April the 23rd, 2021 - Despite the fact that Croatia's motorways aren't fully of foreign vehicles as would be the norm as summer approaches, the Croatian police (MUP) are still pressing forward with the purchase of innovative and modern new equipment for monitoring the roads and their traffic.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the speed camera industry is advancing rapidly, much in the same way that cars and everything they can do with each new model continues to become more and more modern. Police units must naturally follow suit, and technology manufacturers are there to satisfy that need.

Back in 2018, TrueSpeed ​​introduced its pocket radar, which was then in its experimental phase. It has now officially become the inventory of a police unit. Police officers from Le Mans (France) became the first users of these new cameras, writes HAK magazine, and the Croatian police are set to follow in their footsteps.

The peculiarity of this new pocket radar is that it really does fit into your pocket. It is cheaper than other similar items on the market, so Croatian police officers will actually be able to wear it as part of a permanent inventory and even occasionally stand by the side of the road and control a driver's speed.

The radar controls speeds of up to 300 kmh, but that's not all, because thanks to the x7 zoom, the police officer will be able to see right inside the vehicle to check if the driver is on the phone, eating while driving, if their seat belt is properly fastened and if all of the necessary stickers are stuck on the windshield properly.

The range is 640 metres, it allows control in both directions of traffic, even during rainy weather when the visibility might be poorer. However, it only works if the police officer is standing and it cannot be used as a mobile radar. TrueSpeed ​​expects its product to be popular among other police units in Europe, including the Croatian police.

For more, follow our lifestyle page. For all you need to know about driving in Croatia, including laws and regulations updated for 2021, make sure to bookmark our dedicated section.

ZAGREB, 21 April, 2021 - A constitutional complaint by the parents and eight siblings of Afghan migrant girl Madine Hosseini, who died in 2017 after she fell under a train near the Croatian-Serbian border, regarding their application for protection in Croatia, has been granted, Večernji List daily said on Wednesday.

The Constitutional Court established that the Ministry of the Interior (MUP) and administrative courts did not establish with sufficient certainty that Serbia was a safe third country and that asylum seekers would not be at risk of being returned to their country of origin.

A complaint filed by the second wife of Madine's father and children has also been granted, so decisions of the High Administrative Court were quashed for a total of four adults and ten children aged one to 15 from Afghanistan and the case was returned to the Administrative Court in Osijek. All of them were represented by lawyer Sanja Bezbradica Jelavić.

After Madeine's death they were returned to Serbia, but in 2018 they re-entered Croatia and applied for international protection. The father and husband who filed the constitutional complaint said that the Taliban had threatened him because he had worked as a police officer and driver for the US military in Afghanistan, so in fear of them, since he had been wounded in one attack, he managed to flee with his family.

After they illegally entered Croatia, MUP rejected their asylum request by applying the safe third country institute. The explanation was that the Serbian constitution guaranteed fundamental human and minority rights.

Administrative courts also confirmed that Serbia's legal framework guaranteed an efficient and fair procedure of international protection, even from chain refoulement. The fact that they had not been exposed to inhumane or similar treatment in the year and a half they stayed in Serbia was also taken in to account.

However, the lawyer said that the evaluation of Serbia as a safe third country had not taken into account the fact that over the past 10 years refugee statuse had been granted to only 47 persons and subsidiary protection to 62, which was negligible in relation to the number of refugees.

The constitutional judges too ruled that it was not enough to examine the legal framework for asylum seekers but also the real situation, Večernji List said.

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

March the 8th, 2021 - When one thinks of having to deal with the Ministry of the Interior (MUP), one shudders at the thought of taking numbers, standing in lines for hours in oxygen-deprived rooms and explaining what you need repeatedly to people who are supposed to be qualified. Is that becoming a thing of the past? As Croatian driving licenses can now be delivered to your home address - it´s a possibility.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, as a more digital Croatia, slowly weaning itself off its masochistic love of paper emerges, Croatian driving licenses can now be delivered literally to your doorstep. Of course, it is still possible for you to simply do it the old way and go and pick up your Croatian driving license at the competent police administration, ie the police station where you submitted the application, but there is also an option for you to skip the waiting and the boredom by having the document delivered.

Precisely for the purpose of determining the exact amount of "delivery of the driver's license to the doorstep" at the end of January this year, the Decision on determining the price of forms, registration, trial, portable and export license plates came into force in Croatia.

