CROATIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Lada Ćustić and Marko Paulinović, Buterin & Partners
plaintiff retains the right to withdraw the claim without the defendant’s consent, but only before the defend- ant has engaged in substantive discussion of the mer- its. 3.5 Rules of Service Under Croatian civil procedure, the statement of claim is served on the respondent/defendant by the court, accompanied by an order requiring the defendant to file a response within a statutory deadline ranging between 30 and 45 days. It is of paramount impor- tance that the method of service employed ensures verifiable proof of receipt by the defendant. Service may be executed via post, through designated court officers such as public notaries, via competent admin- istrative authorities, directly at court, or through elec- tronic means using the e-Communication system. In instances where the defendant is situated outside the Republic of Croatia, the mode of service depends on the territorial and jurisdictional framework. For parties domiciled within the European Union, ser- vice is effected in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2020/1784, which governs the service of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial mat- ters. Conversely, if the party is located outside the EU, service must conform to the relevant bilateral or mul- tilateral treaties ratified by Croatia – most notably, the Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters of 1965 (HCCH 1965). 3.6 Failure to Respond In Croatian civil procedure, a defendant’s failure to respond to a duly served lawsuit can have serious legal consequences – particularly the issuance of a judgment by default ( presuda zbog ogluhe ). For this kind of judgment to be rendered, several strict pre- requisites must be satisfied. First, the defendant must have been properly served both the statement of claim and the order to respond. Second, the claim must be substantiated by the facts as alleged in the complaint. Third, these facts must not be contradicted either by the plaintiff’s own submitted evidence or by facts that are generally known or judicially noticeable. Lastly, there must be no indication of legitimate circumstanc- es, such as force majeure, that could have prevented the defendant from submitting a timely response.
Additionally, the court may issue a judgment for default of appearance ( presuda zbog izostanka ) when the defendant fails to appear at a scheduled hearing having been properly summoned and not responded to a claim in writing. Importantly, Croatian law also contemplates the possibility of issuing a judgment without holding a hearing ( presuda bez održavanja ras - prave ), where the defendant has effectively admitted the decisive facts of the case, regardless of whether the legal claim was expressly contested. 3.7 Representative or Collective Actions The Croatian legal framework does provide for repre- sentative or collective actions, albeit with a structure and scope distinct from common law jurisdictions. These mechanisms are primarily aimed at safeguard- ing the collective interests of groups, particularly in areas such as consumer protection and labour law. Representative actions may be initiated by authorised entities, such as associations or other legal persons, on behalf of a defined group. Notably, Croatian law does not recognise an “opt-out” system; rather, it fol- lows a bifurcated approach. In the first stage, the representative entity files a law- suit seeking declaratory or injunctive relief to protect the collective interest. At this stage, individual group members are not directly involved, nor is there any mechanism allowing them to exclude themselves from the proceeding. Upon conclusion of this stage, and assuming a favour- able outcome for the claimants, the second stage allows for individual claims. Here, affected individu- als may “opt-in” by filing separate lawsuits for specific remedies, such as damages, and the court in such subsequent proceedings is bound by the decision rendered in the first stage. The procedural and substantive framework for such collective actions is governed primarily by the Civil Proceedings Act, which operates as the lex generalis. However, sector-specific regulation – eg, the Consum- er Protection Act, the Commerce Act and the Act on the Suppression of Discrimination – provide further guidance and rights in their respective domains.
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