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The European Union macro-regional strategies represent a policy framework that aims to enable EU Member States and third countries sharing common interests to better coordinate their potentials in order to make the best possible use of available opportunities. This paper looks into the specificities of four EU macro-regional strategies covering 19 European Union Member States and nine non-EU countries. Given the challenging situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it also considers the future perspectives of EU macro-regional strategies as well as their adaptability to new circumstances. More specifically, it focuses on intergovernmental initiatives and their implementation, underlying the importance of the application of the principle of subsidiarity. In addition, the aim of the paper is to provide a critical overview of the subject by highlighting two pivotal elements. First, it assesses whether the EU macro-regional strategies could be genuinely successful, given the fact that they do not have their separate allocation but use the existing funding instead. Second, it explores the ability of the EU macro-regional strategies to bridge wider EU-level policies on the one hand and local policies on the other. Finally, the idea of the paper is to offer an overview of the state of affairs when macro-regions are concerned.

of freedom of expression. However, they have also made it easier and faster than ever before to spread disinformation, misinformation, propaganda and fake news. Although these phenomena are not new, the impact they have had in recent years on political processes in democratic societies (e.g. the 2016 U.S. presidential election and Brexit) and on human behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic, has drawn attention to this issue. The aim of this paper is to highlight the problem of fake news as a human rights issue in the context of Art. 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees freedom of expression. The paper provides a terminological and historical overview of the term fake news and related concepts. It also provides an overview of Art. 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and clarifies the situations and conditions under which the restrictions on the freedom of expression are justified on the basis of Art. 10(2). The authors also provide an insight into the relevant case law of the European Court of Human Rights.

This paper explores the current level of legal protection of climate migrants in international and EU law and the repercussions that the present approach might have on the rule of law. It first analyses whether the current binding instruments of refugee and climate change law offer any protection for climate migrants and identifies a legal gap in this regard. It then briefly addresses the progress made by recently adopted soft law instruments and the UN Human Rights Committee decision in the Teitiota case, at the same time pointing out that the latter decision has set criteria which might jeopardise the realisation of the non-refoulement right which it aims to guarantee. The paper then analyses the literature on the link of climate change and migration, using the example of the Syrian civil war, the rise of anti-immigration populism which subsequently occurred, as well as the threat that such movements might pose for the rule of law. The authors conclude that the planned and systematic response of the international community to climate migration and continued good regional and bilateral practices are more likely to prevent sudden spikes in mass migration which could lead to anti-immigration populist movements.

This paper analyzes the political and constitutional confrontation of Kosovo and Croatia with the COVID-19 pandemic. The similarities of the constitutional provisions governing emergency situations and possible restrictions on human freedoms and rights in both countries, alongside hybrid parliamentary systems with strong presidents, have produced the same approaches, respectively similar in political and constitutional terms as well as in the academic and professional aspect. Therefore, this paper is focused more on government responses to the situation, including divergences between presidents and governments, as well as constitutional court approaches and respective academic opinions on the subject axis: extraordinary measures within the ordinary or extraordinary legal order with a formal declaration of a “State of Emergency”. Both countries set out for the first model, contenting themselves with amending legal frameworks without a formal declaration of a state of emergency. How and why, it happened is explained in the second and third parts of the paper, resulting in conclusions and recommendations.

The aim of this paper is to research applicability of the existing alternative dispute resolution methods’ in the administrative law and give some suggestion for their improvement. Firstly, in this paper, the concept of alternative and consensual dispute resolution in administrative law is analysed. After that, the advantages and disadvantages of the non-jurisdictional forms of disposing an administrative matter are pointed out. Then, the contemporary regulations devoted to such methods in Croatia are presented. The experiences of alternative dispute resolution methods in Poland are also discussed, because Poland tried to establish this system in the very similar environment like in Croatia, but several years ago. Finally, in conclusion authors give their attitude on applicability of non-jurisdictional forms of dispute resolution in Croatian administrative law and suggest some steps for their improvements.

The purpose of the paper is to present the tax consequences resulting from the lack of recognition of registered partnerships and same-sex marriages in certain EU member states, taking the example of Poland. These aspects are usually perceived as discrimination of citizens based on their sexual orientation. The author of this paper has focused on various aspects of possible discrimination, mainly concerning discrimination on the grounds of personal taxation, including inheritance and gift taxes. For these purposes, the author analysed the domestic tax rules differentiating couples living in a marriage and couples without that possibility. These legal provisions have been analysed together with the most recent domestic jurisprudence. Furthermore, the paper presents comparative analyses of domestic rules with EU law. Due to the lack of case-law oriented towards fiscal discrimination due to sexual orientation, the relevant CJEU (the Court of Justice of the European Union, hereinafter: the CJEU) and ECHR (the European Court of Human Rights, hereinafter: the ECHR) case-law have been recalled to reveal possible violations of fundamental freedoms and tax discrimination. The author makes a connection between the lack of proper regulations implemented in the domestic law with the unjustified differentiation of cross-border families on tax grounds. In the long run, only the harmonisation of personal taxation at the EU level can lead to a resolution to this situation. Alternatively, as an interim solution, the relevant ECHR judgment may be of assistance.

