Serving documents

Croatia

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Croatia

NB! Council Regulation (EC) No 1393/2007 has been replaced by Regulation (EU) 2020/1784 of the European Parliament and of the Council as of 1 July 2022.

Notifications made under the new Regulation can be found here!


Article 2(1) – Transmitting agencies

Art. 2(1)

The competent Croatian transmitting agencies for the service of documents abroad are as follows:

- in the case of judicial documents, the court which is obliged to carry out service;

- in the case of extrajudicial documents, the municipal court (općinski sud) in whose territory the person on whom the document has to be served is domiciled, habitually resident or established;

- in the case of documents that have been certified or issued by notaries, the municipal court in whose territory they are established.

The transmitting agencies are the municipal courts, the county courts (županijski sudovi), the commercial courts (trgovački sudovi), the High Commercial Court (Visoki trgovački sud) and the Supreme Court (Vrhovni sud Republike Hrvatske).

The President of the Supreme Court may authorise only one or only a few of the municipal courts in the territory of one or more county courts to perform service tasks.

Click on the below link to view all competent authorities related to this Article.
List of competent authorities

Article 2(2) – Receiving agencies

Art. 2(2)

The receiving agency for service in the Republic of Croatia is:

- the municipal court within whose territory documents have to be served, as indicated in the courts database.

The President of the Supreme Court may authorise only one or only a few of the municipal courts in the territory of one or more county courts to perform service tasks.

The municipal courts with their territorial competence are indicated as in the courts database.

A list of places in alphabetical order with postal codes is provided in the courts database.

Click on the below link to view all competent authorities related to this Article.
List of competent authorities

Article 2(4)(c) – Means of receipt of documents

Please note that the original language version of this page Croatian has been amended recently. The language version you are now viewing is currently being prepared by our translators.

- Article 2(4)(c)

Documents may be received by post in the Republic of Croatia.

Article 2(4)(d) – Languages that may be used for the completion of the standard form set out in Annex I

Article 2(4)(d)

Croatia will accept the standard forms completed in Croatian.

Article 3 – Central body

Please note that the original language version of this page Croatian has been amended recently. The language version you are now viewing is currently being prepared by our translators.

The central body responsible for (a) supplying information to the transmitting agencies; (b) seeking solutions to any difficulties which may arise during transmission of documents for service; (c) forwarding, in exceptional cases, at the request of a transmitting agency, a request for service to the competent receiving agency is:

the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Croatia (Ministarstvo pravosuđa Republike Hrvatske)
Ulica grada Vukovara 49
tel: +385 1 371 40 00
fax: +385 1 371 45 07
web: http://www.mprh.hr

Article 4 – Transmission of documents

Croatia will accept the standard forms completed in Croatian.

Articles 8(3) and 9(2) – Particular periods set by national law for serving documents

Under Croatian law there are no maximum periods within which documents must be served.

Article 10 – Certificate of service and copy of the document served

Croatia will accept certificates of service in Croatian.

Article 11 – Costs of service

No uniform fee has been set to cover the costs of service in the Republic of Croatia.

Article 13 – Service by diplomatic or consular agents

a) The Republic of Croatia is not opposed to the service of documents by diplomatic or consular agents under the conditions set out in Article 13(1);

b) The Republic of Croatia is opposed to the service of documents from Member State courts on a party located in Croatia, unless the documents are to be served on nationals of the Member State in which the documents originate (Article 13(2)).

Article 15 – Direct service

Direct service is not permitted under Croatian law.

Article 19 – Defendant not entering an appearance

a) Croatian courts may give judgments if the conditions set out in Article 19(2) are met.

b) An application for relief will not be permitted if it is submitted more than one year after the adoption of the judgment.

Article 20 – Agreements or arrangements to which Member States are parties and which comply with the conditions in Article 20(2)

The agreement or arrangement to which Member States are party in accordance with the conditions set out in Article 20(2) of the Regulation is:

- the Agreement between the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Slovenia of 7 February 1994 on legal assistance in civil and criminal matters.

Last update: 06/03/2024

The national language version of this page is maintained by the respective Member State. The translations have been done by the European Commission service. Possible changes introduced in the original by the competent national authority may not be yet reflected in the translations. The European Commission accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever with regard to any information or data contained or referred to in this document. Please refer to the legal notice to see copyright rules for the Member State responsible for this page.