It clearly states that the price of a Croatian driving license form (via a regular procedure) can be delivered to the home address at the request of the applicant and comes with a price tag of 181.00 kuna. The price of the Croatian driving license form that you have to go to the police station to pick up yourself via the regular procedure costs a little less - 151.00 kuna, so the difference here isn´t too large at all.

The cost of delivery should not be forgotten, and the writing on the wall when it comes to Croatian driving licenses is quite clear indeed here. The delivery of a Croatian driving license to the home address of the applicant is performed by a legal entity authorised for the technical preparation of driving licenses through a delivery service for a fee agreed with that particular delivery service.

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ZAGREB, 5 March, 2021 - Police and deminers yesterday and today rescued several illegal migrants whose lives were in jeopardy in the mine field in Saborsko municipality, after one migrant was killed and several sustained injuries in a landmine blast, the Interior Ministry (MUP) said on Friday evening.

Members of Lučko Anti-Terrorist Unit yesterday searched the area by helicopter and then warned migrants that they were in a mine suspected area and should stay in place until help arrives. Deminers of Lučko Anti-Terrorist Unit this morning started to inspect the field and create a safe corridor for evacuation and ten persons were rescued and offered medical help.

MUP said in the press release that a group of foreign nationals had illegally reached Croatia and entered a mine suspected area in a forest area in municipality Saborsko. There, a younger man stepped on an unidentified explosive device and died, while other persons from the group sustained injuries in the blast. After receiving a report, police officers found one man dead and one injured, while the rest of the group went away in unknown direction.

According to the interior ministry, at the moment six persons have an intention to make an application for international protection in Croatia, while other persons are in medical care due to having sustained injuries.The life of one of them is in danger.

The Ministry of the Interior and Croatian police, it is recalled, have been intensively underscoring the dangers of illegal migrations since 2018, especially warning of the danger of mine suspected areas, severe winter conditions in the mountains and rivers.

February the 23rd, 2021 - The Croatian Ministry of the Interior (MUP) has published an updated overview of Croatia's digital nomad visa requirements.

The much talked about Croatian digital nomad visa is finally here as Croatia finally opens its arms to the idea, and MUP have clarified some updates to the digital nomad visa requirements.

Temporary residence for digital nomads in Croatia

A digital nomad in Croatia is a third-country national who is employed or is otherwise performing work through communication technology for a company or indeed for their own company that is not registered in the Republic of Croatia. This means that the individual isn't and cannot perform work or provide services to employers headquartered/registered here in the Republic of Croatia.

Temporary residence for this purpose is granted for up to one year (in some cases for less than a year), and cannot be extended. After the expiration of the first six months of the first issued temporary residence document, a request for re-regulation of residence for a digital nomad may be submitted.

Digital nomads who have been granted temporary residence in the Republic of Croatia may be joined in the Republic of Croatia by members of their immediate family (temporary residence for the purpose of family reunification).

Let's delve deeper into MUP's recently updated Croatian digital nomad visa requirements.

The submission of an application for temporary residence as a digital nomad in Croatia

The application can be submitted in two ways, depending on whether or not the individual seeking residence as a digital nomad requires a visa to enter Croatia or not.

If a visa is needed for entry:

In this case, a request for the Croatian ''digital nomad visa'' must be submitted at the appropriate Embassy/Consulate of the Republic of Croatia abroad (a list can be found on the website of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs/MVEP). Prior contact with the competent embassy/consulate is advised due to possible limitations in the work being carried out as result of the spread of the novel coronavirus and by epidemiological measures relating to it.

If no visa is required for entry:

In this case, the same request must be submitted either to the appropriate embassy/consulate of the Republic of Croatia (as detailed above) or to the competent administrative police station according to the place of residence of the individual seeking this permit (a list of administrative police stations by location across the country can be found here). Please note that due to the same situation with the pandemic described above, processing times may be longer and certain functions may not be running as normal.

How to make an application and what sort of documentation you'll need

A copy of the documentation you're required to submit must be submitted in either Croatian or English.

1. Fill in Form 1a and attach it to the request/application:

2. You'll need a copy of your valid travel document (the validity period of the travel document must be three months longer than the period of validity of your intended stay).

3. Proof of health insurance (travel or private health insurance which must have coverage for the territory of the Republic of Croatia).

4. Proof of your purpose for submitting the request.

This can be: (an employment contract or other document proving that your work is performed through communication technology for a foreign employer or for your own company that is not registered in the Republic of Croatia), such as a statement from your employer or from you (as proof that the business being done is through communication technology) and a contract of employment or proof of the performance of work for a foreign employer, or a copy of the registration of your own company and proof that you perform all of the stated tasks through your own company.