The Croatian medieval lands were encompassed by Western European civilization and its culture, language and script, collectively referred to as orbis Latinus, but they were also lands in which there was a notable influence of different legal systems. In this paper, we will discuss combating corruption in Croatia in the Middle Ages: an example of Croatian legal documents – the Law Code of Vinodol (1288) and Statute of the island of Krk (1388). The first part of this paper is a general introduction, which defines history and legal history of Vinodol. The Law Code of Vinodol is in many ways a vital historical source, not only for legal history and linguistics, but also for knowledge of social structures in medieval Vinodol, the organization of the Church, and the ethnographic and cultural heritage. In the second part of this paper the focus will be on the Statute of Krk or Vrbnik, which is chronologicaly the second codex/statute written in the Croatian language and Glagolitic script. It is formally only a century younger than the Law Code, or Codex, of Vinodol from 1288, and was composed in the same year as the Latin-language Statute of Senj.

The paper presents the regulation of the applicable law as determined in Council Regulation (EU) 2016/1103 of 24 June 2016 implementing enhanced cooperation in the area of jurisdiction, applicable law and the recognition and enforcement of decisions in matters of matrimonial property regimes. It concludes that the new EU arrangement has made it easier for spouses to determine the applicable law and evaluates the suitability of the connecting factors provided by Regulation 2016/1103. The paper also challenges the examination of these connecting factors as of the time of the conclusion of the marriage and assumes that their exclusion under exceptional circumstances is difficult to achieve. It compares the connecting factors with those provided by Slovenian and Croatian private international law in theory, and provides practical examples of the differences resulting from the new European arrangement. The paper further examines the hypothesis that the possibility of agreement on the choice of law will cause many problems in practice, and provides possible solutions. Throughout the paper, the system established by Regulation 2016/1103 is compared with other European regulations and the relevant case law of the CJEU, but the author primarily focuses on the changes in Slovenian and Croatian case law caused by the application of Regulation 2016/1103.

In this paper author explores the legal dimensions of the autonomy of the legislature in the context of the current pandemic. The paper is situated in Croatian constitutional theory and is written against the background of two developments. The first one is a decision of the Constitutional Court of Croatia that authorized the Croatian parliament to avoid a more demanding procedure for adopting the restrictions of fundamental rights enacted in the pandemic. The second development is the use of ballot initiatives to force the parliament to adhere to this procedure. Using the concept of constitutional silences as a tool, I bring these two developments together to explore what are the spaces for unwritten political rules left by the Croatian Constitution and how does the ballot initiative challenge them. I do this to argue that ballot initiatives should not be considered unconstitutional when they do not attempt to override legitimate constitutional silences of parliamentary representation.

With administration you are born and with administration you die. This thought reflects the truth that human life from its beginning to the very end is in contact with administrative law, or its various branches or areas. The branch of administrative law with which we seem to be most in contact is tax law, for which reason, for the purpose and meaning of this paper, this quote can be added to the way - you live with tax law. Therefore, for the authors of this paper, the reason for problematizing the title topic is the discovery that the topic of tax procedural law in domestic or foreign comparative professional and scientific literature is modestly represented, with insufficient attention paid to the creation of a corpus of supranational tax procedural law. For this reason, the primary intention of this paper is to set out the basic theses that indicate that there is a significant procedural difference in tax law in relation to the issues of burden of proof and rules of evidence, with special diversity from general and administrative procedural rules.

After the 2008 Somali attacks, piracy has gained significant popularity among scholars. However, despite lots of ongoing debates and written papers in the last decade, some crucial issues have been left unresolved, starting from the definition of piracy. When discussing piracy within the context of marine insurance, certain specific characteristics of marine insurance law should be taken into consideration. Namely, international law definition, criminal law definition and other definitions of piracy cannot properly satisfy the need of marine insurance law. After the proper understanding of piracy within marine insurance law is determined, there are some other important issues that need to be discussed. Certainly, one is categorization of piracy as a peril. Question whether piracy is a marine peril or a war peril? Further on, one of the most discussed issue of modern piracy are ransom payments. Can they even be considered legal? If yes, are they recoverable from marine insurers and on which basis? Answers to previously mentioned questions will be given in the following paper.

The Republic of Croatia is facing the biggest restructuring of companies in difficulties with substantial involvement of international financial investors. Restructuring is implemented according to a newly adopted Act on extraordinary administration proceeding in companies of systemic significance for the Republic of Croatia. The latter Act was adopted in the aftermath of the business failure of the major retailer i.e. the Agrokor group. The restructuring of the group has soon become a very sensitive political issue and a topic of heated public discussions. The Act has been heavily criticized both by legal scholarship and by the public for being designed for a single group of companies in Croatia, as well as for being incoherent with constitutional principles and existing insolvency legislation. It created a type of debtor-not-in-possession in-court extraordinary administration designed for systemic significant (group of) companies in state of insolvency or pre-insolvency. Departing from this background, this paper aims to provide a wider restructuring picture by comparing three different legal models of preventive corporate restructurings for firms in difficulties: the German protective shield proceedings, the English schemes of arrangment and the Italian extraordinary administration. The authors attempt to evaluate each model’s effectiveness on the basis of relevant studies which indicate their success rate. As far as the Croatian Act is concerned, the paper provides an overview of the development of the preventive restructuring law, while questioning certain aspect of the Act, especially the concept of the company of systemic significance.

