Since acquiring independence in 1990, new laws in the field of culture were passed and many have gone through several stages of revision and amendment.
Cultural institutions are registered legal and physical entities that may be private or public. The most important and the largest cultural institutions have been set up as public institutions.
There is no unified law on culture. The most important specific laws and regulations that completely or predominantly relate to culture and media are:
- Law on Managing Cultural Institutions (NN 96/01; NN 98/19);
- Law on Culture Councils and the Financing of Public Needs in Culture (NN 83/22);
- Law on the Rights of Freelance Artists and Encouraging Cultural Creativity (NN 43/96 and 44/96);
- Law on Copyright and Related Rights (NN 111/21);
- Museums Law (NN 61/18, NN 98/19); Law on Museums of Ivan Meštrović (NN 76/07); Law on Jasenovac Memorial Site (NN 15/90, NN 28/90; NN 22/01);
- Law on Archive Material and Archives (NN 61/18, NN 98/19); Law on Croatian Memorial-Documentation Centre of the Homeland War (NN 178/04);
- Law on Theatres (NN 23/23);
- Law on Audiovisual Activities (NN 61/18);
- Law on the Protection and Preservation of Cultural Assets (NN 69/99, NN 151/03; NN 157/03 Amendm., NN 87/09, NN 88/10, NN 61/11, NN 25/12, NN 136/12, NN 157/13,NN 152/14, NN 44/17, NN 90/18, NN 32/20, NN 62/20, NN 117/21);
- Law on Library Activity and Libraries (NN 17/19, NN 98/19);
- Law on Croatian Radio-Television (NN 137/10, NN 76/12, NN 46/17, NN 73/17 – Corrigendum, NN 94/18 –Decision of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia);
- Law on Croatian News Agency (NN 96/01);
- Law on Media (NN 59/04, NN 84/11; NN 81/13);
- Law on Electronic Media (NN 111/21);
- Law on Kultura nova Foundation (NN 90/11).
In the last couple of years, major changes have been made in the sectors of:
- Electronic media, copyright and related rights (new laws adopted in 2021) whose changes were related mainly to the transposition of the EU Directives to the Croatian legislature;
- Theatre law;
- General financing of public needs in culture and the functioning of cultural councils.
During 2022, small amendments to most of the laws was made due to Croatia’s entering the eurozone on 1st of January 2023, thus the price of different fines and similar had to be converted to euros.
Table 3: International legal instruments implemented by Croatia in the cultural field*
Title of the act |
Year of adoption |
Universal Copyright Convention, with Appendix Declaration relating to Article XVII and Resolution concerning Article XI. Geneva, 6 September 1952. |
Date of deposit: 06/07/1992 Notification of succession |
Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict with Regulations for the Execution of the Convention. The Hague, 14 May 1954. |
Date of deposit: 06/07/1992 Notification of succession |
Protocol to the Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. The Hague, 14 May 1954. |
Date of deposit: 06/07/1992 Notification of succession |
Convention against Discrimination in Education. Paris, 14 December 1960. |
Date of deposit: 06/07/1992 Notification of succession |
Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. Paris, 14 November 1970. |
Date of deposit: 06/07/1992 Notification of succession |
Universal Copyright Convention as revised on 24 July 1971, with Appendix Declaration relating to Article XVII and Resolution concerning Article XI. Paris, 24 July 1971. |
Date of deposit: 06/07/1992 Notification of succession |
Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. Paris, 16 November 1972. |
Date of deposit: 06/07/1992 Notification of succession |
Agreement for Facilitating the International Circulation of Visual and Auditory Materials of an Educational, Scientific and Cultural character with Protocol of Signature and model form of certificate provided for in Article IV of the above-mentioned Agreement. Beirut, 10 December 1948. |
Date of deposit: 26/07/1993 Notification of succession |
Agreement on the Importation of Educational, Scientific and Cultural Materials, with Annexes A to E and Protocol annexed. Florence, 17 June 1950. |
Date of deposit: 26/07/1993 Notification of succession |
Convention relating to the Distribution of Programme-Carrying Signals Transmitted by Satellite. Brussels, 21 May 1974. |
Date of deposit: 26/07/1993 Notification of succession |
Protocol to the Agreement on the Importation of Educational, Scientific and Cultural Materials, with Annexes A to H. Nairobi, 26 November 1976. |
Date of deposit: 26/07/1993 Notification of succession |
European Cultural Convention |
1999 (NN-MU 1/99) |
Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms against Unauthorised Duplication of their Phonograms. Geneva, 29 October 1971. |
Date of deposit: 20/01/2000 Accession |
International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organisations. Rome, 26 October 1961. |
Date of deposit: 20/04/2000 Ratification |
European Convention on Transfrontier Television |
Ratification: 2001 Entry into Force: 2002 |
European Landscape Convention |
Ratification: 2003 Entry into Force: 2004 |
European Convention on Cinematographic Co-Production |
Ratification: 2004 Entry into force: 2004 |
European Agreement on the Protection of Television Broadcasts |
Ratification: 2004 Entry into force: 2004 |
Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. Paris, 2 November 2001. |
Date of deposit: 01/12/2004 Ratification |
Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. Paris, 17 October 2003. |
Date of deposit: 28/07/2005 Ratification |
Second Protocol to the Hague Convention of 1954 for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. The Hague, 26 March 1999. |
Date of deposit: 08/02/2006 Ratification |
Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. Paris, 20 October 2005 |
Date of deposit: 31/08/2006 Ratification |
Law on the Confirmation of the Memorandum of Understanding Between the European Community and the Republic of Croatia on the Participation of the Republic of Croatia in the Culture Programme (2007 to 2013) |
2007 (NN-MU 7/07) |
Law on the Confirmation of the Memorandum of Understanding Between the European Community and the Republic of Croatia on the Participation of the Republic of Croatia in the Community Programme MEDIA 2007 (2007 – 2013) |
2008 NN 3/2008-49 |
Faro Convention |
Ratification: 2007 Entry into force: 2011 |
European Convention for the Protection of the Audiovisual Heritage |
Ratification: 2007 Entry into Force: 2008 |
European Convention on Cinematographic Co-Production (revised) |
Ratification: 2018 Entry into force: 2019 |
Protocol amending the European Landscape Convention |
Ratification: 2018 Entry into force: 1/07/2021 |
Protocol amending the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data |
Ratification: 18/12/2019 |
*Data gathered by the author of this report from the websites of UNESCO, Council of Europe and the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia.
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