Laws and Regulations

Fundamental regulations

The fundamental act regulating nature protection is the Nature Protection Act, passed on 20 May 2005 and promulgated on 27 May 2005. The act came into effect on 16 June 2005, and was published in the Official Gazette (70/05 of 8 June 2005). In December 2008, the Act on Amendments to the Nature Protection Act (OG 139/08) was passed. The consolidated text of the Act is available here.

The National Strategy and Action Plan for the Protection of Biological and Landscape Diversity (NSAP) is the fundamental strategic document for nature conservation in the Republic of Croatia (OG 81/99 and 143/08). The premise for development of the National Strategy and Action Plan for the Protection of Biological and Landscape Diversity was the Report on the State of Nature and Protection of Nature in the Republic of Croatia. The Report on the State of Nature for the period 2000-2007 was accepted by the Croatian Parliament on 28 November 2008.

Acceptability assessments for the ecological network and National Ecological Network

The Nature Protection Act has already introduced many mechanisms that are aligned with the provisions of the EU legislation on nature protection. As such, the mechanism of assessing the acceptability of interventions for nature was also transposed and is based on the National Ecological Network (Regulation on proclamation of the National Ecological Network, OG 109/07) and the assessment of acceptability of plans, programmes and interventions for the ecological network (AAPPIEN) (Ordinance on the assessment of acceptability of plans, programmes and interventions for the ecological network, OG 118/08).

For interventions not requiring an environmental impact assessment (EIA) or strategic environmental impact assessment (sEIA), in line with EU practices, the new Croatian nature protection legislation units the AAPPIEN procedure with the EIA procedure (Regulation on the environmental impact assessment of interventions, OG 64/08) or the sEIA procedure (Regulation on the strategic environmental impact of plans and programmes, OG 64/08). For more information about the assessment mechanisms in the European Union and Croatia, please visit the website: http://www.natura2000.hr/index.php/hr/static/page/appropriate-assessment.

Below are links to other important nature protection regulations:

• Regulation on establishment of the State Institute for Nature Protection (OG 126/02)
• Ordinance on Amendments to the Ordinance on habitat types, habitat maps, threatened and rare habitat types and measures for the conservation of habitat types (OG 199/09)
• Ordinance on the proclamation of protected and strictly protected wild taxa (OG 99/09)
• Ordinance on the conditions for keeping, methods of marking and records on protected animals in captivity (OG 70/09)
• Ordinance on crossborder trade and trade in protected species (OG 72/09)
• Ordinance on wild animal crossings (OG 5/07)
• Act on Genetically Modified Organisms (OG 70/05)
• Regulation on the public review procedure in the proclamation of a protected area (OG 44/05)

The Nature Protection Act and other legal acts and international regulations in the field of nature protection are available on the website of the ministry competent state administration body for nature protection in Croatia.