This paper deals with prevention and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in tax matters, particularly in the light of the specific nature of administrative relations, which also include tax procedures. Given the involvement of stakeholders, ADR benefits both the taxpayers and the tax authority, enabling greater legal certainty and speedier finalisation of procedures. Yet, ADR also poses an open threat to the public interest and equality as international and constitutional administrative principles, and must therefore be limited in tax procedures. This also derives from the legal acts of the EU and the Council of Europe. In addition to theoretical frameworks and types of dispute prevention and resolution mechanisms studied by means of scientific literature review, legal sources analysis and comparative insights, the paper presents the Slovenian regulation and practice of the Financial Administration (FURS) over the past years. The aim of this research is to examine the de iure and de facto situation at the national level. The analysis shows that, in tax matters, ADR is noticeably more intensive at the international level than within national tax systems. On the other hand, individual countries prefer to establish regulatory mechanisms for prevention, which should result in even more desired avoidance of disputes. It can be concluded that efficient tax procedures require an integrated approach, including both dispute prevention and ADR, in order to ensure the principles of tax justice and systemic inclusion of all stakeholders in its governance.

This paper analyses the strategic and legislative framework of innovation and growth of skills in Croatia. Emphasis is placed on the life-long learning system, especially the legal duty of the employer to education and training of his or her employees. The paper will present the results of the research carried out in the scope of the scientific research project Flexicurity and New Forms of Employment about the issues of flexicurity, atypical and new forms of employment, as well as the respective opinions of the employers operating in several branches and trade-unions. Finally, the author analyses different active labour market policy measures directed to the growth of skills and innovations.

The paper offers a short introduction into the legal framework of the Croatian and Italian labour law system with respect to agency work. The European Union legal framework, some of the most important cases of the Court of Justice of the European Union as well as common issues in both countries are also elaborated upon. More importantly, the paper also addresses some specificities which could be used de lege ferenda in both countries.

The paper deals with the question of whether it is permissible to relocate the dredged material from the seabed from the port of Koper to another location within the territorial sea of the Republic of Slovenia. At first glance, the simple issue is considered from the point of view of the legal permissibility of such conduct, recognizing that it is a highly multidisciplinary issue. Aspects of international law, EU law, Slovenian law, and Italian law are discussed. The latter because Italy faces the same problems of dumping or relocation of dredged material in the Gulf of Trieste basin as Slovenia, unlike Croatia which does not have major ports in this area. The Slovenian and Italian regulation and experiences may be of interest to Croatia for its local ports or major ports in other parts of Adriatic.

In numerous cases related to adoption, the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter: ECtHR) emphasized the importance of a comprehensive approach to the adoption procedure as well as the best interest of the child, taking into account all the circumstances of the case. The denial of the right to consent to adoption leads to the violation of human rights, which is especially manifested to vulnerable social groups. The ECtHR also determined this type of violation of rights in the “Croatian cases” - X. v. Croatia and A.K. and L. v. Croatia, which dealt with the violation of the rights of persons with mental disabilities, more precisely, parents deprived of legal capacity and the right to parental care. The shortcomings determined by the ECtHR influenced the change of the adoption paradigm in the new Croatian family legislation from 2015. Therefore, the paper highlights the importance of a comprehensive approach to the adoption procedure by analyzing the Croatian family legislation and jurisprudence of the ECtHR related to “Croatian cases”. Likewise, newer cases decided by the ECtHR are analyzed, from which guidelines for further improvement of the adoption procedure and the protection of fundamental human rights are derived.

The European Convention on Human Rights (the Convention, ECHR), a Council of Europe main human rights instrument, contains no references to healthcare rights. Despite that, the issue of providing healthcare in general has been raised before the European Court of Human Rights (the Court), mainly in relation to Articles 2 (right to life) and 8 (right to respect for private and family life). Also, the deportation cases where the applicants invoked violation of Article 3 because of the lack of satisfactory (or any) healthcare in the countries where they were supposed to be deported are connected with the right to healthcare. This paper will look at the Court’s approach towards guaranteeing the right to healthcare under the Convention. Since the Court is nowadays often using an integrated approach and dynamic interpretation of the Convention provisions one might have expected that it will include the right to healthcare, at least to some degree, in the Convention. However, despite this Court’s use of integrated approach, when it comes to the right to healthcare the Court on most occasions decided that the right to healthcare is not appropriate for the protection under the Convention. In this paper the Court’s approach towards the right to healthcare will be analysed, together with the author’s opinion on why the Court has not gone further in guaranteeing the right to healthcare and why that is a good thing. Also, the right to health as protected under the European Social Charter (the ESC), the Convention’s counterpart on economic and social rights, will be analysed. Despite the fact that the ESC system, particularly the Collective Complaints procedure, is accepted by considerably fewer states than the Convention, the right to healthcare is not an area where the Court should enter, since the European Committee on Social Rights (the ESCR) has so far proven to be successful in formulating clear standards regarding states’ obligations regarding healthcare rights. In the author’s opinion, the ESC is a better instrument for healthcare issues, and the reasons for that line of thinking will be presented.