5. Proof of sufficient funds to cover your stay in Croatia.

This can be: a bank account statement or proof of regular income, both will be enough to be recognised and accepted as evidence. Pursuant to the Decree on the Method of Calculation and Amount of Maintenance Allowances for Third-Country Nationals in the Republic of Croatia (Official Gazette 14/21), which entered into force on the 13th of February 2021, a third-country national regulating their temporary residence in Croatia as a digital nomad must have funds in the amount of at least 2.5 average monthly net salary sums for the previous year based on officially published data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CES), and for each additional family member, or formal or informal life partner, that amount is increased by an additional 10 percent of the average monthly net paid salaries. At the moment, the amount of funds required on a monthly basis is a minimum of 16,142.5 kuna, or if your intended period of stay in the Republic of Croatia is 12 months, it is necessary to prove that you have funds in the amount of a minimum of 193,710.00 kuna..

6. Proof that you haven't been convicted of any criminal offenses in your home country or the country in which you resided for more than a year immediately before your arrival in the Republic of Croatia. (Information on the processes for the legalisation of such documents can be found here).

7. You must state your intended Croatian address.

When submitting the application, you'll be required to state the address of your place of residence or intended stay in Croatia on the form you'll be given to complete. This is important for the purpose of determining the administrative police station that will deal with your application. If your first application is submitted and you don't yet have an address in Croatia, it's been made possible for you to state your temporary address (hostel/hotel if a reservation is booked/confirmed) as the address of your intended stay for the purpose of application processing.

What about after the delivery of MUP's notice approving your temporary residence as a digital nomad in Croatia?

If you require a visa in order to enter the country:

Once you've been informed that your temporary residence as a digital nomad has been granted, you will need to contact the embassy/consulate again to obtain an entry visa for Croatia or a biometric residence permit (please inform yourself in advance about whether or not this is a possibility at your embassy/consulate).

You can also fill in the visa application form online.

All other information on visas (application, required documentation, etc.) can be found on the website of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs/MVEP.

If you don't require an entry visa for Croatia:

Third-country nationals who don't need an entry visa for the Republic of Croatia don't need to take any of the aforementioned steps and may enter Croatia without a visa in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Foreigners (often referred to as the Aliens Act).

An important note: A third-country national must register their residence with the administrative police station responsible for their place/area of stay within thirty days of being granted a temporary residence permit (in this case a digital nomad permit), to ensure that their temporary residence is not revoked.

On arrival in Croatia - Residence registration and the issuance of a biometric residence permit

The registration of residence:

As a third-country national, you're obliged to register your place of stay/residence and an address within three days of entering the Republic of Croatia at the administrative police station responsible for your area of stay.

You'll need to apply using Form 8a with the attachment of a lease agreement or a statement of the property owner confirming the situation.

The issuance of a biometric residence permit:

Third-country nationals who don't need a visa to enter Croatia, as well as those who entered the Republic of Croatia on the basis of needing an entry visa, are required to obtain a residence permit which is a biometric document (it is mandatory to attach photographs and provide biometric data) immediately upon arrival at the competent administrative police station.

What are the costs?

If the application is submitted to a consulate/embassy outside of Croatia, it is paid for at the time of application:

420.00 kuna for a temporary residence permit

460.00 kuna for a visa (with the additional payment of a service fee if the visa application is submitted through the VFS visa centre)

310.00 kuna for the biometric residence permit form (check the possibility of obtaining it at the embassy/consulate)

If the application is submitted in Croatia at an administrative police station, the associated fees are paid after your stay is approved by MUP:

350.00 kuna for a temporary residence permit

70.00 kuna as an administrative fee for issuing a biometric residence permit

240.00 kuna for a biometric residence permit form

Payment of all of the admin fees if the application is submitted at a Croatian administrative police station

Admin fees for temporary stay: 

Via internet banking, the payment of administrative fees for the issuance of temporary residence (350 kuna) are to be made directly to the Croatian state budget, more precisely to the IBAN of the state budget, the details of which are below:

HR1210010051863000160, model HR64, reference number: 5002-713-OIB (if you have an OIB (personal ID number/tax number), then that is entered).

For those who haven't been assigned an OIB, the reference number is: 5002-713-number of your valid travel document.

