that were at that 
time  contained  in  the  old  Labour  Act  (2004).435  These  rules  were  worded  similarly  to 
Article 30(4) of the Gender Equality Act (give rise to a suspicion). However, when (if at 
all)  a  burden  of  proof  becomes  an  issue  in  court  proceedings,  the  courts  seem 
predominantly  to  rely  explicitly  on  the  provision  on  the  burden  of  proof  from  the  Anti-
Discrimination Act. This happens even in typical sex discrimination cases.436 Nevertheless, 
there is evidence of a uniform approach to the burden of proof in case law, regardless of 
whether the provision of the Anti-Discrimination Act or the Gender Equality Act was applied 
in a particular case.  The  claimant’s subjective  assessment is not  enough,437 but written 

429  County Court in Zagreb, Gž R-931/2018. The case was decided by applying the standard of proof under the 

Anti-Discrimination Act. 

430  Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, Gž-25/2011 and Gž-41/2011. These cases involved 

discrimination based on sexual orientation. The same standard on the shifting of the burden of proof in case 
of public statements was applied in a Supreme Court case Gž-21/2013, also involving discrimination based 
on sexual orientation. 

431  In both cases, which share the same factual background, the first instance courts concluded that the 

claimants had not made discrimination plausible, i.e. they did not show a probability that the respondent’s 
statement had caused direct discrimination. See the judgments of the County Court in Zagreb, Pnz-8/10 
and Pnz-7/10. There are no similar reported cases on the burden of proof involving gender discrimination. 

432  County Court in Bjelovar, Gž-458/2012. 
433  For example, it was not deemed sufficient to shift the burden of proof to the defendant where the 

claimant’s fixed-term contract expired and all her other colleagues were offered another fixed-term 
contract, except the claimant and she was the only one who was pregnant at the time. See County Court in 
Split, Gž-186/2019. 

434  See, e.g., Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, Gž-10/2021; County Court in Rijeka, Gž R-79/2020; 

Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, Rev-2478/2019. 

435  The anti-discrimination case law in general is still rather confusing, partly because the claimants themselves 
claim that discrimination has occurred, without specifically stating on which grounds; or even change the 
grounds of discrimination during court proceedings. See, e.g. Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, 
cases Revr-856/2012 and Revr-650/2008. 

436  See, e.g. County Court in Zagreb, Gž-1225/2015, Gž R-1192/2018. 
437  See, e.g. Constitutional Court, U-III-7490/2014: a subjective assessment of the claimant that she deserved 
promotion does not suffice either to shift the burden of proof or to prove that unequal treatment took place. 

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proof  from  a  third  party  suffices438  and  sometimes  even  a  claimant’s  own  statement  of 
what the defendant told them is enough.439 

A party claiming discrimination will usually have to show that they were placed in a less 
favourable  position  ‘which  might  be  a  consequence  of  direct  or  indirect  discrimination’ 
based  on  sex  or  another  discriminatory  ground.440  However,  when  a  claimant  does  not 
raise  any  particular  discriminatory  ground,  it  is  not  enough  to  show  evidence  of  less 
favourable  treatment,  for  example,  that  the  claimant  received  a  lower  redundancy 
payment than other workers or was denied the necessary tools for performing their work, 
to  shift  the  burden  of  proof.441  When  presenting  prima  facie  evidence,  there  is  no 
requirement  to  show  the  probability  of  the  perpetrator’s  intent  to  discriminate.  The 
standard of probability required for the shifting of the burden of proof to the defendant is 
the  existence  of  the  ‘reasonable  suspicion  that  the  potential  motive  of  the  defendant’s 
behaviour  lies  in  one  of  the  discriminatory  grounds’.442  The  fact  that  the  claimant  has 
instituted several other lawsuits against the defendant in relation to their employment is 
not sufficient to shift the burden of proof.443  

It  is  striking  that  the  courts,  even  when  explicitly  applying  Article 20(1)  of  the  Anti-
Discrimination  Act,  interpret  it  by  using  the  wording  from  Article 30(4)  of  the  Gender 
Equality  Act,  looking  for  facts  justifying  the  grounds  of  suspicion  that  discrimination 
occurred.  Grounds  for  suspicion,  according  to  one  judgment,  represent  an  assumption 
based  on  which  the  victim  tries  to  persuade,  or  make  it  plausible,  that  their  claim 
(statement) is true.444 

