ZAGREB, Aug 31, 2020-  A measure that was introduced to stop the enforcement of money debts, thus unblocking debtors' accounts, expires on October 18 and the Financial Agency will again start enforcing debt payments from citizens' accounts who have not settled their debts, the Jutarnji List daily reported on Monday.

The government will definitely not extend the suspension of enforcement procedures which means that a real tsunami of enforcement procedures can be expected in October and November, the daily writes.

According to information from public notary circles, about 400,000 citizens could have their accounts blocked overnight. With the record fall in GDP in the second quarter of 15.1%, an expected loss of jobs, which in the tourism sector alone could be more than 60,000, Croatia is just one step away from a very black autumn scenario.

Some sources in the government have said that the measures to help the commercial sector and citizens that were introduced cannot be extended, but that the government is not neglecting the social component. Scenarios are being prepared for an as painless transition as possible from the complete suspension of enforcement procedures to their reintroduction.

The only option that could help citizens and that would not stint creditors too much would be to allow debt repayments in installments.

The civic rights department in the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration has already prepared a draft document to present to the chamber of public notaries, the daily writes.

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ZAGREB, July 27, 2020 - Nearly one in five Croatian businesses operated in the trade sector in 2019, or 28,814 out of 136,260 enterprises, data from the Financial Agency (Fina) shows.

Businesses engaging in expert, scientific, and technical activities accounted for 15.8%, construction companies for 11.9%, and those in the manufacturing industry for 10.9% of the total number of enterprises.

Fina said that an analysis of financial reports showed that businesses in the trade sector had predominated in the last 20 years.

The 136,260 enterprises employed 969,776 people, which is 6.4% more than in 2018. Most of them were employed in manufacturing and trade, namely 240,081 (24.8%) in manufacturing and 195,927 (20.2%) in trade.

In nominal terms, the number of workers increased the most in trade (by 20,521), construction (by 9,867), manufacturing (by 6,351), hospitality (by 6,250), and information and communications (by 3,701).

The largest revenues and expenditures were generated by trading companies (HRK 275.6 billion in revenues and HRK 266.1 billion in expenditures).

Manufacturing businesses generated HRK 185.5 billion in revenues and HRK 176.6 billion in revenues, and construction businesses posted HRK 59.98 billion in revenues and HRK 58.22 billion in expenditures.

By net profit, businesses in the trade sector performed the best, earning HRK 7.4 billion, down by 4.1% compared with 2018. Manufacturing businesses reported HRK 7.2 billion in net profits and businesses engaging in expert, scientific and technical activities posted HRK 3.9 billion.

(€1 = HRK 7.516985)

Meet e-Blockade, a service introduced during lockdown in order to make things easier to those residents of Croatia who owe money to the state...

As Gordana Grgas/Novac writes on the 2nd of July, 2020, during the temporary suspension of carrying out foreclosures on funds which was introduced due to the coronavius crisis, the state has recently expanded the available information to debtors as well as access to documents for the implementation of a simple consumer bankruptcy procedure through the popular e-Citizen system.

Namely, through the free e-Blockade service, users can now see, in addition to the "register of unexecuted payment bases", the specification of the execution of the payment basis (for example, the enforcement decision, debenture, a misdemeanor order), as well as information on their order and the amount of outstanding liabilities recorded before the last basis for payment.

Some extra documents are also available, such as an invitation to the consumer to submit a statement for the implementation of a simple consumer bankruptcy procedure or a proposal for the implementation of that procedure.

According to experts in debt collection and restructuring, the newly introduced e-Blockade servic eases the situation for people who have so far had to keep going to pick up documents in person at Fina. Something that is loathsome about life in Croatia in general.

"The data that has been visible via e-Citizens so far was only the amount of the blockade and the date when the account was blocked or unblocked," explained Igor Skrgatic, the owner of the company Be-On Consulting.

