January the 28th, 2023 - The Croatian Chamber of Trades and Crafts (HOK) has stated that it intends to help those in the trade sector hit with fines by the State Inspectorate for raising their prices with their appeals. The hunt for those taking advantage of the switch to the euro by upping their prices is continuing, with many fines already issued.

As Index writes, every fourth inspection by the State Inspectorate has alarmingly showed unjustified price increases after December the 31st last year, the last day before the Eurozone accession. In some sad cases, the prices of services rose by up to 30 percent, and bakery products rose in price by an average of 15 percent in retail trade. The state doesn't intend to stop hunting down enterprises who have hiked their prices up, while on the other hand, traders feel victimised and intend to take legal steps to contest those fines, according to HRT.

Cases of high fines being issued throughout the trade sector due to unjustified price rounding are being published daily. The state has so far undertaken almost 1,500 inspections, and in about 300 cases price increases have been found, while another 200 are still being analysed - which means that this percentage could very easily (and drastically) increase.

"I believe that we'll meet the goals we've set for ourselves. It's difficult for me to comment on my colleagues from the State Inspectorate, but the percentage of 25 percent is not small. I believe that due to the supervision, a good number of companies decided on their own initiative to return to their previous prices [from December 2022]. I think the State Inspectorate is doing a good job," said Jurica Lovrincevic, an advisor to the Minister of Economy.

The Croatian Chamber of Trades and Crafts (HOK): We'll help traders in preparing appeals

The list of price increases since the New Year is led by various services, which on average have increased in price by almost 30 percent. But some hairdressers, restaurateurs and other enterprises believe that they're being targeted and unfairly punished.

"We started this story in order to engage law firms, and I hereby call on all fellow craft owners who have received misdemeanor orders to contact their associations, to contact our advisory service at the Croatian Chamber of Crafts, and we'll certainly help them in preparing appeals for the misdemeanor courts,'' said Dalibor Kratohvil from the Croatian Chamber of Crafts.

"We believe that all these fines and penalties are unfounded, we believe that this shouldn't have happened because it's always the small companies who suffer in these stories, and those are the last in the chain, micro-enterprises," he added.

Lawyer Doroteja Jurcic also pointed out that there are a number of problems with these misdemeanor orders.

"Every misdemeanor order from any part of Croatia is absolutely the same, it has an identical explanation, which speaks in favour of the fact that these are previously written explanations that aren't actually related to whatever the specific case at hand is at all. I think that there's already a problem. What the State Inspectorate refers to in its reasons are the Consumer Protection Act and the application of aggressive business practices by traders or enterprises," explained Doroteja Jurcic from the Voice of Entrepreneurs (UGP) Association.

"The prescribed fines for craft owners are from 5 to 15 thousand kuna, for legal entities they're slightly higher, for natural persons as owners they are the same - from 5 to 15 thousand kuna. So, a legal entity that has a d.o.o. or j.d.o.o. finds themselves in a situation of receiving two penalties, one as a legal entity, and another as a natural person, the owner," she added.

The Croatian Employers' Association (HUP): There have been no unjustified price increases

Mirko Budimir, vice president of HUP and representative of small retailers, emphasised that there have been no unjustified price increases and that retailers haven't increased their margins. An increase occurs if the retailer has increased their own margins, he pointed out.

"I'd say that there have been no unjustified increase in prices. What we did at the beginning was the conversion from the kuna to the euro. The state inspectorate showed that we did not have any violations, if we have, then these are minimal offenses simply because someone got the conversion wrong. As for raising prices from the position of a small trader, I can say that there was no price raising either, but we have to keep in mind that trade is a process that we can't just say ceases on December the 31st, 2022, and then nothing else ever happens," said Budimir.

"If a trader was purchasing goods sometime on December the 20th, 2022, and their prices went up until December the 31st, that means that they already had a new input. When they receive a new input, then they have to do a new calculation. Traders form their prices so that they have an input price from the manufacturer, that is, the supplier, increased by their own margin and then by VAT. In this entire process which is carried out, it can be seen that the trader didn't increase their margin even though they had an increase in costs," he concluded.

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ZAGREB, 8 March 2022 - The Croatian Bar Association (HOK) on Tuesday stated that it had joined in a campaign by the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) to offer free legal aid to Ukrainian refugees.

Offering free legal aid is in compliance with national legislation on lawyers and their code of ethics, which envisages such assistance to endangered individuals and victims of the 1991-95 Homeland War.

HOK recalls that lawyers represent, free of charge, underage clients in certain cases as well as asylum seekers and members of the Roma community in the City of Zagreb and in Međimurje, Slavonski Brod-Posavina and Primorje-Gorski Kotar counties.