The multiethnic composition of local communities is a common phenomenon in modern societies. There are numerous examples of ethnic groups living peacefully side by side, irrespective of cultural diversity, symbolic, political and economic characteristics. However, it must be recognized that cases in which the differences are converted into latent and manifest forms of tensions and conflict are easy to find. The present paper consists of two parts. In the first part the theoretical and methodological dilemmas in the research of ethno-national identification and ethnic conflict are discussed. The starting point in the paper is a general assumption that the conflict (or peaceful) outcomes in multiethnic areas are associated with the complex dynamics of ethno-national identification. In methodological terms, the author argues for an integrative approach in which quantitative methods (such as surveys and content analysis) in the research of ethno-national identification should be combined with qualitative research methods (interviews, discourse analysis, oral history). The necessity of an integrative approach is advocated in the second part of the paper that presents the most important results of empirical studies of ethno-national identification, which the author conducted in more than a decade in multiethnic areas of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Starting from the concept of social integration, it focuses on the interaction between two groups of factors affecting the ethno-national identification. The first consists of structural features of communities that are primarily determined by the impact of social institutions. The second relates to the activities of different social actors operating on national, regional and local levels. The results of quantitative research show that there are significant differences in the openness of ethnic boundaries and trust in social institutions between conflict areas and the peaceful ones. Nevertheless, quantitative analysis fails to explain the subtle interrelationships between and within areas of ethnic conflict and those of ethnic peace, especially when it comes to the complex action of social actors such as representatives and coalitions of political, cultural, religious and entrepreneurial elite groups at national and local levels. The complex dynamics of ethno-national identification at the local level necessitates the additional use of qualitative methods, which, despite their subjectivity and shortcomings, can substantially contribute to a better understanding of the social process of construction of ethnic identity and ethnic conflict.

Measures taken to restrain the spread of the coronavirus have significantly impacted people’s well-being and behaviour, increasing thereby the likelihood of family violence, especially of violence against women. This paper tests the hypothesis that family violence has increased during the epidemic in Slovenia by analysing police datasets on reported cases of family violence in Slovenia during the pandemic. The results, which were confirmed by a series of t-tests, indicate that compared to a 10-year average, in 2020 there was an average number of reports of family violence, in contrast to a 20% lower number of reports in 2021. Similarly, the number of misdemeanours of family violence was almost average in 2020, and lower in 2021. Likewise, the number of restraining orders imposed in 2020 and 2021 was close to the above-mentioned 10-year average. Within a period of eleven weeks during both the first and the second lockdown period, there were higher instances of detected criminal offences and misdemeanours, whereas the number of restraining orders imposed and breached decreased.

In this paper, we explore the underlying theory of the Croatian constitution in the response to the COVID outbreak. We argue that the operative issue imposed by the pandemic, at least in Croatian constitutionalist circles, was how facts should be related to constitutional values, structures, and norms. Although at first blush a replica of our general inability to get some bearing on a terrain of uncertainty in an unforeseen outbreak, we will explore the matter as a specific problem of constitutional theory, aiming to explore its implications for constitutional dimensions of vulnerability. To do so, we draw from the literature to describe the different ways constitutions may be imagined in relation to facts and then apply this insight to the measures enacted by the Croatian state during the COVID pandemic. The result is a treacherous terrain, where the exercise of state power and its restriction stand on thin constitutional grounds, excluding a spectrum of more substantive interpretations of the Constitution. In conclusion, we argue that this map reveals a narrowed basis for identifying and vindicating vulnerability.

A level playing field is enabled when business enterprises can freely compete in the market. However, they cannot compete freely if different rules apply to them. Therefore internationally accepted human rights have to be respected by all business enterprises, no matter their size, sector, ownership and the state of operations. The purpose of the paper is to identify three criteria by which it is possible to achieve a level playing field in business and to examine the criteria using respect for human rights as an example. Using a descriptive method and a method of analysis, the author argues that without the universal minimum standards of respect for human rights a level playing field in business cannot be possible. This will be feasible only with the adoption of a binding international instrument and imposing sanctions on the international level. Consequently, establishing of an international judicial mechanism with a power to sanction corporate human rights abuse is of vital importance.

In the paper Serbia’s Law on Determining the Origin of Property and the Special Tax is analysed and compared with solutions based on cross-checking of the declared income with the worth accretion, which can be found in comparative tax law. After having established the advantages and limits of the net worth method, the author presents this Serbian statute, pointing out the fact that significant resources have been allocated for its application. The explanation lies in its PR impact and the possibility that detected unreported income of those who are the Government’s political opponents could be taxed at a rate of 75%. Net worth method has been present in another Serbian statute since 2003, but it was not applied due to the absence of political will. However, this provision remains in the system, providing for dualism since 2021 – one group of taxpayers is subject to the old regime (with 20% tax), while the others are exposed to new confiscatory 75% tax. The analysis shows that numerous provisions of the 2021 statute contradict constitutional provisions on the unity of legal order, nondiscrimination, legality of taxes, and prohibition of retroactivity. Provided these flaws are eliminated, the application of net worth method could make sense.

In most civil law jurisdictions, the contract is the most used derivative title for the transfer of ownership (movable and immovable property). Very often, the law of property and law of contract are seen as distinct and one can envisage their role from different legal perspectives. This is closely connected with the type of transfer system based on whether the (Austrian) causal system, (German) abstract system or (French) consensual system is applicable. Kosovo is in the process of civil law codification and the Kosovo Draft-Civil Code which has followed the application of the causal system of transfer of property and such an above mentioned interaction of these two branches of civil law is mandatory, and only with a common survey can the contractual transfer of property be illustrated. The aim of this paper is to focus solely on the influence of contract law rules in connection with the acquisition of ownership over movable and immovable property determined by Kosovo Draft-Civil Code.