 Remedies and sanctions  

11.6.1 Types of remedies and sanctions 

A  victim  of  discrimination  is  entitled  to  seek  damages  in  accordance  with  the  general 
provisions  for  the  compensation  of  damages.  The  Gender  Equality  Act  and  the  Anti-
Discrimination  Act  set  out  sanctions  for  violations  of  its  provisions  (punishable  as  a 
misdemeanour)  in  the  form  of  monetary  fines,  depending  on  the  type  of  offence  and 
whether the perpetrator is a natural person or responsibility for the offence can be ascribed 
to legal persons as well.445 Sexual harassment is also punishable under the Criminal Act 
(Article 156).446  

438  In one case involving a claim of sexual harassment at work (County Court in Bjelovar, Gž-2000/2012), the 
court found that the standard for shifting the burden of proof had been satisfied, because the claimant had 
substantiated her claim with written proof from a third party (a telecoms operator), warning her employer 
that his company was not registered to provide telephone sex services. 

439  The  court  found  that  prima  facie  evidence  of  discrimination  exists  because  the  claimant  stated  that  her 
superior told her that she would not be recommended for promotion because she is a woman, married and 
has two small children. County Court in Zagreb, Gž R-1192/2018. 

440  County Court in Bjelovar, Gž-458/2012. 
441  Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, Revr-123/2015. 
442  See,  e.g.  County  Court  in  Zagreb,  Gž-1225/2015;  County  Court  in  Osijek,  Gž  R-191/2018.  In  case  Gž-
1225/2015, it was undisputed that the claimant was on sick leave due to childcare responsibilities more often 
than  other  employees.  Consequently,  in  the  standard  work  performance  and  profitability  evaluation  she 
scored far worse than other employees and was first in line for dismissal. Presenting these facts was enough 
to shift the burden of proof to the defendant. 
443  Osijek County Court in Osijek, Gž R-191/2018. 
444  County Court in Zagreb, Gž R-1192/2018. 
445  For example, monetary fines under the Gender Equality Act range from roughly EUR 600 to EUR 3 900 for 
harassment, and to EUR 5 300 for sexual harassment (for natural persons), whereas the monetary fine for 
tradespeople and other self-employed people committing this offence within their professional activities 
ranges from EUR 1 300 to EUR 33 000 and for legal entities from EUR 3 900 to EUR 46 000. Other 
monetary fines under the Gender Equality Act include sanctions for victimisation and failure to abide by 
specific obligations prescribed under the act for public entities, media outlets or political parties. 

446  Criminal Act (Kazneni zakon), NN Nos. 125/2011, 144/2012, 56/2015, 61/2015, 101/2017, 118/2018, 

126/2019, 84/2021, 114/2022 and 114/2023. 

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The Gender Equality Act authorises any party who considers that  their rights have been 
violated due to discrimination described in that act to file a legal action before the regular 
court of general jurisdiction (Article 30(1), Gender Equality Act), in other words, to initiate 
litigation  before  a  municipal  court.  The  Anti-Discrimination  Act  prescribes  the  main 
features  of  the  special  legal  action  for  protection  against  discrimination  (Article 17(1), 
Anti-Discrimination Act): an action for the determination of discrimination, an action for 
the prohibition  or  elimination of discrimination, an action for damages and a request to 
publish in the media the ruling establishing a violation of the right to equal treatment, at 
the respondent’s cost. In addition, the Anti-Discrimination Act authorises any person who 
claims that their rights have been violated as a result of discrimination to seek protection 
in proceedings treating that right as the main issue (Article 16(1), Anti-Discrimination Act).  