''It can now be seen which enforcement document is in the background [of a procedure], which is important to people because it isn't always clear who the creditor is (as the creditor can also be represented by a law firm which is then seen as the bailiff). It's good that documents for simple consumer bankruptcies are available online even though this measure didn't come to life as expected,'' he noted.

Due to the temporary measure introduced to delay in the implementation of the enforcement of funds in relation to all natural persons which is due to end on July the 17th, back in May, Fina recorded 9347 people with 814 million kuna of debt on its infamous list.

The real situation, which will be visible when the temporary measures expire later this month and the executions start, will more than likely be dramatically different.

Due to the unexecuted bases for payment on March the 31st this year, before the adoption of the coronavirus measures, 238,135 people were recorded in the register, and their debt amounted to 16.6 billion kuna (principal).

The largest part of that debt, in the amount of 5.9 billion kuna (excluding interest), was to banks, savings banks, credit unions, leasing, factoring and insurance companies.

The aforementioned "register" is in fact a list of all unexecuted bases for payment with data on the total amount of debt, type of basis for payment, issuer and creditor, date and time of the receipt of basis for payment, debt status and all other important information.

The Minister of Finance, Zdravko Maric, recently announced that the suspension of this measure will be extended for an additional three months, which means that the e-Blockade service could become extremely popular in the autumn months.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik/Sergej Novosel Vuckovic writes on the 13th of November, 2019, the Financial Agency (Fina) has opened its fourth IT development centre in which IT solutions will be created, from analysis, design, programming and then the testing of the solutions themselves as software products.

Fina's IT development centres (ITRC) have already been opened in Split, Zabok and Osijek, one in Čakovec has been announced, and their common characteristic is to open and operate where higher education institutions (faculties or colleges) that educate IT profiles are located.

According to the agency, Virovitica is also a well-rounded organisational unit that deals with the creation and support of IT services for targeted users. Fina has already employed five workers in the new premises and plans to continue hiring experienced IT professionals.

These people will be Fina scholarship holders from the Virovitica College of Management in Tourism and Informatics (VŠMTI), and on top of that, Fina is also opening up opportunities for students who will be able to find employment in the Development Centre through student services. That move is also helping to stop Croatia's worrying brain drain.

"The financial agency is first and foremost a technology company with a very strong IT development team which boasts 280 employees. Fina is one of the four carriers of the state's digitisation, we're building our future in these jobs and we need IT staff very much. We're working with the College of Management in Tourism and Informatics in Virovitica, to show students who are being educated here that they have a place to come and work, that their future workplace is waiting for them, and that they can do their internships here, write their graduate thesis and participate in all of the projects that Fina is engaged in,'' said Fina's Dražen Čović.

"The ultimate goal of all this is the development of modern IT products that meet the needs of the local community and provide employment to the local population, which also makes it a socially responsible business. In Virovitica, we're probably the largest IT company where more or less all of the students come, and the plan is to have about 20 people here,'' added Čović.

Therefore, wherever Fina opens up more ITRCs, local students know where that they can come and knock on the door, especially given the fact that in addition to giving them the opportunity, Fina is also a socially sensitive company, according to Čović.

"We have a collective agreement and we're a company with a high level of labour rights, we invest in people through education and training is a big thing to us. Stable wages, the payment of overtime, the payment of work done on projects, we provide stimulation for further effort, but everything depends on the person.

What's important, and the reason why we started talking to students is: We say what we're doing in terms of development transparently and openly, what jobs we're doing and what technologies we're using. If students recognise the value of that, they will contact us because they have a clear path: from personal development within the company, work and relationships with mentors, and knowledge of exactly what the project is all about,'' concluded Čović.

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As Adriano Milovan/Novac writes on the 26th of March, 2019, the Croatian municipalities with the largest number of entrepreneurs in the country are Viškovo, Medulin and Matulji, according to FINA's new data on the matter.