This paper is intended to serve as an introductory treatise on the subject of smart marriage contracts (SMC) as a manifestation of blockchain in matrimonial property law of contracts. It starts with a description of the origin and functioning of an SMC from a technical standpoint, while evaluating the legal nature thereof at the same time. Afterwards, we focus on the possibilities and means of an SMC’s establishment under German, Austrian, and Slovak law. Moving on, issues related to the content of a marriage contract establishing an SMC are examined. Then it is tested the permissibility of an SMC-related provision in a marriage contract referred to as a “registration clause”. Finally, it is delved into the question whether the appearance of an SMC in a marriage contract introduces any peculiarities to issues of private international law, namely from the perspective of the EU Regulations on property regimes of international couples.

The paper thoroughly examines the rules on jurisdiction of the Property Regimes Regulations, analysing both the expected benefits as well as the existing and potential problems in the application of the new rules. The main accomplishment of the Property Regimes Regulations in the field of jurisdiction is that they established more coherence in the cross-border family law adjudication. Namely, they align the international jurisdiction regarding the couple’s property to that of the situation at the origin of the need to adjudicate on such property, i.e. separation of the couple or else the death of one of the spouses or partners. Such joinder of proceedings is the general rule in the Property Regimes Regulations and even mandatory when succession proceedings are pending. Questions concerning property relations between spouses or registered partners must, however, sometimes be resolved without an underlying separation or succession proceedings and Property Regime Regulations also provide for the international jurisdiction of courts in such “independent” cases. The main connecting factor is then the common habitual residence of the spouses or registered partners, in line with the general tendency in EU Private International Law of enhancing the importance of the habitual residence, rather than of the nationality.

The author of the paper provides an overview and analysis of Croatian criminal legislation with regard to criminal activities of human smuggling and trafficking. She points out to the similarities and differences between the criminal acts of illegal transfer of persons across the state border or illegal entering, movement and residence in the Republic of Croatia, other EU Member States or signatories of the Schengen Agreement and human trafficking, comparing and analyzing the legal norms of the old and the new Criminal Code of the Republic of Croatia, international instruments and jurisprudence. Emphasized is the importance of early recognition of the criminal act, especially for the victims. Attention is drawn to the disparity of case law on matters of personal gain as an essential element of this criminal activity, but also to the absence of clearly defining the act of attempting illegal entering, movement and residence in the Republic of Croatia, other EU Member States or signatories of the Schengen Agreement. This paper investigates and analyzes the current situation regarding illegal crossing of state borders of the Republic of Croatia on the basis of available statistical data. Conducted was the analysis of the situation de lege lata in case law in relation to persons registered, accused and convicted of human smuggling and, also, especially for human trafficking. In conclusion, given are the proposals and measures de lege ferenda that need to be implemented in order to combat human smuggling and trafficking, and to successfully fight this type of organized crime.

The paper shows the international, European and national system of legal rules governing the transport of dangerous goods by air. With the review of the provisions of the Carriage of Dangerous Goods Act and the Final proposal on amendments to this national act, the paper elaborates on the provisions of the Ordinance on the conditions and manner of transport of dangerous goods by air that is in full compliance with Annex 18 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation (“Chicago Convention”) - Safe Transport of Dangerous goods by Air, including its amendments, as well as the 2013-2014 Technical instructions Issued and their amendments. A reference is also made to the relevant provisions of Commission Regulation (EU) no. 965/2012, which in its Annexes IV and V contains the provisions on the transport of dangerous goods for commercial air transport operations.

The paper elaborates the problems of the relation between the principle of mutual recognition and trust and the verification of double criminality, which attract great attention of experts in the field of international judicial cooperation with a focus on criminal matters. In the introductory part of the paper, the structure of the legal foundations of the European Union is shown, then the principle of mutual trust as a structural principle of the constitutional rights of the EU, its origin and context in the light of the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. The central part of the paper inquires into the problems of the principle of double criminality in regard to the various forms of double criminality with no uniform application of its term in judicial cooperation and thus collides with the principle of mutual trust in way that leads to problems in the international judicial cooperation. Afterwards, the paper outlines the relation of the Republic of Croatia towards the principle of mutual trust with regard to the decision of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court and concludes with the final analysis of importance of the principle of mutual recognition in transnational judicial cooperation in criminal matters.

In all states governed by the rule of law the administration is subject to the law and supervision by the courts on the same basis as any individual/citizen, in accordance with the principle of the supremacy of the law. The author only represents the most important instruments in the field of international law concerning control over administration, which supervise the implementation of human rights in the country that has ratified the respective instruments. Therefore, the ratification and incorporation of international normative legal instruments in the form of conventions, such as the European Convention on Human Rights within the national legal order, impose the obligation for a certain state to respect or protect the rights guaranteed by the respective Convention, as well as the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights that governs the interpretation and proper application of the Convention, the relevant European Court of Human Rights case-law setting standards for assessing the efficiency and effectiveness of public administration. Hence, this case law should act as a guideline for improving legal regulations and, under certain circumstances, avoiding the initiation of an administrative dispute before competent national courts, if objectively possible. However, due to certain reasons which will be elaborated upon in this paper, some deviations can occur and, for that matter, judicial review means review by courts of administrative action with a view to ensuring their legality as well as providing the protection and realization of the rights and legal interests of citizens in the sphere of administrative law.

