Our correspondent in Croatia tells us about how he copes with his country being the newest member of the European Union, and gives us an interesting point of view about how the exchange of documents could be more simple.
A blue sea, plenty of sun, and a Mediterranean landscape – is this Italy? No, we are talking about Croatia! The newest member of the European Union offers a long coastline on the Adriatic; one praised by tourists and rightfully a matter of pride for Croatians.
How about settling there? Well, beware: now that Croatia has joined the EU, lawyers can find you there too. “Today you are practically equal to a Croatian citizen if you are from another member state,” explains Davor Pindulic (EJ Croatia), a lawyer from Rijeka, the most important harbour town in the country. “For us Croatian lawyers, work has become much more simple when it comes to dealing with EU countries. For example, let's say you face a case of failed business in Austria but you run away with your money to hide in a villa on the Adriatic coastline. Well, now we can find you there and apply the same judgment that was made in your home country.” In short, crooks will have to find another place to go, but lawyers have just found a new playground.
According to Davor, Croatia’s admission to EU is slowly becoming reality for law professionals in the country. “It happened only eight months ago but we can already feel some important changes. My firm works for a lot of transnational customers, mostly EU-based. All the EU regulations are now directly applied. Rules for foreign workers from with the EU are now completely different. But the most important is: transnational collaboration has clearly made a big step forward, towards speed and simplicity.”
A former Yugoslav republic, Croatia has historically been a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Today, ties between Croatia and Austria are still pretty strong, making it one of the most frequent partners in law cases. “One progression we expect from the European integration of Croatia,” adds Davor, “is the end of certifications for every little document. When you deal a lot with Austria, for example, you find yourself requesting a stamp of approval of the Croatian government for any administrative form, because the Austrians are not familiar with our paperwork and wouldn't trust it unless the ministry certified it. It usually takes a week to get such a stamp and there’s a cost for it, too”.
The issue of certification has been discussed by other lawyers in different countries and there seem to be progress towards a more simple solution. “We could have something like the European system for VAT numbers for example,” says Davor. “We have a list with references which is accessible online when it comes to VAT, so we could have a similar solution for the certification of documents”. This is fodder for your thoughts coming from the newest member state...
Davor confessed to having a lot of work to catch up on with all the EU regulations. “We knew them already of course; we learnt them in advance. But the application is a completely different level of knowledge.” With such a new area to concentrate on in his work, Davor is very interested in the solutions offered by Eurojuris. “I am sad that I have never had the occasion to participate so far, but Eurojuris seminars seem very interesting. Travelling to such an event is quite a commitment for me when I have so much work, but it definitely seems worth it, so I will try it as soon as my work allows me to!” So look forward for occasions to discuss these topics in the flesh...
Do you also have a point of view to share about the certification of documents in EU? Would you like to tell us about your experience being a lawyer in your country? Please write to us at journalist@eurojuris.net
