European Foundation
for the Improvement of
Living and Working Conditions

The tripartite EU agency providing knowledge to assist
in the development of better social, employment and
work-related policies

EU PolicyWatch

Database of national-level policy measures

Eurofound's EU PolicyWatch collates information on the responses of government and social partners to the COVID-19 crisis, the war in Ukraine, rising inflation, as well as gathering examples of company practices aimed at mitigating the social and economic impacts.

Factsheet for measure HR-2021-47/2080 Updated – measures in Croatia

Mandatory COVID certificates for employees and users of public and state services

Obvezno korištenje COVID potvrda za zaposlenike u javnim I državnim službama I njihove korisnike

Country Croatia , applies nationwide
Time period Open ended, started on 15 November 2021
Context COVID-19
Type Legislations or other statutory regulations
Category Protection of workers, adaptation of workplace
– Occupational health and safety
Author Predrag Bejakovic (IJF)
Measure added 06 November 2021 (updated 06 September 2022)

Background information

Since the start of the epidemic in Croatia on 25 February 2020, there have been 490,074 cases and 9,400 deaths. A total of 452,133 people have recovered. Up to 3 November 2021, a total of 3,155,683 people have been tested. Until the same day, a total of 3,658,686 vaccine doses have been administered, with 47.57% of the total population or 56.94% of the adult population having received at least one dose. A total of 1,990,471 people have received at least one dose of a vaccine while 1,811,801 are fully vaccinated, or 53.57% of the adult population. However, a new record of 6,932 new cases of COVID-19 was recorded in Croatia on 4 November 2021.

Content of measure

To prevent the spread of the infection, the National Civil Protection Headquarters states it is necessary to act in three directions: to achieve as much vaccination as possible, to limit gatherings and to achieve as much security as possible when conducting business that will not be limited. The National Civil Protection Headquarters announced on 5 November 2021 that the use of the COVID certificates from November 15 2021, will be mandatory for users and employees of public and state services. Thus, a certificate of vaccination, recovery, or a negative test will be obligatory for all employees of state and public services, as well as for citizens who will use their services and come to their premises.

Updates

The following updates to this measure have been made after it came into effect.

28 January 2022

Deputy Prime Minister Davor Božinović announced that the national COVID-19 response team had adopted six new decisions relaxing restrictions on indoor and outdoor gatherings and abolishing mandatory testing and presentation of COVID certificates when entering public administration offices, except health and social welfare institutions. The measure restricting gatherings has been relaxed and as of 1 March 2020, up to 100 people will be able to gather outdoors instead of the current 50, while the number of people allowed to gather indoors will be limited to 50 instead of 25 as is now the case. Restrictions on indoor and outdoor gatherings have also been amended regarding the requirement to present a COVID certificate. There will also no longer be any restrictions on the number of spectators at outdoor sports events and indoor events can have up to 50% occupancy instead of the current 20%.

Use of measure

There is a huge discussion in Croatia on the mandatory nature of this measures because there is a relatively strong and persistent unofficial anti-vaccine movement. Its members deem that such measure is an attack on personal freedom and therefore it is not acceptable. Furthermore, it is relatively demanding to control the real implementation and respect of the measure, particularly having in mind that Croatia is mostly not the law-abiding society.

Target groups

Workers Businesses Citizens
Applies to all workers Applies to all businesses Applies to all citizens

Actors and funding

Actors Funding
National government
No special funding required

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

Trade unions Employers' organisations
Role No involvement as case not in social partner domain No involvement as case not in social partner domain
Form Not applicable Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

  • No involvement
  • Main level of involvement: N/A

Involvement

Due to the nature of the measure, social partners were not involved.

Views and reactions

Most of the social partners support such measure but there are also some smaller groups among them which believe that such measure is an attack on personal freedom and therefore it should not be implemented.

Sources

  • 05 November 2021: Obvezne COVID potvrde (Mandatory the COVID certificates) (www.index.hr)
  • 28 January 2022: Ublažene mjere ograničenja ulaska u službene zgrade (Relaxation of restrictions when entering public administration offices) (vlada.gov.hr)

Citation

Eurofound (2021), Mandatory COVID certificates for employees and users of public and state services, measure HR-2021-47/2080 (measures in Croatia), EU PolicyWatch, Dublin, https://static.eurofound.europa.eu/covid19db/cases/HR-2021-47_2080.html

Share

Eurofound publications based on EU PolicyWatch

30 January 2023

 

Measures to lessen the impact of the inflation and energy crisis on citizens

Governments across the EU continue to implement policies to support citizens and businesses in the face of rising food and energy prices caused by the COVID-19 crisis and intensified by the war in Ukraine. This article summarises the policy responses as reported in Eurofound's EU PolicyWatch database from January to September 2022.

Article

12 September 2022

 

First responses to cushion the impact of inflation on citizens

Although the worldwide pandemic situation had already disrupted supply chains and triggered increases in energy and food prices in 2021, the situation deteriorated in 2022 with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Article

12 September 2022

 

Policies to support EU companies affected by the war in Ukraine

This article summarises the first policy responses that governments across the EU have started to implement to support companies affected by the rising prices, and those with commercial ties to Ukraine, Russia or Belarus.

Article

5 July 2022

 

Policies to support refugees from Ukraine

This article summarises the first policy responses of EU Member States, including those of the social partners and other civil society actors, enabling refugees to exercise their rights under the Temporary Protection Directive.

Article

Disclaimer: This information has not been subject to the full Eurofound evaluation, editorial and publication process.