The first international document to be adopted in the field of human rights protection in the 21st century was the Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities. It imposes on its parties the obligation to create conditions that will enable persons with psychosocial disabilities to finally exercise their rights, will, and preferences on an equal basis with other members of society. The paper is divided into two parts: the first presents the new concept of legal capacity prescribed in Art. 12, in which the role of the state is seen through the commitments to implement faster and more efficient paradigm shifts in the approach to protecting the rights of these persons and the shift from substitute to supported decision-making. The second part deals with the interpretation and application of Art. 12 in the States Parties. Special attention will be paid to the challenges faced by states and how successfully they meet their obligations under the Convention through the elaboration of individual states’ reports on the implementation of Art. 12 and the views and recommendations of the Committee for the protection of persons with disabilities.

In the last few decades the consumer acquis has had a significant impact on all branches of law, including insurance law. Certain autonomous solutions to the directives in the field of consumer law have also moved into contractual insurance law, such as duty to inform, counsel and the right of withdrawal. The right of withdrawal is a mechanism to protect consumers from hasty and reckless decisions because it allows informed choice after the contract has been concluded. For this purpose it has been accepted for the first time in the Second Life Insurance Directive, and is also contained in the Solvency II Directive. Life insurance contracts are legally complex financial products and can involve significant long-term financial obligations, therefore the right to withdraw is justified by the position of the life insurance policyholder as a weaker party. This paper presents the right of withdrawal in the Solvency II Directive and the judgments of the Court of Justice of the EU. Finally, the authors critically analyze the right of withdrawal in Croatian and Bosnian insurance law.

The article elaborates the basic features of the system of semi-presidential government, which was popularized by Maurice Duverger as a ”new model of the political system“. The diversity of individual definitions of semi-presidential government and their shortcomings indicate a lack of consensus on the fundamental features of the system, which in turn allows individual political systems to be viewed as either parliamentary or semi-presidential, depending on the features used in individual definitions. Based on the analysis of the original semi-presidential models (Weimar Constitution, the Constitution of the French Fifth Republic), the paper seeks to elaborate a more comprehensive definition of semi-presidential government as a system of presidential domination in the political system. In this sense, this system is defined as a system in which 1. the president is elected directly by the citizens, i e indirectly by an electoral college in which a representative body does not dominate or is excluded from it; 2. his term of office may not be terminated by a political decision of the representative body; 3. he is the actual head of the executive and performs it personally and through the government proposed by him to the parliament and 4. the basis of his key position within the executive are certain constitutional prerogatives (dissolution of parliament, appointment, and dismissal of the government) and / or leadership position in the party / a party coalition that has a majority in parliament.

Since few decades ago, the use of traditional insignias on commercial products has been increasing, across the globe. In particular, the use of indigenous insignias on commercial products of non-indigenous origin is often in countries such as USA, Canada, Australia or New Zealand where there are larger indigenous communities. Either as offensive or exploitative the respective practice is unacceptable for indigenous people. Appropriation of traditional insignias by non-indigenous people - i.e. registering indigenous names and symbols as trademarks for commercial products of non-indigenous origin has been considered as particularly unacceptable practice. The aim of the paper is to assess whether the conventional trademark law system contains mechanisms that can combat inappropriate use of traditional insignias. In order to achieve respective goal, international and European sources in the field of trademark law, as well as specific national solutions, are analyzed. Research has revealed that conventional trademark law systems provide protection against misuse of traditional insignias only in exceptional occasions. Therefore, certain countries, where there are larger indigenous communities and public policies are focused on the prevention of offensive use of indigenous insignias, have introduced minor or larger intervention in their conventional trademark law systems to increase effectiveness when it comes to combating offensive uses of indigenous insignias. It is shown how in New Zealand the concept of cultural offense as an absolute ground for trademark refusal is introduced while in Canada official insignia as a special type of trademark is introduced. The impact of those interventions is considered and whether these could be relevant for the European union. Similar interventions applicable in the conventional European trademark law for the protection against inappropriate use of European indigenous and traditional indications are analyzed.

The paper analyses certain legal dilemmas that arise in relation to the provision of cross-border insurance services on the European union single market, particularly in the context of the Croatian legal framework. The analysis covers several issues arising in relation to the practical application of the EU rules on freedom to provide insurance services as implemented in the Croatian national law by the Croatian Insurance Act. Special consideration is given to certain specific legal issues that appear in practice as dubious when it comes to insurance of certain types of risk with a cross-border element, The aim is to point at the challenges that the liberalisation of the insurance market places in front of the Croatian insurance industry, and to make certain recommendations that could be useful to the Croatian insurers and other insurance service providers when deciding on the possibility of carrying on crossborder insurance business.

Numerous questions and discussions have been raised regarding the approach that countries have undertaken in order to address the COVID-19 crisis. Problems which had been marginalized during the crisis came to light, such as the phenomenology of criminal offences influenced by the COVID-19. For instance, devastating effects on mental health, stemming from the fact that measures of social distancing and restrictions on freedom of movement led to an increase in depression and anxiety, insomnia and hopelessness. Authors of this paper will try to point out the importance of psychological and social factors in the analysis of the increase and decrease of criminal offences influenced by COVID-19 by analyzing reports and comparing the Republic of Croatia with other countries in the world. The analysis strives to underline the need to adopt better strategies and plans for the purpose of fight against COVID-19 and to mitigate the consequences of its effects.

protection. The only case in which this issue could become more debatable is if personal data crosses EU borders. The transfer of personal data to third countries proved its disputed status when the CJEU invalidated the Safe Harbour Agreement, one of the frameworks for the transfer of personal data to the US and several more came under the CJEU’s scrutiny, including the Safe Harbour Agreement’s successor, the Privacy Shield Agreement. It has been suggested that some of these instruments for transfer need to be repealed or amended in order to be brought in conformity with the GDPR. The paper, after analysing each of the grounds for transfer which may be used by EU companies, argues that regardless of the recent entry into force of the GDPR, the data protection “revolution” is still not complete, at least as far the transborder data flows are concerned.