Under  Article 24(1)  of  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act,  associations,  bodies,  institutions  or 
other  organisations  set  up  in  accordance  with  the  law  and  having  a  justified  interest  in 
protecting the collective interests of a certain group, or those which within their scope of 
activities deal with the protection of the right to equal treatment, may bring legal action 
against a person who has violated the right to equal treatment. Representative action is a 
collective  remedy  available  under  the  Gender  Equality  Act  as  well,  but  the  general 
conditions are prescribed in the Anti-Discrimination Act. So far, it has predominantly been 
used by associations campaigning against discrimination based on sexual orientation.447 

The Constitutional Court considers that the Anti-Discrimination Act contains effective legal 
remedies for protection against discrimination. Individual constitutional complaints under 
Article 62(1) of the Constitutional Act on the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia 
for the protection of the right to equal treatment and prohibition of discrimination may be 
lodged  only  if  the  complainant  has  used  the  legal  remedies  available  under  the  Anti-
Discrimination Act.448 

11.6.2 Effectiveness, proportionality and dissuasiveness 

The legislative framework  regarding the  remedies and  sanctions is satisfactory, at least 
within  the  framework  of  anti-discrimination  claims.  However,  practice  and  case  law  are 
still  scarce.  In  labour  disputes  concerning  the  protection  of  the  worker’s  dignity  under 
Article 134 of the Labour Act, a worker seeks to establish that the violation of dignity is a 
result of harassment or sexual harassment. A worker may also seek damages for violation 
of personality rights (including honour, reputation and dignity) in the same procedure, in 
accordance  with  Article 1 100  of  the  Act  on  Obligations.  This  is  just  pecuniary 
compensation, which is awarded if the severity of violation and the circumstances of the 
case so justify (Article 1 100(1) of the Act on Obligations). In some cases, the courts do 
not award any damages to the worker, even where it is established that the worker was 
harassed,  because  the  courts  find  that  the  circumstances  do  not  justify  the  award  of 
damages.449  This  may  deprive  the  worker  of  just  and  effective  compensation  under 
Directive 2006/54. 

 Equality body 

The most important body entrusted with the implementation of gender equality obligations 
is  the  Ombudsperson  for  Gender  Equality  (http://www.prs.hr).  This  is  an  independent 
body  charged  with  combating  discrimination  in  the  field  of  gender  equality.  Its  tasks 
include:  receiving  complaints  from  and  providing  assistance  to  natural  persons  or  legal 
entities in the field of gender discrimination; investigating individual complaints prior to 

447  See, for example County Court in Zagreb, Pnz-8/10 and Pnz-7/10. 
448  See e.g. Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, U-III-3923/2011, para. 5.3.; U-III-1097/2009, 

para. 6.1. 

449  See County Court in Zagreb, Gž R-931/2018. Even in cases where damages are awarded, the amount is 

much lower than in comparable cases of, e.g., compensation for emotional pain or reduced work capacity 
arising from a car accident injury. 

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legal  proceedings  and  conducting  mediation  processes  with  the  consent  of  the  parties; 
collecting  and  analysing  statistical  data  on  cases  of  sexual  discrimination;  conducting 
independent  surveys  concerning  discrimination;  publishing  independent  reports;  and 
exchanging  available  information  with  corresponding  European  bodies.  The  increasing 
workload  of  the  Ombudsperson  for  Gender  Equality  (especially  regarding  individual 
complaints, which have risen to 500–600 annually) shows the relevance of this office. In 
addition, the Ombudsperson for Gender Equality issues numerous recommendations and 
warnings ex officio and conducts research in various fields of gender equality, the results 
of which serve as a valuable contribution to and a platform for the promotion of gender 
equality in Croatia and encourage change in discriminatory practices. 

 Social partners  

Social partners are obliged to comply with the provisions of the Gender Equality Act and 
measures for the achievement of gender equality when conducting collective negotiations 
and  concluding  collective  agreements  at  all  levels  (Article 11(6),  Gender  Equality  Act). 
Under the Anti-Discrimination Act (Article 15), the People’s Ombudsperson must consult 
the social partners (representative associations of trade unions and employers at a higher 
level)  and  civil  society  organisations  when  drawing  up  regular  reports,  opinions  and 
recommendations  on  the  occurrence  of  discrimination.  The  Ombudsperson  for  Gender 
Equality has no equivalent obligation. 

