Remedies and enforcement

• Author: Bojic, Ines
• Pages: 75-89

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6REMEDIES AND ENFORCEMENT

6.1Judicial and/or administrative procedures (Article 7Directive 2000/43,

Article 9Directive 2000/78)

a)Available procedures for enforcing the principle of equal treatment

In Croatia, the following procedures exist for enforcing the principle of equal treatment.

A victim of discrimination can seek protection through judicial proceedings – civil and/or

criminal (both adjudicated by ordinary courts) and/or misdemeanour (for less serious

offences adjudicated by misdemeanour courts).341

In civil proceedings a victim of discrimination can file a claim seeking protection of his or

her individual rights claiming that a right has been violated on account of discrimination

(incidental anti-discrimination protection) or a claim seeking a ruling on the existence of

discrimination as the main issue (special individual anti-discrimination action). In the

latter case victims can ask for:

−determination of the existence of discrimination (declaratory anti-discrimination

claim) and/or

−prohibition of discrimination (prohibitive anti-discrimination claim) and/or

−elimination of discrimination or its effects (restitution anti-discrimination claim)

and/or

−damages for the harm caused by discrimination (reparational anti-discrimination

claim) and/or

−publication of the decision determining the existence of discrimination (publicational

anti-discrimination claim).

The civil procedure is the same for employment in the private and public sectors, except

that a claimant who wants to file a claim against the state is obliged to send a request to

the State Attorney’s Office for an amicable settlement. If the State Attorney’s Office

declines the request or does not respond within 90 days, the claim can be filed with the

court.342

Criminal offences of discrimination (see section 6.5 below) are crimes subject to public

prosecution, so a victim of discrimination could in theory just file a criminal complaint

with the State Attorney’s Office. If the State Attorney’s Office decides not to prosecute

(e.g. if it considers that the act in question is not a criminal offence), the victim is

authorised to take over the prosecution of the case as a subsidiary prosecutor, within

eight days from the notification of the decision by the State Attorney’s Office.

The Anti-discrimination Act specifies misdemeanour liability for harassment, sexual

harassment and victimisation, but not for other forms of discrimination.343A victim of

discrimination can file a complaint with the Ombudsperson as the central body

responsible for anti-discrimination. If a person faces discrimination by an administrative

act, he or she can file a complaint with the Administrative Court of the Republic of

Croatia, which is authorised to review the legality of administrative acts.

Finally, a victim of discrimination can file a constitutional complaint with the

Constitutional Court if he or she deems that an individual act of a state body, a body of

local and regional self-government or a legal person with public authority that

341 Misdemeanour courts deal with minor offences; Misdemeanours Act, 3 October 2007, Prekršajni zakon,

(Official Gazette 107/2007, 39/2013, 157/2013, 110/2015, 70/17, 118/18).

342 Civil Procedure Act, 24 December 1976, Zakon o parničnom postupku, Article 186(a).

343 Misdemeanours are minor offences, most often prosecuted ex officio in proceedings similar to criminal

proceedings.