The taxation of the property as the total economic goods owned by the legal entity is determined by the fundamental constitutional principle of taxation justice and represents as such the most important criterion of the taxation equality. The tax burden is thus distributed according to the economic and tax strength of the tax payer. In order to put such equality into practice, before taxation of the specific property (especially real estate) it is necessary to have the properly organized land registers, the determined value of the real estate, the recorded users of the housing premises and above all the corresponding tax regulations which ensure the maximum taxation justice. The Croatian legislation has just started dealing with such issues. The process is rather long and expensive. Therefore, the possible positive effect of taxation of the real estate on the taxation justice is expected in the far future, Moreover, under the circumstances of the inappropriately organized records of the real estate property, the collection of such taxes may have a diverse effect and result in the injustice upon distribution of the tax burden.
The Constitution of the Republic of Croatia determines the principle that the administrative enactments of the state administration and the bodies with public authority must be based on law. It also guarantees the court control of the lawfulness of the specific enactments of the administrative authorities and bodies with public authority. According to the Art. 49. of the General Taxation Act the tax inspection report represents a tax document which decides on the individual rights and obligations in terms of tax legislation. According to the Art. 159. of the above stated Act it is possible to make a claim at the competent court against the tax enactment which presents the decision on the individual rights and obligations in terms of tax legislation. The Act on Administrative Disputes defines an administrative dispute as a dispute regarding the lawfulness of the final administrative enactment, which determines the rights and obligations of the citizens and legal persons in administrative issues upon performance of the administrative activities. A tax payer has the right to initiate an adminstrative dispute if he/she considers that the tax enactment, against which it is not possible to use the regular legal remedy, has violated his/her right or the direct personal interest based on law, This means that the legal or physical person may initiate a legal dispute against the final tax enactment which has determined his/her rights and obligations in terms of tax legislation.
The development of the rights of companies, the financial markets and the freedom of capital movement is accompanied by the strengthening of the rights of shareholders. The authors of the text analyze the latest accomplishments in the development of the shareholders’ rights after passing the Directive 2007/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 July 2007 on the exercise of certain rights of shareholders in listed companies and its implementation in the national legislations. The shareholders’ rights guaranteed by the legal framework are faced with the problems regarding their realization, primarily due to the passive behaviour of shareholders and their lack of interest for monitoring the operations of the company in which they have shares. The authors of the article have conducted a survey on the sample of 167 companies which apply the code of corporate management in order to obtain the results regarding the number of shareholders who exercise their rights in the company, which are guaranteed by the legal framework.
The last part of the article analyzes the importance of the institute of contestation of the legal acts of the debtor in view of the protection of the creditor. In the previous two parts the authors of the article presented a detailed overview of the relevant legal resources from the comparative law and explained the legal nature of contestation of the legal acts of the debtr. In this last part the authors explain the legal consequences (effects) of contestation of the legal acts of the debtor and the specifics of the Croatian legislation regarding the above stated institute in veiw of the passive process legitimation.
Conciliation is the procedure based on the agreement between the parties in which the conciliator without the authority to make a decision systematically initiates the communication between the parties with the goal that the parties solve their dispute on the rights which they have on a free disposal. This article analyzes the provisions of the Act on Conciliation which represents a contribution to the alternative solving of the private legal disputes in Croatia. The Act is significant due to the fact that before its accession to the European Union the Republic of Croatia complied its legislation with the Directive 2008/52/EC of the European Parliament and Council regarding certain aspects of conciliation in the civil and commercial cases. The Croatian legislation has thus determined the additional presumptions for the more efficient solving of the private legal disputes through conciliation.
One of the news in the reform of the general administrative procedure is the inclusion of the provisions on the procedures into the Act on General Administrative Procedure. Among the four types of procedures determined by the Act on General Administrative Procedure the protection against the other types of procedures made by the public legal bodies has the widest reach. According to the provision of the Art. 156. of the Act on General Administrative Procedure the person who considers that the procedure of the public legal body in the field of administrative law, on which a decision is not made, has violated his/her right, obligation or legal interest, may make a claim as long as such a procedure or its consequences are in progress.
The new Act on Public Procurement has resulted in some improvements such as the reduction of formalities, whereby the procedure of public procurement has become faster and more efficient. The new provisions also comprise the so-called special procurements such as those for the needs of defence and security and those for the needs of diplomacies and consulates. The contracts on special procurement apply the Directive on Public Procurement for the Needs of Defence and Security and the Rulebook on the Public Procurement in Diplomatic Missions and Consulates of the Republic of Croatia abroad. The author of the text presents in details the conditions and procedures of signing the contract and issuing the order forms in the case of special procurements.
According to the Changes and Amendments to the Act on Legal Fees, the collection of the legal fees have been complied with the procedural acts. The way of the forced collection of the unpaid court fee has also been changed and complied with the valid legal regulations. The above stated Act is primarily aimed at speeding up the procedures of the forced collection of the unapid court fees. Before the Act was passed the procedure of the forced collection of the unpaid court fees was carried out by the regional branch tax office of the Tax Administration within the Ministry of Finance. According to the Act on Forced Collection of Cash Assets, which became effective on 1 January 2011, the forced collection of cash assets is carried out by the Financial Agency (FINA). According to such changes, the procedure of the forced collection of the unpaid court fees has been changed in the way that the court makes a decision (up to now called order) on the fee to be paid by the party within the determined deadline on the account of the state budget of the Republic of Croatia. Such a decision also contains the order to the FINA to carry out the forced collection of cash assets of the party from all its accounts and deposited cash assets, in the case the party has not settled the court fee.
The article presents the viewpoints of the European Court for Human Rights in the cases against the Republic of Croatia in which the European Court determined the violation of the Article 6.1. of the Convention for Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms which guarantees the right to a fair trial. In the court procedures in Croatia it was decided upon the allowability of the audit ratione valoris. The article also analyzes the practical aspects of the allowability of the audit ratione valoris in the decisions made by the domestic courts of the highest instance and the European Court and the difficulties encountered in the cases of the formal changes of the procedural regulations. The important fact is that the right to a legal remedy, regular or irregular, represents a constituent part of the right to the court access, as well as the right to a fair trial. Therefore, according to the determined systems of legal remedies, especially the presumptions of their use, including the criterion ratione valoris for the allowability of the audit, it is possible to get an insight into the efficiency of the protection of the above stated procedural guarantees in concrete cases, which are affected by the viewpoints of the European Court.
The article presents the provisions of the new Directive Solvency II, which determines the insurance framework of the insurance and re-insurance companies in the EU member countries, which bring a completely new approach to the calculation of the capital requirements of insurance and re-insurance companies. The article analyzes the differences between the existing system of the calculation of the capital requirements and the new Directive, its advantages compared to the existing regulations and defines the risks according to the instructions of the European Commission and their role in the calculation of the capital requirements. The article includes the system of the so-called three pillars of the Directive and explains the basic terms, including its goals and the procedure of adoption of the new provisions within the EU member countries. The author of the article mentions the so-called fifth quantitative study of the impacts, its conclusions regarding the EU member countries and its present realization in the Republic of Croatia.
