Article 18 (1) of the Institutions Act stipulates that the word “Hrvatska” (eng. Croatia) and its derivatives as well as other state insignia, including their imitation, may be included in the name of an institution only by a law, a decree or based on a decision by the ministry competent for general administration affairs, provided that it does not undermine the reputation and dignity of the Republic of Croatia.
Article 22 (5) of the same Act stipulates that an institution may have a bilingual name - in a foreign living or dead language in addition to the Croatian language and Latin script - subject to prior approval of the ministry competent for general administration affairs. Paragraph 8 of this Article specifies that the above provision also applies to the abbreviated name of the institution.
A decision on approval of the use of the word “Hrvatska” or its derivatives, or translation in the name of an institution is issued in an administrative procedure, and the application is granted if the institution’s name or parts thereof do not undermine the reputation and dignity of the Republic of Croatia.
The same applies to applications for the use of a bilingual name of an institution, which will be granted if the translation from Croatian into the relevant foreign language is adequate.
The application must be submitted by the responsible person of the institution (person authorised to represent it) or an attorney-in-fact, i.e. the founder of the institution or a an attorney-in-fact.
The application should contain a freely formulated brief explanation for using the word “Hrvatska” or its derivatives, or translation in the name of the institution (recognisability, emphasis on affiliation and/or the fact that the institution performs a public interest activity on the entire territory of Croatia, etc.) or reasons for using a bilingual name of the institution.
The application must be accompanied by:
- a general or special power of attorney, if the application is submitted by an attorney-in-fact, and if the power of attorney is written in a foreign language, a Croatian translation certified by a sworn court interpreter
- draft founding act of the institution, depending on the number of founders (decision on or agreement for the establishment of the institution), or draft amendments to the founding act in case of a change in the name of an institution
- if the application is submitted by a foreign company (in the capacity of the founder), it must be accompanied by a current excerpt from the companies register of the country of the company’s registered seat (not older than 6 months), and a Croatian translation certified by a sworn court interpreter.
All the above documents submitted must be originals or certified copies.
For institutions already registered in Croatia it is not necessary to submit a current excerpt from the companies register.
A party may submit the application for initiating the procedure directly to the
Ministry of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transformation, in writing or by stating it for the record, or can send the application by post or e-mail as an electronic document in accordance with a special law. The procedure is initiated upon receipt of a proper application, i.e. when the party submits all the above evidence in support of the application.
If you wish to submit the application in person, it is recommended to do this in the premises of the Ministry of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transformation at Maksimirska 63, Zagreb.
If sending the application by post, it is recommended to send it to the following address: Ministarstvo pravosuđa, uprave i digitalne transformacije, Maksimirska 63, 10000 Zagreb.
The above instructions also apply accordingly to applications for the use of the word “Hrvatska" or its derivatives in the name of a SUBSIDIARY institution and the use of a BILINGUAL NAME OF A SUBSIDIARY institution, in accordance with Article 28 of the Institutions Act.
