Croatia

The following sentence was added to the relevant article of the local law: “persons who participate in any way in the activities of a legal or natural person.”

Anonymous reports in private and public sector are covered with this Act. The Public sector is covered by this Act and also Law on the system of internal controls in the public sector (NN 78/15, 102/19). Also, depending on on the topic of the report, some other laws can apply, , e.g. if a criminal offense has been anonymously reported, the state attorney’s office acts only on those anonymous criminal reports from which there is a reasonable suspicion that a criminal offense has been committed, i.e. a reasonable probability that investigations will be conducted and collected necessary information (this is the anonymous report that contains relevant information about persons and facts on the basis of which the reported criminal offense can be proven). To go further, the Companies Act prescribes the application of the corporate governance code, which stipulates that the Board of the joint-stock company must, with the prior approval of the supervisory board, adopt and make available on the company’s website a procedure for reporting violations of the law or the company’s internal rules, without specifying whether it is an anonymous report or not. External reporting according to this Act refers to reporting irregularities to the Ombudsman, and is used in the case when, for certain reasons, reporting to a confidential person within the employer is not possible.

Reporters of irregularities exercise the right to the protection provided for in this Act, if they submitted a report in accordance with the provisions of this Act through the system of internal or external reporting of irregularities or publicly exposed the irregularity. There are no special inscentives.

Our local law indicates that Employers employing fewer than 50 workers may have an internal whistleblowing system in place. Business activities related to financial services, products and markets and the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing – regulated by special laws must have it whether they have less or more than 50 employees

The Croatian Act prescribes: An employer employing at least 50 workers is obliged to establish a system for reporting irregularities internally. Employers employing fewer than 50 workers may have an internal whistleblowing system in place.

According to our local law, municipalities can share resources in terms of receiving reports and conducting the procedure in accordance with the regulations governing the area of local self-government.

Pučki pravobranitelj/Ombudsman https://www.ombudsman.hr/hr/

Yes.

If the report does not contain significant new information about violations in relation to the previous report in connection with which the relevant procedures have been completed, but further action is not justified by new legal or factual circumstances, the ombudsman may close the procedure and inform the applicant accordingly.

Yes.

No, at least not as broadly and in detail as stated in the Directive – the ombudsman can provide legal remedies and procedures for protection against retaliation and the possibility of obtaining confidential advice for persons considering filing a report. The whistleblower has the right to: 1. protection of identity and confidentiality 2. judicial protection 3. compensation of the bill 4. primary free legal aid in accordance with the law regulating the right to free legal aid 5. emotional support 6. other protection provided for in the procedures prescribed by the Act.

The whistleblower may be granted secondary free legal aid in accordance with the law regulating the right to free legal aid. In the process of judicial protection of the whistleblower, the court of the seat, residence or place of residence of the defendant or plaintiff, or the court in whose territory the revenge was taken or its consequence occurred. By means of a proposal for the determination of a temporary measure, the court may be asked to prohibit revenge, to remove the consequences caused by revenge, and to postpone the execution of decisions that put the whistleblower in a disadvantageous position or violated one of his rights in the working environment, which is decided by the competent court in within 8 days from the day of receipt. He has the right to compensation for damages and he has the right to initiate a special procedure with a lawsuit for the protection of whistleblowers, where the burden of proof is on the person who resorted to retaliation. A fine is prescribed for an employer who takes revenge, tries to take revenge, or threatens to take revenge, or fails to protect the whistleblower from revenge and fails to take the necessary measures to stop the revenge and eliminate its consequences.

Please provide how high are respective penalties:
(a) hinder or attempt to hinder reporting: 30.000,00 do 50.000,00 kuna/3.984 EUR – 6.640 EUR ( 398,4 – 3.984 EUR for legal representative or physical person/craftsman)
(b) retaliate against reporting person: 30.000,00 do 50.000,00 kuna/3.984 EUR – 6.640 EUR ( 398,4 – 3.984 EUR for legal representative or physical person/craftsman)
(c) persons bringing vexatious proceedings against reporting person: 30.000,00 do 50.000,00 kuna/3.984 EUR – 6.640 EUR ( 398,4 – 3.984 EUR for legal representative or physical person/craftsman)
(d) breach the duty of maintaining the confidentiality of reporting persons: 30.000,00 do 50.000,00 kuna/3.984 EUR – 6.640 EUR ( 398,4 – 3.984 EUR for legal representative, physical person/craftsman or confidant/deputy)

3.000,00 do 30.000,00 kuna/398,4 EUR – 3.984 EUR

There are no such further rights.