After years of advocacy, on October 1, 2024, the Lobbying Act will come into force, regulating the practice of lobbying in the Republic of Croatia for the first time. With this, the long-standing Croatian Society of Lobbyists has achieved its goal, hoping that the establishment of a mandatory Lobbyists Register will help demystify their profession and prevent its association with corruption. However, although the Act is expected to ensure legality and transparency of lobbying activities, legal gaps are obvious even before its implementation, which will present further challenges in practice.

The first issue refers to the individuals who may be lobbied. The Act defines a lobbied person as anyone who is appointed, employed, or otherwise engaged in legislative or executive authorities, state administration, other state authorities, or legal entities with public authority. This definition of a lobbied person, which clearly excludes individuals from the judiciary, enables the legislator to preemptively prevent any attempt to influence judges from being considered legitimate. However, in addition to the courts, various bodies and legal entities with public authority in the Republic of Croatia (e.g., Croatian Energy Market Operator, Croatian Personal Data Protection Agency, etc.) also have the authority to directly decide on people's rights and obligations, and the definition of a lobbied person evidently extends to them.

In this regard, it is questionable whether the Act has set sufficiently clear boundaries regarding the interests for which lobbying is permitted. The Act briefly states that lobbyists must not encourage lobbied persons to violate regulations and that the lobbied person is obligated to refuse communication with the lobbyist if they assess that the lobbying interests are contrary to constitutional principles or public interest. Consequently, this means that lobbying is in fact not restricted even for specifically regulated industries, such as the tobacco industry, alcohol industry, gambling, and the like, but such activities may be under stricter scrutiny. It transpires from the Act that the final judgment regarding what is contrary to the public interest will lie in the hands of the lobbied person or the Commission for Conflict of Interest, whose legal task is to oversee lobbying.

Furthermore, the Act requires lobbyists to submit an annual report to the Commission on their lobbying activities. The report must include information about the method of lobbying, the lobbying client, and the information provided by the lobbyist to the lobbied persons. Furthermore, the lobbyist cannot refuse to provide information about lobbying by invoking professional or business secrecy. Otherwise, they may face a fine and/or a written warning. The Act does not specify whether the content of the lobbyists' reports will be made public, nor does it indicate how the Commission will verify the accuracy and completeness of the reports. However, the verification process will definitely be closed to the public.