This paper describes an example of best practice in the Netherlands with respect to promoting the innovation of enterprises. This policy consists of promoting cooperation between knowledge centres (including universities) and enterprises, enabling the enterprises and start-ups to be located in the neighbourhood of knowledge centres and assisting them in obtaining the required permits, and, if necessary, grant subsidies. This policy has proved to be very successful. Developing a training policy for all sectors of economy, on the other hand, is more difficult. This becomes even more difficult if employers and employees have opposite interests, especially if employers fear that the newly trained worker will leave their job after acquiring the new qualification or if the worker has to reimburse the subsidy. Therefore, the establishment of training funds, made available for all employers and workers who want to qualify for another job, can contribute to the growth of skills.

Mergers and acquisitions of Croatian target companies may involve significant tax risks for domestic and foreign acquirers. Over the recent years, Croatian tax authorities have started to vigorously assess the economic substance of the envisaged M&As, often denying the acquirer different tax benefits, thus making the entire restructuring costlier. In doing so, Croatian tax authorities rely on a myriad of domestic anti-tax avoidance rules according to which M&A operations may be characterised as abusive. Accordingly, this paper offers a descriptive and systematic account on how Croatian anti-tax avoidance legislation may hinder M&A activity. Thereby, our aim is primarily to explore, both from a substantive and procedural point of view, the imagined boundary between legitimate and abusive tax planning.

Globalisation and technological changes have a dramatic impact on the labour market. For this reason, skills need to be strengthened and protected and workers have to respond to these great transformations by improving their professionalization. Focusing the attention on the Jobs Act, this paper offers an overview of the change that Italy may undertake, analysing the most innovative aspects of the new reform and paying particular attention to the protection of skills within the employment contract and the labour market. In this regard, the research highlights how the Jobs Act has strengthened the protection of skills. On the one hand, it specifies that in case of ‘changes in job tasks’ the employer shall provide training activities in order to develop the employee’s skills (art. 2103 Civil Code). On the other hand, from the perspective of the labour market, it provides efficient active labour market policies in order to tackle the lack of skills protection. These are all considerable positive steps: the Jobs Act Reform represents a move in the right direction and the first important step towards the development of an enhanced skill system.

Owing to its particular features, the market of luxury goods is a point of interest to lawyers as much as to other professions such as economists or sociologists. These features play an important role in legal regulation of the market. While the starting point is competition law, the assessment of anticompetitive conduct under Article 101 of the TFEU cannot be complete without resorting to intellectual property law policies and rules. With the rise of the importance of internet sales, novel issues have been put before the competition authorities and reviewing courts, such as legality of various types of online restrictions in the selective distribution systems. Employing a combined IP law and competition law approach to these issues, this paper offers insights and comments on EU case law, with primary focus on the recent CJEU judgment in Coty. The intricacies of the interplay among different competition law rules and exemptions is particularly evidenced in this case. However, limited by its fact-pattern, the Coty judgment may serve as a clarification about the deluxe competition law treatment only of certain online sale prohibitions within the SDSs, while there will certainly be continuing discussions and national case law developments on other internet related competition law restrictions awaiting further elucidations by the CJEU.

This paper discusses the ADR systems in tax matters as set forth in the Italian and Croatian doctrine and legislature. The fi rst part focuses on the Italian experiences and the second part discusses the Croatian developments. Both parts are involving the doctrines and throughout the chapters emphasizes the historical and theoretical aspects, as well as the practical implications of the doctrine of public law on the emergence and development of ADR’s in the comparative surveys of Italian and Croatian current situation of tax disputes resolutions.

The paper focuses on the post mortem mandate, an agreement used to protect some interests arising after the mandator’s death, both in Italian legal system and in Roman Law. Given that the latest doctrine has considered invalid a post mortem mandate where the nature of the mandatory’s tasks is economic, as it does not comply with art. 458 Cod. Civ., this article explores the issues suggesting that the recent introduction of the ‘reverse mortgage’ within the Italian legal system could be considered as a new step towards overcoming the prohibition of agreements as to succession. After analysing the current legislation, also within the framework of European private law, the research dwells on post mortem mandatum in Roman law, trying to show that such consensual contract could be considered as a succession agreement. After having demonstrated the difference between the mandatum post mortem (understood as a contract) and other testamentary dispositions defined as mandatum post mortem as well, a source showing the possible economic nature of the Roman mandatum post mortem is considered, to conclude that there were Roman law cases, like that of Gaio in D. 17.1.13, proving the existence of bilateral agreements intended to fulfil an economic function casually related to the mandator’s death.