Collective agreements are binding on their parties, but also on all persons who, at the time 
of the conclusion of such an agreement, were or subsequently became members of the 
association  that  is  a  party  to  the  collective  agreement  (Article 194,  Labour  Act).  The 
competent minister has the authority to extend the application of a collective agreement 
to  other  employers,  if  such  an  extension  is  in  the  public  interest  and  if  the  collective 
agreement  was  concluded  with  unions  that  have  the  largest  number  of  members  and 
employers’  associations  with  the  largest  number  of  workers  at  that  level  of  application 
(Article 203, Labour Act).450 

With  a  view  to  motivating  trade  unions  to  take  more  responsibility  for  promoting  and 
implementing the principle of equal pay, a recent publication provides recommendations 
and  guidelines  for  trade  unions  to  negotiate  terms  and  conditions  to  ensure  better 
monitoring of the gender pay gap in companies, as well as more efficient implementation 
of gender equality standards and work-life balance in collective agreements.451 

 Other relevant bodies 

Other authorities entrusted with the enforcement of the Gender Equality Act include the 
Office for Gender Equality, as well as other bodies at regional and local levels. The Office 
for  Gender  Equality  (https://ravnopravnost.gov.hr/)  is  a  technical  service  of  the 
Government  for  the  implementation  of  activities  related  to  the  enforcement  of  gender 
equality. State administrative bodies are obliged to appoint a gender equality coordinator. 
Local and regional self-government units are required to establish committees for gender 
equality. 

450  The only comprehensive analysis of collective agreements from the aspect of gender equality dates back to 
2009. It revealed that many collective agreements themselves contained provisions generating inequalities 
based on sex, and that out of 120 collective agreements analysed, only 7 contained provisions on equal pay 
and only in a general manner. For more information see Ombudsperson for Gender Equality (2010), Analiza 
kolektivnih ugovora s aspekta ravnopravnosti spolova, jednakih mogućnosti i uravnoteženja privatnog i 
profesionalnog života (Analysis of collective agreements from the aspect of gender equality, equal 
opportunities and work-life balance). 

451  The publication was prepared on behalf of the Retired Persons’ Union of Croatia, partners in the project 

‘“Equal rights – equal pay – equal pensions” – Expanding the scope of implementation of gender equality 
actions and legal standards towards achieving equality and combating poverty in Croatia’. See Petrović, J. 
A. (2020) A model of collective agreement – The aspect of gender in collective bargaining, Retired Persons’ 
Union of Croatia, Zagreb. 

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 Evaluation of implementation 

Effective enforcement of the existing gender equality guarantees continues to be one of 
the  weakest  links  in  the  Croatian  gender  equality  legislation.  Officially,  all  standards 
concerning access to the courts and pursuing discrimination claims are implemented in the 
legislation  correctly.  However,  problems  arise  in  connection  with  the  interpretation  and 
application of those standards in individual cases. There is a need for more involvement 
from the higher courts, especially the Supreme Court, which has to  ensure the uniform 
application  of  laws  and  the  equality  of  all  before  the  law.  There  is  also  a  shortage  of 
scholarly  papers  and  articles  on  key  concepts  of  discrimination  in  general,  including  on 
enforcement and procedural issues, which could assist the courts in substantiating their 
reasoning. Nevertheless, it is hard to draw more definite conclusions on the enforcement 
and compliance issues based on scarce and sporadic case law. Sex discrimination case law 
is  slowly  increasing,  but  it  needs  to  be  published  and  more  easily  accessible  so  that 
deviations are quickly observed and good examples may serve as building blocks in the 
proper implementation of the gender equality standards. 

 Remaining issues 

There is nothing further to report. 

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12  Overall assessment  

The following transposition problems were mentioned in this report: 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

Croatian  gender  equality  law  still  suffers  from  a  lack  of  effective  enforcement  of 
implemented standards. 

Case  law  developments  indicate  slow  but  continuous  improvements  in  the  proper 
understanding  and  interpretation  of  gender  equality  and  non-discrimination 
standards,  although  there  are  divergencies  and  inconsistencies  in  the  case  law  of 
different national courts. 

Access to courts is guaranteed but, in practice, the cost and long duration of court 
proceedings, as well as the uncertain outcome (due to inconsistent interpretation) is 
often a deterrent to pursuing a court claim. 

There  is  insufficient  protection  of  women  on  fixed-term  contracts  (fixed-term 
contracts  are  often  abused  to  circumvent  the  ban  on  the  dismissal  of  pregnant 
workers and workers on maternity or parental leave). 