ZAGREB, 16 Feb 2022 - The Croatian Chamber of Trades and Crafts (HOK) said on Wednesday that the government's package of measures for cushioning energy price rises would protect more than 200,000 jobs in the craft industry, but they also said the question was how much prices of products and services could be expected to decrease.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Wednesday unveiled an HRK 4.8 billion (€640 million) package of measures aimed at cushioning the impact of rising energy prices, with the measures including a lowered Value Added Tax (VAT) rate on gas supplies and some agricultural products, subsidised gas prices, one-off discounts on energy bills for pension recipients and other measures.

The HOK said the package of measures "is a comprehensive solution that will help the economy and citizens to overcome the crisis".

The Chamber welcomes government efforts to cushion the impact of several times higher energy prices. The unveiled package, they stress, includes HOK's proposals for measures for micro businesses, SMEs and craftspeople. This primarily refers to coupons for gas for which they will be able to obtain via an application to the Croatian Agency for SMEs, Innovation and Investments (Hamag-Bicro), they say.

Farmers will receive subsidies for purchasing artificial fertilisers, they said, and fishermen will receive HRK 50 million in subsidies for cushioning the increase in the price of blue diesel.

"The package of measures for cushioning the energy price rises will protect over 200,000 jobs in the craft industry," HOK underscored.

Noting that the package of measures enters into force on 1 April, HOK said that the question remained to what extent it can be expected that prices of products and services would fall since a large number of tradespeople were already suffering losses due to exponentially higher bills.

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ZAGREB, 10 May (Hina) - The Croatian Chamber of Crafts and Trades (HOK) on Monday said that it was starting to pay out one-off aid in the amount of HRK 7,000 per business to more than 200 trades in areas affected by last year's earthquakes.

HOK recalled that on 31 December 2020 it launched a humanitarian campaign aimed at collecting funds to help those trades whose premises were damaged in last year's earthquakes relaunch their work.

The campaign lasted for three months and included trades from Croatia and abroad, HOK said.

Apart from the one-off aid, a part of the proceeds will be directed to reconstruct the premises of HOK's branch in Sisak-Moslavina County, damaged in the 29 December earthquake.

(€1 = HRK 7.526977)

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ZAGREB, 16 March, 2021 - The Croatian Chamber of Trades and Crafts (HOK) on Tuesday said that the National Recovery and Resilience Plan should include trades and crafts.

HOK said that a survey of 1,722 HOK members indicates a huge interest in EU grants.

Most of them (85%) consider investing in tangible and non-tangible assets to be the most important, notably purchasing equipment and machinery, and upgrading and building new production capacities.

The estimated value of projects that would be submitted by the majority of trades ranges from HRK 150,000 to 750,000, HOK said, adding that trades are willing to invest their own funds too.

HOK in particular noted that more than 73% of trades do not plan to use financial instruments in the coming period.

HOK is investing significant effort in preparing programme documentation for the 2021-2027 EU financial period.

The aim is to raise awareness of the needs of trades and that adequate calls for applications for grants are ensured.

HOK said that the needs of trades should be recognised through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan due to the consequences of the COVID pandemic and the negative economic trends. Hence HOK has sent its recommendations to Prime Minister Andrej Plenković in an effort to find the best possible solution for trades.

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ZAGREB, September 16, 2019 - The president of the Croatian Chamber of Crafts and Trades (HOK), Dragutin Ranogajec, said on Monday that the proposed amendments to the Crafts and Trades Act would strengthen small business and the economy overall, and that the enterprise sector would have a greater impact on education programmes for trades.

According to the government-sponsored bill of amendments sent to parliament last week, which HOK hopes will be passed by the end of the year, the Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Crafts will approve the planned structure of enrolments into trade education programmes which will ensure the economy's direct impact, Ranogajec told a press conference.

He added that the government has proposed that this ministry prepare a vocational curriculum for trades which is currently prepared by the minister for education. That means that the economy will have more impact on shaping the education framework for trades, Ranogajec added.

"If the bill is adopted by the end of the year, we will be prepared at the start of the new school year to completely take on all of our legislative obligations," said Ranogajec.

He underscored that the existing law, adopted in 2013, partially severed ties between the economy, the labour market and vocational education.

He believes that it is necessary to increase the requirement to enrol in vocational schools so that students can gain excellency and, in that way, create the future for Croatia's economy.

We need to jointly promote knowledge at all levels, respect one another and remove the stigma of trades. It is necessary to note that scholarships for trades have increased 100 per cent thanks to HOK, he concluded.

More economy news can be found in the Business section.

The guild of caterers and tourism workers in the Croatian Chamber of Commerce is organizing the “Congress of Caterers and Tourism Workers” for the 29th consecutive year. This year, the 29th Congress will be held from 27 to 29 November in Split at the hotel Le Meridien Lav. The host of this year's Congress is the Chamber of Crafts in Split-Dalmatia County (HOK).