(An important note: a maximum of 10 numbers, and if the numeric label initially contains zeros (0), they are not to be entered. Do not enter letters, slashes, periods, commas, etc.).
For example, let's say the number of the travel document/identity card of a foreign citizen is AZ004586, then the reference number is: 5002-713-4586 (without any letters and zeros, and with a maximum of ten numbers).

The fees for a biometric residence permit:

Via Internet banking, the payment of a fee in the amount of 240 kuna for the preparation of a biometric residence permit will be made directly to the Croatian state budget, more precisely to the IBAN of the state budget, the details of which are below:

HR1210010051863000160, model HR65, reference number: 7005-485-OIB (enter the OIB only if you've been given one).

For those who have not been assigned an OIB, the reference number is: 7005-485-RKP-case number.

Through Internet banking, the payment of an admin fee in the amount of 70 kuna for the preparation of a biometric residence permit will be made, yet again, to the Croatian state budget, more precisely to the IBAN of the state budget, the details of which are below:

HR1210010051863000160, model HR64, reference number: 5002-713-OIB (again, you obviously only enter your OIB if you have one).

For those who do not have an OIB, the reference number is: 5002-713-number of your valid travel document.

(The same important note written above about a maximum of 10 numbers and no letters, slashes, commas etc applies here, too.)

For more on digital nomads in Croatia, as well as any more digital nomad visa requirement updates, follow TCN's dedicated section.

February the 6th, 2021 - Zagreb police have had their hands full of late trying to make sure measures preventing the work of gyms, cafes, restaurants and other such facilities deemed ''risky'' by the epidemiological profession aren't broken. They recently released footage of their raid on a Zagreb restaurant which was working illegally in which 34 people were present.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, during this action undertaken by the Zagreb police, a total of 34 people were found, identified and checked in the aforementioned Zagreb restaurant which was open illegally.

There was no use of coercive measures in the conduct of the police officers and eight persons were found without

wearing protective masks, for which reason the police officers issued them four Notices of Misdemeanor and four fines were issued for the misdemeanor referred to in Article 47, paragraph 2, item 9 of the Law on Protection of the Population from Infectious Diseases.

In addition, officials of the Directorate of Civil Protection (commonly referred to as the National Civil Protection Headquarters) found violations of Croatia's curren epidemiological measures contrary to the Decision on necessary epidemiological measures restricting gatherings to prevent the transmission of COVID-19.

Due to performing catering and hospitality activities contrary to the decisions of the Civil Protection Headquarters of the Republic of Croatia, officials of the State Inspectorate, Tourist Inspection, Zagreb Regional Office found a violation of Article 9-A of the Catering Act and issued an oral decision banning the restaurant's work - again.

The part of the premises where the currently illicit activity of serving food and beverages was performed and recorded by the Zagreb police was sealed off for a minimum of thirty days, and misdemeanor proceedings will be initiated against the legal and responsible person.

After the raid by the Zagreb police was over, as part of the criminal investigation, the restaurant's 32-year-old director, as the responsible person, was brought to the official premises of the Zagreb Police Administration for criminal investigation on suspicion of committing the criminal offense of "Spreading and Transmitting Infectious Diseases" and after the completion of the criminal investigation, he will be handed over to a custody supervisor.

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January the 23rd, 2021 - The Croatian border rules are frequently changing as a result of the epidemiological picture both in Croatia and outside of it, and there have been many allegations from travellers that MUP haven't always been very clear. This results in a lot of mail for the border police, who have now released an explanation for at least one point.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, due to the increased number of inquiries, the Dubrovnik-Neretva Police Department has been forced to additionally explain the conditions for crossing the Croatian border in regard to the rule in which Croatian citizens can travel to third countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro) and stay there for a maximum of twelve hours and return home to Croatia without needing to present a negative PCR test and go into self-isolation.

“The exception provided by the Decision on Amendments to the Decision on Temporary Prohibition and Restriction of Crossing the Border Crossings of the Republic of Croatia, which has remained in force since the 14th of January this year, applies to persons travelling for urgent personal or family reasons, business reasons or other economic interests in the Republic of Croatia or those travelling for the same reasons to third countries where they will not stay longer than twelve hours.

When it comes to the Croatian border rules, it is of course impossible to predict all of the necessary personal or business reasons and just list them exhaustively, but an exception when it comes to the current Croatian border rules implies only unforeseen, unplanned, unexpected or immediate events (for example the death of a family member and the like, or force majeure that could not be influenced at all (such as a natural disaster, damage to property, etc.) and which certainly require the physical presence of the person in question.