Protection against sexual harassment at work is fragmented and inefficient. 

legislative 

The 
for  working 
parents/carers has improved with the implementation of the WLB Directive, but its 
practical enforcement and effect will have to be assessed in the upcoming period.  

flexible  working  arrangements 

framework 

for 

The position of women in the labour market has not significantly worsened as a result 
of  the  COVID-19  pandemic,  but  it  still  suffers  from  pre-pandemic  causes  of 
inequality,  such  as  labour  market  segregation  and  a  large  share  of  fixed-term 
contracts for women.  

There are positive improvements in the field of criminal and misdemeanour law which 
strengthen  the  protection  of  women  victims  of  violence,  but  the  mechanisms  of 
victim support in cases of domestic violence outside of the criminal law sphere are 
still in need of further improvement. 

The  negative  effects  of  the  COVID-19  pandemic  are  mostly  evident  in  the  field  of 
violence  against  women  and  domestic  violence,  through  an  increase  in  violent 
criminal offences against women. 

In 2023, the most important legislative activities included the preparation of amendments 
to the Criminal Act, the Criminal Procedure Act, and the Act on Protection against Domestic 
Violence.  Their  adoption  is  expected  in  the  first  quarter  of  2024.  The  most  important 
novelty concerns the introduction of the specific criminal offence of femicide in the Croatian 
legal system, as well as the definition of gender-based violence against women, within the 
scope of the Criminal Act. Regarding policy developments, the National Plan for combating 
sexual  violence  and  sexual  harassment  as  the  first  mid-term  strategy  in  this  field  was 
adopted  at  the  very  end  of  2022,  and  started  to  apply  in  2023.  It  contains  a  set  of 
objectives and measures which will have to be implemented by 2027. In addition, the long 
overdue National Gender Equality Plan for the period until 2027 was finalised and adopted 
by the Government in March 2023. The effect of these legislative and policy instruments 
is  mostly  expected  in  the  mid  to  long  term,  through  awareness-raising  measures, 
measures  combating  stereotypes,  and  education  of  various  stakeholders  concerning 
gender equality issues. 

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The EU gender equality acquis in general has been correctly transposed into the existing 
legislative instruments. However, the two horizontal acts (the Gender Equality Act and the 
Anti-Discrimination Act) may cause confusion, since both of these normative instruments 
prohibit  gender  discrimination  and  contain  overlapping  provisions.  There  are  some 
discrepancies  in  the  wording  of  certain  provisions  (e.g.  concerning  burden  of  proof  or 
victimisation), which so far have not had adverse consequences in practice. This is a result 
of the well-established tendency of the Croatian legislature to regulate certain issues in an 
incomplete and fragmentary manner, or to multiply similar definitions in various legislative 
instruments, but without an overall strategy and without trying to predict in advance the 
possible consequences of such an approach. 

It  helps  that  the  Croatian  gender  equality  and  anti-discrimination  legislation  has  grown 
directly  from  EU  law  and  the  equal  treatment  directives  and  many  gender  equality 
standards were implemented even before Croatia joined the EU. No society is immune to 
gender  stereotyping  and  the  traditional  division  of  roles  and  tasks  between  men  and 
women  and  Croatia  is  no  exception.  However,  there  is  also  a  strongly  rooted  sense  of 
equality in Croatia, inherited from a socialist tradition of equality before the law in general. 
This has had a mixed influence on the development and implementation of gender equality 
legislation.  On  the  one  hand,  many  longstanding  guarantees  of  workers’  rights  and 
protection were already in existence, as well as a relatively developed system of maternity 
and parental benefits (primarily concerning their temporal dimension, but also concerning 
their  financial  aspects).  On  the  other  hand,  many  new  and  unknown  concepts  (such  as 
direct  and  indirect  discrimination,  harassment  and  sexual  harassment)  were  introduced 
and it took some time for all stakeholders to learn, understand and familiarise themselves 
with them. This process is still ongoing. Furthermore, Croatian society as a whole needs 
to  understand  the  proper  meaning  of  gender  equality  and  recognise  what  constitutes 
discrimination.  

The  coexistence  of  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act  and  the  Gender  Equality  Act  in  case  law 
shows  that  the  Anti-Discrimination  Act  predominates,  even  where  gender  equality  is 
clearly  at  stake  and  where  a  more  specific  provision  of  the  Gender  Equality  Act  can  be 
applied. Proper implementation in actual practice takes time.  Continuous education and 
training of the judiciary in the field of gender equality and non-discrimination has yielded 
many  positive  effects  in  case  law.  Other  stakeholders,  primarily  public  bodies  and 
authorities, should follow this effort. 