According to this new data, 584 entrepreneurs had their headquarters registered in the municipality of Viškovo near Rijeka back in 2017. Following is the municipality of Medulin in Istria, with 508 entrepreneurs having their headquarters located in this area, and the municipality of Matulji near Opatija, with 501 entrepreneurs having their headquarters there.

On the other hand, the smallest number of entrepreneurs (only one) were found in the municipality of Saborsko in Karlovac County. Of 428 Croatian municipalities taken into account according to the number of entrepreneurs based in their territory, Ervenik in Šibenik-Knin County had only two registered entrepreneurs, and Zadvarje in Split-Dalmatia County had a mere three.

In all Croatian municipalities in 2017, a total of 19,821 entrepreneurs had their headquarters in one area or another of the country. They employed a total of 119,787 workers, according to FINA's information. Although differences in the number of registered entrepreneurs among Croatian municipalities are huge and reflect major differences in the degree of development among them.

Only 39 Croatian municipalities had 100 and more entrepreneurs in 2017, according to Fina's data. Between 51 and 99 entrepreneurs could be found across 79 municipalities, and most of the municipalities, as many as 258 of them, boasted between 11 and 50 entrepreneurs. 36 municipalities had between six and 10 entrepreneurs, while 13 municipalities had four or five entrepreneurs. Only three municipalities, Fina's data shows, had just one to three entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurs based in municipalities in 2017 realised revenues amounting to 72.8 billion kuna, representing significant growth of 9.7 percent. The expenditures of these companies back in 2017 rose by 10.2 percent. The consolidated net profit of these companies in 2017 stood at 2.8 billion kuna.

Back in 2017, these Croatian companies also achieved great growth in employment. Namely, with respect to the previous business year, employment grew by 7.4 percent, which is more than employment growth in urban businesses, which stood at 5.6 percent in the same period.

The largest number of employees, up to 4,353 in 2017, were employed by companies with their headquarters based in Trnovec Bartolovečki in Varaždin County. Following is the municipality of Stupnik in Zagreb County, with 3,855 employees, and Viškovo, with 2,367 employees in companies registered in the area of ​​that municipality.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business page for much more.

Click here for the original article by Adriano Milovan for Novac/Jutarnji

Doing business in Croatia is always tricky, it's a long road often filled with an insane amount of paperwork and this bizarre requirement for you to physically go to multiple locations in order to get things done. Let's not forget the dreaded and archaic stamps, and the typical utter lack of desire on the faces of those apparently employed to help you. Is all that about to change with the country's gradual formation into a digital Croatia?

As Marija Brnic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 29th of November, 2018, as of April the 1st next year, all those who want to start their own business in Croatia would be able to complete the process for registration and start doing business within just 48 hours. No, it isn't just an April Fools' trick.

A new business start-up system called Start will enable those who want to start their own businesses in the country to do just that, in a move which has been a deeply desired pipe dream up until now. With digital Croatia now finally on the horizon, getting your business off the ground is about to get a lot easier.

The service, which has been prepared by the Finance Agency (FINA), was finally given the green light following a government decision since last week. By the end of March next year, this system will be available to all those operating from within Croatia who own companies, including d.o.o and j.d.o.o's, while those abroad will see the service enabled for them by the end of 2019.

While start is an incredibly welcome news, it isn't the only player on the field, since 2005, Hitro.hr has been active, and is also a service from Fina. However, the Ministry of Economy, which is overseeing this project, clarified that there are some big differences between Hitro.hr and Start.

"Hitro.hr allows only the establishment of an Association or a company (obrt), or entry into the court or company register, while Start also enables the start-up of a business, which includes registration with the court and the company register, as well as entry into the register of business entities at the Central Bureau of Statistics, the filing of the beginning of the business and the beginning of the insurance with the Croatian Health Insurance Institute and the Croatian Pension Insurance Institute,the  registration of the taxpayers' register with the Tax Administration, registration in the VAT system, the opening of a bank account, and the electronic payment of any fees incurred during the process of all this,'' they explained from the Ministry of the Economy.