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December the 14th, 2020 - A clear and concise guide for Brexit Brits in Croatia wanting to make sure they retain all of the rights they have afforded to them being nationals of the EEA as the UK withdraws from the bloc. I want to apologise in advance for the sheer length of this article, but in order to set out everything needed, there was no way to make it shorter.

The UK's transition period is quickly coming to an end. The UK might have formally left the European Union on the 1st of February, 2020, but all EU law will continue to apply to the Northern European island nation until the 1st of January, 2021. After that, the laws of the bloc's instutions will cease to apply. The Withdrawal Agreement sets out the rights of citizens, both those of the EU living in the UK and those of the UK living in the EU, providing clarity in the very heart of the mother of all messes. Here is the Ministry of the Interior's latest advice to Brexit Brits in Croatia.

THE WITHDRAWAL AGREEMENT

As stated, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ceased to be a member state of the EU in an orderly manner upon entry into force of the Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community (the Withdrawal Agreement).

The aforementioned Agreement determines a transition period until the 31st of December 2020, during which time British nationals and their third country family members continue to remain subject to current European Union law.

The Croatian Act on amendments to the Act on EEA nationals and their family members, which has been forwarded to the Croatian Parliament to face legislative procedure, will legally lay down the implementation of the part of the Withdrawal Agreement related to regulating the residence status of British nationals and their third country family members after the transition period ends at midnight on the 31st of December, 2020.

The aforementioned amendments will lay down clear rules for the procedure of applying for temporary or permanent residence for British nationals and the issuance of their subsequent residence permits, as well as the issuance of the necessary documents to frontier workers who will need special permits.

A DECLARATORY RESIDENCE SCHEME, NOT A NEW APPLICATION

The residence status of British nationals and their family members will be regulated pursuant to Article 18, paragraph 4 of the Withdrawal Agreement, which sets out a declaratory scheme only. This is extremely important to emphasise. You can freely find the corresponding article (PDF form) within the Withdrawal Agreement here, but to save you the bother of scrolling, I have included the most relevant information below in italic font:

4. Where a host State has chosen not to require Union citizens or United Kingdom nationals, their family members, and other persons, residing in its territory in accordance with the conditions set out in this Title, to apply for the new residence status referred to in paragraph 1 as a condition for legal residence, those eligible for residence rights under this Title shall have the right to receive, in accordance with the conditions set out in Directive 2004/38/EC, a residence document, which may be in a digital form, that includes a statement that it has been issued in accordance with this Agreement.

I need to quickly state that there is more information to be accessed under this Article which details more specific circumstances, but putting it all here isn't necessary, I provided a link to the Withdrawal Agreement in PDF form above should you wish to read further and in more detail.

Accordingly, British nationals and their third country family members who are subject to the Withdrawal Agreement will not be obligated to apply for a new residence status as a requirement for their legal stay in Croatia. Rather, a declaratory system will be applied on the basis of which British nationals and their family members will have a residence status on the basis of the very fact that they meet the conditions laid down in the Agreement and will continue to have the said status for as long as they meet these conditions. This means that their residence status is not subject to the constitutive decision of the competent authority.

REGISTERING AND THE ISSUANCE OF NEW RESIDENCE PERMITS

All the beneficiaries of the Agreement (Articles 9 and 10 of the Withdrawal Agreement) will have the possibility of registering their residence status given to them. After the procedure is concluded, they will be issued with residence permits confirming their new status. The registration procedure will apply to all persons regardless of whether they have regulated their residence status in the past on the basis of their EU-given right to the freedom of movement at a competent police administration/police station before the 31st of December 2020.

In addition to the relevant documents submitted for registration (depending on whether the British nationals and their family members in question held temporary or permanent residence in Croatia before the 31st of December 2020), the continuity of residence (Articles 11 and 15 (2) of the Withdrawal Agreement) and the condition of further stay in the Republic of Croatia will need to be determined as well.

The procedure for the registration of a new residence status will be simpler for the beneficiaries of the Withdrawal Agreement who already hold either temporary or permanent residence before the end of the transition period, as opposed to those persons who fail to do so by the said date.

REGISTRATION DEADLINES

It will be possible to submit applications at the competent police administrations/police stations according to the location of residence starting from the 1st of January 2021. The current deadline by which all beneficiaries of the Withdrawal Agreement will be able to apply is the 30th of June 2021. It will still be possible to submit applications after this deadline, however, the beneficiaries of the Agreement who do so might be fined for committing an administrative offense.