A  persistent  issue  associated  with  the  implementation  of  the  Croatian  gender  equality 
legislation  concerns  its  effective  enforcement.  Despite  the  fact  that  all  standards 
concerning access to courts and pursuing discrimination claims are correctly implemented, 
case law is still scarce, which means that individual claimants rarely seek remedy in the 
courts. Associational or representative action is an additional available tool for combating 
sex  discrimination,  but  it  is  mostly  used  in  cases  of  discrimination  based  on  sexual 
orientation.  The  existing  case  law  reveals  that  interpretation  and  application  of  gender 
equality  standards  in  individual  cases  may  be  problematic,  even  when  cases  reach  the 
Supreme Court. The analysis of recent cases provides hope and leads to the conclusion 
that slow but steady progress is visible. 

Over the last 15 years, a significant normative expansion of anti-discrimination legislation 
has occurred, introducing new legal terminology and standards,  which were more often 
than not left undefined, open to interpretation, indeterminate and sometimes inconsistent 
with other laws. The weakness of the Croatian judicial system is poor accessibility and the 
non-publication of case law, which transfers across to the application of anti-discrimination 
legislation and is the likely cause  of inconsistent interpretation, inefficiency and the low 
visibility  of  decisions  in  this  field.  Problems  regarding  the  accessibility  of  case  law  still 
persist. The crucial reason for incoherent and sporadic case law in anti-discrimination cases 
is the fact that decisions are not published and updated regularly and they are very hard 
to research. Media attention is reserved for high-profile cases (such as those in the field 

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of discrimination based on sexual orientation, usually involving civil society organisations). 
Furthermore,  media  coverage  of  certain  cases  may  not  always  be  accurate.  For  a 
researcher or even lawyers outside the court system and without access to the enhanced 
case law database of the Supreme  Court, the examination  of the case law  of  the lower 
courts often boils down to personal contacts and collegial assistance from judges.  

The published case law (judgments of the Supreme Court, judgments of the Constitutional 
Court and selected judgments of the county and municipal courts) is classified in a non-
transparent manner and case law search engines are far from user-friendly. Perhaps these 
hurdles might not appear so difficult for a  seasoned  researcher  or  other persons skilled 
and  trained  in  investigating  different  areas  of  anti-discrimination  protection,  but  to  an 
average  user  and  to  those  who  should  benefit  from  it  the  most  –  the  victims  of 
discrimination – these obstacles could be insurmountable.  

It  also  has  a  negative  impact  on  the  uniformity  and  efficiency  of  judicial  protection 
throughout Croatia, because until the Supreme Court takes a position on a certain issue 
(which may not necessarily happen), the courts are basically left without the possibility of 
knowing the positions and interpretations of other courts. Their only points of reference 
are internal interpretations by that particular court, provided that they exist. There is no 
legal obligation  for  courts to publish final and  binding judgments or judgments pending 
appeal. Although courts at all levels have their own websites where, applying the rules on 
anonymisation, case law could be published, in most cases this is not done at all. 

There are several other areas that need to be improved. One gender equality issue that 
deserves further attention and improvement is the question of wage transparency. In the 
private  sector,  confidentiality  clauses  make  it  very  hard  to  discover  whether  there  are 
differences in pay at an individual level, but also at company level. In the public sector, 
the new Act on Salaries in the Civil Service and Public Services was adopted in December 
2023  and  entered  into  force  on  1  January  2024.  It  expressly  refers  to  the  equal  pay 
principle, the principle of pay transparency, and the principle of non-discrimination as the 
basic  principles  of  the  pay  system  in  the  public  sector.  It  is  accompanied  by  a  set  of 
implementing  regulations  setting  the  new  and  more  transparent  job  classification  and 
evaluation system. 

The current guarantees and protection against dismissal, as well as the guarantee to return 
to the previous  or an equivalent level post are not  enough to guarantee full  equality in 
practice. Short-term engagements, fixed-term contracts and other atypical forms of work 
are often used in practice to circumvent these explicit guarantees. In Croatia, non-renewal 
of a fixed-term contract for pregnant workers or workers on maternity/parental leave has 
become  a  standard  practice.  In  sporadic  cases  concerning  this  issue  so  far,  freedom  of 
contract prevails over any claim of discrimination. 