In recent history the Balkans passed through periods of conflict and violence typical of many post-imperial nation-states that are unable to establish lateral links with their neighbors without or outside the central (imperial) connection. In a way, these states imitated historical path of imperial conquests. In this regard, ethnic conflicts that escalated into wars of the former Yugoslavia can be taken as examples of an erratic transformation of post-imperial into modern nation-states that are eager to build up democracy at home and develop peaceful coexistence with others in international environment. Nevertheless, not all multiethnic areas were caught up in violence (e.g. instances of “peace enclaves” in multiethnic areas in Croatia, Bosnia and Heregovina and in Kosovo). Through such examples, which will be illustrated with results of empirical research, we recognize potentials for building tolerance from below. On the other hand, in most other places peace was a follow up of post-conflict processes. In these cases, local potentials of ethnic tolerance were rather weak. The paper provides some examples illustrating regional differences in this regard within Croatia. Actually, the whole process of normalization of ethnic relations in peaceful terms is far from being linear and is hardly going smoothly. Some parts of national elites foster distance and antagonism against the ”others”. On the other hand, especially following EU accession of Croatia, nationalistic rhetoric significantly receded on the level of the official politics. The question is then whether the impact of policies in institutional sphere, both national and international, i.e. top-down approach, is decisive in shaping inter-ethnic relations. The conclusion is that the institutional, top-down arrangements of peace and tolerance cannot be sustainable without concomitant bottom-up processes on micro level, which theoretically corresponds to a “conformant policy” against “linear policy” or determinism of the center and contingencies in the periphery.

The present paper deals with the amendments to the Slovenian Companies Act especially in regard to company reorganizations by the implementation of Directive 2009/109/EC in 2012. This Directive envisaged simplification of merger and division procedures of companies by: a) simplifying information requirements for notification to shareholders prior to an assembly which decides on the merger or division, especially in cases of the so-called group mergers and divisions; b) identifying unnecessary duplication of producing specific reports, if such reports are prepared under other provisions and c) liberalization of the conditions of Internet use and other devices for electronic communication. In addition, the authors deal with the procedures of merger by acquisition and merger by formation of a new company in Slovenian law.

Citizens of contemporary constitutional democracies adhering to particular religions may submit themselves to laws administered by their religious communities insofar as they remain within limits outlined by the national legal order. In this paper I analyse this usual response to religious norms against the background of the growing presence of Sharia law in Canada and the United Kingdom. In particular, I argue that it creates the “transformative space”, allowing believers to determine by themselves the extent and the way in which religious law will apply to their lives. This space, however, remains riddled with limitations that have already been discussed in the existing literature. However, the authors that dealt with the problem thus far tended to overlook the nature of the transformative space as the groundwork of difference. Instead, they conceptualised it as a barrier towards diversity. I look at how this oversight might cause additional problems for the always tense religion-state relationship.

This paper deals with generally known facts in litigation with review on some viewpoints accepted in Austrian, German and Croatian jurisprudence and legal practice on this topic. First starting theoretical viewpoint in this research is that the establishment of facts by rules on generally known facts is one of methods for establishment of facts. Regular method for establishment of facts is proving, but it has subordinate nature. Other methods for establishment of facts are application of rules on recognition, on legal presumptions and on burden of proof. Second starting theoretical viewpoint is that the law on establishment of facts has dual legal nature: it has legal protective and procedural aspect. Author discusses on various problems with regard to notion, legal basis and characteristics of generally known facts and on implementation of rules on their establishment in litigation.

This paper presentsan economic dimensionof terrorism through analysis of terrorist organizations needs for funding, modules of financing terrorism and links to money laundering. Financial resourcesare one of the most important conditions for maintaining infrastructure of terrorist organizations and carrying out terrorist activities. Assets acquired through legal and illegal channels members of the terrorist organization carry out through financial system by using techniques ofmoney laundering in order to conceal the trace of money needed for organizing terrorist attacks. Due to the global nature of the problem of money laundering and terrorist financing, preventive mechanisms include cooperation of financial intelligence agencies and international organizations as well as strengthening of national institutions that are dealing with this problem. Numerous recently adopted guidelines, conventions and recommendations (within the EU, OUN, FATF) draw attention for detection terrorist activities in the preparatory phase, such as travel of terrorists, financing logistical support for their activities and weapons (explosives) supply required for carrying out terrorist attacks.

Women’s experiences of human rights abuse have long been marginalised in international human rights law. The main human rights concepts such as personhood, equality and freedom have been defined on the basis of the experiences of men. Likewise, the main framework of international law, i.e. the public/private divide has been defined in a gendered (masculine) manner. Thus, the ideal of universality of human rights has not yet been achieved. This paper proposes a new approach to the interpretation of human rights with the view of resolving the problem of under-inclusiveness. Under the inclusive approach based on difference feminism theories, greater attention should be paid to sex/gender difference, while efforts should be made to remove disadvantages attached to difference. Hence, the ‘woman question’ should be posed by re-conceptualising and re-interpreting human rights concepts, i.e. the subject, equality and freedom in a manner that recognises gender (and other) difference. Furthermore, the boundaries of the public/private divide would be shifted and gender-based violence, reproductive self-determination and women’s economic disadvantage finally placed on the human rights agenda.

In the paper basic legal sources of European and Croatian anti-discrimination law are presented. Special attention is given to Anti-discrimination Act from 2009 which was enacted with the aim to provide anti-discrimination legal framework as a guarantee of a high level of legal protection from different forms of discrimination in Croatian legal system. Individual and associational anti—discrimination claim as legal mechanisms for efficient legal protection are questioned. Also, along with the numeric indicators which are provided in order to illustrate practice of the courts, an overview of available inidividual and associational anti-discrimination claims through which proceedings in front of courts and other competent authorities were initiated in last few years is presented. Deficiencies in anti-discrimination law and problems of court practice in Croatia are detected. Defects which need to be eliminated in order to create preconditions for efficient legal protection from discrimination in Croatian legal system are highlighted.