During the technical issuance of new residence permits, all beneficiaries will have to provide their biometric data. In accordance with the Proposal for the Act, previously issued residence permits will cease to be valid on the 1st of January 2021.

FRONTIER WORKERS

For the purposes of the Withdrawal Agreement, a frontier worker is a British national who has pursued an economic activity as a frontier worker in one or several EU member states in which they don't reside, and who continues to pursue this economic activity even after the 31st of December 2020. Frontier workers will be able to apply for the issuance of a document confirming their rights as a frontier worker. Much like with residence permits, it will be possible to submit applications at the competent police administrations/police stations according to the location of work starting from the 1st of January 2021.

EU LAW JARGON BUSTER

British citizens who already hold temporary or permanent residence in Croatia (those who hold the status or will be granted it under EU law before the 31st of December, 2020) will continue to be able to exercise that right.

Although all Brexit Brits in Croatia can legally remain and must register for a new document, differences will be made between existing permanent residents and temporary residents.

The new system is of a declaratory nature, it is not a brand new application for a new residence status. It is identity confirmation to prove that you are entitled to these acquired rights and nothing more.

You must register for your new status before the 30th of June, 2021 if you are within the scope of the Withdrawal Agreement (if you held residence in Croatia before the end of the transition period), if you fail to do so, you could face a fine.

The new residence document/card/permit Brexit Brits in Croatia who are within the scope of the Withdrawal Agreement will receive will state ''Nositelj prava čl. 75. st. 1. Zakona EGP'' (Holder of the right of Article 75 point 1 of the Law on the EEA) as opposed to the current EGP (Europski Gospodarski Prostor/European Economic Area).

The Withdrawal Agreement stipulates that those who hold permanent residence in an EU country can leave for up to five consecutive years without losing any of their rights in their host state. This includes Croatia.

This is a detailed article on residence for Brexit Brits in Croatia only, for more on driving licenses, healthcare and crossing the EU's external border, click here for the British Embassy's advice. Sign up for email alerts from the British Government's Living in Croatia page, follow the British Embassy on Facebook here, and keep up with MUP in English language here.

With due thanks to MUP, Zakon.hr and Europa.eu

September the 18th, 2020 - You only need to say the word ''MUP'' to send a shiver down the spine of anyone who has spent hours sitting on a (probably broken) plastic chair in an airless room clutching a number, awaiting their fate dealt at the hands of a friendly clerk. It seems, however, that the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has forced Croatia to abandon several draconian practices and move more quickly towards the digitalisation the rest of the EU enjoys when it comes to handling administrative problems, and a brand new process when it comes to the issuing of Croatian driving licenses has now been announced.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 16th of September, 2020, as of September the 24th, 2020, when issuing a Croatian driving license for the first time, citizens will no longer have to enclose their certificate of having passed their driving exam issued by the Croatian Auto Club, instead, MUP (the Ministry of the Interior) will obtain the certificate electronically. A bold move indeed for an institution which is very well known for its somewhat bizarre love of paperwork and stamps.

The Ministry of the Interior recently published this more than welcome news which will certainly delight new drivers in the Official Gazette as an amendment to the ordinance on Croatian driving licenses. The new ordinance on Croatian driving licenses will, as stated, enter into force on the 24th of September, 2020.

By amending the regulations and drafting a technical solution, it is possible for the Croatian Auto Club, as an authorised professional organisation that issues certificates which attest to a person having passed their driving exam, to keep records of passed driving exams in an electronic form, and police administrations or police stations that issue Croatian driving licenses will be able to access and obtain that certificate electronically, without the need for individuals to bring yet another piece of paper with them when making their application for the license.

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ZAGREB, Sept 17, 2020 - The state of security in Croatia was stable and favourable during the summer season, despite extraordinary epidemiological circumstances, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.

The ministry whose task force for implementing security measures during the summer season ceased operating on 15 September, issued a report on the activities taken by that body during the peak season.

During the season, the number of passengers crossing the Croatian border decreased by 60% to 25 million compared to the corresponding period in 2019 when about 62 million passengers were registered.

The number of vehicles registered to cross the Croatian borders from 15 June to 7 September fell by 46% to four million, while in the same period last year, there were 7.2 million vehicles.

The number of traffic accidents with fatalities was lower by 2.6%, and the number of accidents resulting in injuries fell by 15%.

Rescue operations at sea were conducted to save 20 persons.

This summer, the number of fires increases by 4.4% compared to the corresponding period in 2019, reads the ministry's report.

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