The  partly  belated  implementation  of  Directive 2019/1158  in  2022  is  a  welcome 
development  as  it  has  introduced  legislative  amendments  to  improve  the  situation  of 
working parents/carers. However, there are deficiencies in transposition that might affect 
the full realisation of new rights, guarantees and protection in practice. 

Several fields, such as social security and access to and supply of goods and services, are 
in desperate need of more research on gender equality aspects. Such research could serve 
as a basis for the evaluation of implementation and the need to introduce or adapt certain 
measures and the legislative framework. Current inequalities in the social security system 
cannot  be  ascribed  solely  to  legislation  or  a  lack  of  adequate  legislative  provisions,  but 
relate  to  the  lack  of  an  overall  policy  approach  to  certain  issues,  the  absence  of  a 
constructive public debate and low public awareness and interest in these issues. Access 
to and supply of goods and services represents uncharted territory, with very few practical 
examples of sex discrimination being reported in this field. It appears that a certain culture 
or  level  of  discriminatory  behaviour  or  harassment  and  sexual  harassment  (especially 

121 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

sexist statements) is accepted or at least tolerated as part of traditional societal patterns 
of communication. 

Domestic  violence  and  violence  against  women  continuously  make  the  headlines. 
However,  frequent  legislative  changes  and  prescribing  stricter  criminal  penalties  cannot 
achieve  satisfactory  results  without  being  accompanied  by  efficient  victim  support 
measures,  services,  strategies  and  early-warning  mechanisms  to  prevent  violence  from 
occurring. In the upcoming period, emphasis should be placed on improving the protection 
of victims outside of the criminal procedure, as well as on more efficient measures of re-
socialisation for perpetrators of violence against women.  

122 

 
 
 
 
Country report - gender equality – Croatia - 2024 

Bibliography 

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Gović Penić, I. (2020), Diskriminacija, uznemiravanje i mobbing. Radnopravni okvir 
i  sudska  praksa  (Discrimination,  harassment  and  mobbing.  Labour-law  framework 
and case-law), Kovačić konzulting d.o.o. 
Grgurev, I. (2022) Protection of Women with Disabilities in EU Non- Discrimination 
Law,  in:  Kovačević,  Lj.,  Vujadinović,  D.,  Evola,  M.  (eds.),  Intersectional 
Discrimination  of  Women  and  Girls  with  Disabilities  and  Means  of  their 
Empowerment, University of Belgrade, Beograd, 2022, pp. 33 - 50. 
Grgurev, I., Potočnjak, Ž. (eds.) (2021), Pravna zaštita od spolnog uznemiravanja 
(Legal  protection  from  sexual  harassment),  collection  of  papers,  Pravni  fakultet 
Sveučilišta u Zagrebu. 
Mišćenić, E., Kesonja, D. (2018), ‘Croatia’, in: Mercat-Bruns, M., Oppenheimer, D.B., 
Sartorius, C. (eds.), Comparative Perspectives on the Enforcement and Effectiveness 
of Antidiscrimination Law, Springer, pp. 129 – 151. 
Potočnjak, Ž., Grgurev, I., Grgić, A. (eds) (2014), Perspektive antidiskriminacijskog 
prava (Perspectives of anti-discrimination law), collection of papers, Pravni fakultet 
Sveučilišta u Zagrebu. 
Ritossa, D. and Juranović, S. (2019) Stručna analiza pravomoćnih kaznenih presuda 
o nasilju prema ženama 2012. – 2016. (Expert analysis of final criminal judgments 
in cases of violence against women 2012-2016), Ombudsperson for Gender Equality, 
Zagreb. 
Vasiljević, S. (ed.) (2023) Rodna ravnopravnost: pravo i politike (Gender Equality: 
Law and Policies), collection of papers, Pravni fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu. 
Vasiljević, S., Vinković, M. (2019) Temeljna prava i zabrana diskriminacije u praksi 
europskih i nacionalnih sudova (Fundamental rights and prohibition of discrimination 
in the case law of European and national courts), Narodne novine. 

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