The beginnings of a digital Croatia will see that in the future, company owners will not physically have to go to all of the mentioned institutions as they currently need to, and all of the applications involved in this paperwork ridden and tiresome process will be able to be exported in one place by filling out a single digital form.

The establishment of this system amounts to 5 million kuna, as foreseen in the Ministry of Economy's budget, and in a year's time, it intends to back the project up with yet another half a million kuna.

Start requires automated communication and the exchange of data and documents between the ministries of economy, justice, finance, the tax administration, DZS, HZMO, HZZO, and credit institutions. Hitro.hr will not be harmed or otherwise threatened by the more than welcome launch of the Start system, as was confirmed by the Ministry of Economy, this service fulfills the objectives for which it was founded - better informing future entrepreneurs and providing better communication between people and the state administration, as well as offering far more ease and saving precious time when establishing a company.

"Hitro.hr will continue to provide services to users who need that kind of help - information ''at the counter'' and help with name reservations, or just the mere establishment of a company," the Ministry pointed out.

Fina added that if a user wants to start a business from their own home, they will beed to use Start, and if they want to start a business by going to the Hitro.hr counter and taking all the other steps individually, they will still have that option as well. Therefore, for those who prefer the "classic" Croatian way of starting a business, characterised by their physical arrival at the dreaded counter, Fina intends to keep the Hitro.hr offices open.

However, due to the ever-increasing trend in the digitisation of public services and the inclusion of newer generations in their use, Fina has also estimated that the percentage of those who prefer to use Start will grow year-by-year. Since the establishment of Hitro.hr, a large number of entrepreneurs have used it during the first step, especially when establishing a j.d.o.o., where every other such form of company since the service's introduction back in 2012, was established through Hitro.hr.

Altogether, Hitro has helped to create more than 57,000 new companies, of which some 32,000 are d.o.o.'s and 25,000 are j.d.o.o.'s. Obrt owners, however, have rarely used this registration service, since their start-up process is different, and since 2015, e-Obrt services have been introduced, which has completely taken over the registration processes of such companies.

The introduction of the Start system will not automatically open new jobs according to Fina's information. Currently, the offices of Hitro.hr are located in 61 Fina offices throughout Croatia, and information and support services are provided to them by Fina's existing employees, while as far as Start is concerned, as an online service, part of Hitro.hr staff will be engaged in staffing it via Fina.

Among the recommendations the World Bank gave to Croatia, the pressing need to create a more digital Croatia in order to improve the entrepreneurial climate was among the most outstanding, and it is precisely the creation of a unique online procedure, as opposed to the archaic dragging of one feet to numerous different offices in which processes are slow, confusing and often delayed, that will help paint a better picture of doing business in Croatia the most.

Interesting data from the analysis of Doing Business shows that starting up a business in Croatia is the easiest in Split, and there in the popular Dalmatian city are the largest number of Hitro.hr users. Out of five large Croatian cities, the worst results have rather surprisingly been recorded in Zagreb. According to Doing Business's analysis, more than half of Split's newly established companies use Hitro.hr, and for starting a business there, it is necessary to complete six individual procedures and the process typically lasts six days on average.

In Zagreb things appear bizarrely different, in the capital, a would-be entrepreneur has to complete eight different procedures and it takes a ridiculous average of three weeks for all the paperwork to be dealt with.

The welcome electronic changes that April the 1st, 2019, is set to bring owing to Start will require these procedures to be reduced in all cities across Croatia to just one step, and thanks to digital Croatia's roots finally being planted, the duration of this previously insanely time consuming process will go on for an absolute maximum of two days.

Make sure to follow our dedicated lifestyle and business pages for more information on digital Croatia and much more.

Click here for the original article by Marija Brnic for Poslovni Dnevnik

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