Originally from Arbitration Law and Practice in Central and Eastern Europe - Second Edition 

1. GENERAL LEGAL FRAMEWORK

1.1 National law

a) Current status

What is the current status? When was it enacted? Have there been amendments?

Until 2001, Croatian arbitration law was contained in the federal law of the former Yugoslav federation, which dealt with arbitration in two acts: the Code of Civil Procedure and the Conflict of Laws Act. After establishment of the independent Croatian state in 1991, both acts were adopted as national legislation  and they remained in force throughout the nineties, more or less unchanged.

A major change in arbitration law took place in 2001, when the scattered provisions in various laws were replaced by a single act – the Law on Arbitration, which is based on the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration.  This new statute was adopted by the national legislature (Sabor) on 28 September 2001. It came into force on 19 October 2001.  

In addition to new legislation on arbitration, new legislation on alternative dispute resolution methods  was introduced by the Law on Conciliation of 2003,  which was additionally amended in July 2009.  Both acts on conciliation (mediation) were abrogated by the new Law on Conciliation,  adopted by Croatian Sabor on 28 January 2011.  The purpose of the legislative changes was to harmonize Croatian legislation with acquis communautaire of EU, Directive 2008/52/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2008 on certain aspects of mediation in civil and commercial matters.