Database

Cyta, the incumbent, is a partially state owned company and it is currently undergoing a privatization process.

In the European Union, there is no general principle for the use of copyright protected material comparable to the fair use/fair dealing principle in the US. Directive 2001/29/EC defines an optional, but exhaustive set of limitations from the author´s exclusive rights under the control of the “three-step test”. This is a clause in the Berne Convention that establishes three cumulative conditions to the limitations and exceptions of a copyright holder’s rights. The Directive has been transposed by Member States with significant freedom.

In Cyprus, the directive was implemented with some specific non-mandatory limitations.

There are some practices which might constitute a barrier for foreign firms to participate in public tenders. Tender documents are typically released in the Greek language, which is an official EU language. Furthermore, it has been reported that government and semi-government organizations take into consideration the reliability and reputation of the local agent/representative when evaluating tenders for service and customer support for government projects, which makes it important for successful tendering to have a local representative.

The European Regulation No. 1042/2013 amending the Council Implementing Regulation No. 282/2011, declares that from January 2015, all supplies of telecommunications, broadcasting and electronic services will be taxable at the place where the customer belongs. These include, inter alia:
- images or text, such as photos, screensavers, e-books and other digitised documents e.g. PDF files;
- music, films and games, including games of chance and gambling games, and of programmes on demand;
- online magazines website supply or web hosting services distance maintenance of programmes and equipment;
- supplies of software and software updates advertising space on a website.

Both EU and non-EU suppliers have to register for VAT purposes and comply with the relevant obligations of the Member State where the customer is established, has his/her permanent address or usually resides. This may be burdensome as there are 81 VAT rates across the 28 EU countries and the rates may vary between 3% (Luxembourg) to 27% (Hungary) across member states. Furthermore, member states impose varying thresholds at which companies must begin paying VAT, ranging from EUR 0 to EUR 60,000.

As an alternative to obtaining multiple VAT registrations in each Member State where a supplier has a customer, affected suppliers may be able to opt to account for VAT across the EU via a a web-portal in the Member State in which they are identified. Hence, the system, known as the Mini One-Stop Shop (MOSS) scheme, allows taxable persons to avoid registering in each Member State of consumption.

Selling alcohol online is not permitted. Moreover, online ads for spirits and wines are banned.

Croatia requires a physical address in Croatia for .com.hr domains.

For.hr domains, the entities must be registered in Croatia or private individuals must be residing in Croatia.

The European de minimis threshold for import duties is harmonized. Goods with a value of up to 128 SDR / 150 EUR / 186 USD are exempted from customs duties. The VAT de minimis threshold is not harmonized within the EU and can vary between 10 and 22 EUR, i.e. Member States can decide on a value within this range to grant an exemption on VAT for imported goods.

According to Croatia's de minimis rule goods with a value of up to 19 SDR / 22 EUR / 27 USD are exempted from VAT.

The EU Directive on Audiovisual Media Services (AVMS) covers traditional broadcasting services as well as audiovisual media services provided on-demand, including via the Internet. According to the AVMS Directive on-demand services are not subject to any explicit, strict content quota, but Article 13 imposes on Member States the obligation to ensure that on-demand service providers promote European works. The Directive has been implemented by Member States in different ways, ranging from very extensive and detailed measures to a mere reference to the general obligation to promote European works.

Croatia has implemented Article 13 via two obligations:
- It imposed on video-on-demand (VOD) providers the obligation to reserve a share of European works in their catalogue.
- VOD providers are required to contribute financially to the production and rights acquisition of European works by investment in the latter.

For all foreign service providers, the Ministry of Labour makes an approval to confirm the desirability of skills needed. The Ministry of Internal Affairs validates the (business) visa upon entry.

For all foreign service providers, the annual quota is set by the Decision of the Government of the Republic of Croatia each year, also with regards to the extensions of the already issued work permits and a new employment. For independent service suppliers (ISS), there is a way to work outside the quota as stated in Article 76.

According to preliminary Business Software Alliance (BSA) estimates, the software piracy rate in Croatia in 2010 was 55% in comparison with 35% average in Wester Europe.

In the European Union, there is no general principle for the use of copyright protected material comparable to the fair use/fair dealing principle in the US. Directive 2001/29/EC defines an optional, but exhaustive set of limitations from the author´s exclusive rights under the control of the “three-step test”. This is a clause in the Berne Convention that establishes three cumulative conditions to the limitations and exceptions of a copyright holder’s rights. The Directive has been transposed by Member States with significant freedom.

The Croatian Copyright Law that implements the Directive allows only for such uses of a copyright work which are expressly stipulated in the act, do not conflict with regular use of the work and do not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the author.

In 2013, a unified European system of patent's granting and enforcement was approved. The Unitary Patent (UP) provides a single pan-European patent as an additional option for companies or investors seeking patent protection in Europe. The system would ensure uniform protection in 26 Member States (Croatia and Spain have opted out over language issues, while Italy became a participant in September 2015) and also includes a litigation system within a Unified Patent Court (Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy, Poland and Spain have opted out).

The European Regulation No. 1042/2013 amending the Council Implementing Regulation No. 282/2011, declares that from January 2015, all supplies of telecommunications, broadcasting and electronic services will be taxable at the place where the customer belongs. These include, inter alia:
- images or text, such as photos, screensavers, e-books and other digitised documents e.g. PDF files;
- music, films and games, including games of chance and gambling games, and of programmes on demand;
- online magazines website supply or web hosting services distance maintenance of programmes and equipment;
- supplies of software and software updates advertising space on a website.

Both EU and non-EU suppliers have to register for VAT purposes and comply with the relevant obligations of the Member State where the customer is established, has his/her permanent address or usually resides. This may be burdensome as there are 81 VAT rates across the 28 EU countries and the rates may vary between 3% (Luxembourg) to 27% (Hungary) across member states. Furthermore, member states impose varying thresholds at which companies must begin paying VAT, ranging from EUR 0 to EUR 60,000.

As an alternative to obtaining multiple VAT registrations in each Member State where a supplier has a customer, affected suppliers may be able to opt to account for VAT across the EU via a a web-portal in the Member State in which they are identified. Hence, the system, known as the Mini One-Stop Shop (MOSS) scheme, allows taxable persons to avoid registering in each Member State of consumption.

The EU Copyright Directive allows “fair compensation” for copyright owners. As a result, several Member States have imposed national levy systems.

According to the Copyright Law in Croatia, the responsible party for copyright levies is the importer or producer of media or equipment. The following copyright levies apply:
- Audio CD R/W: EUR 0.01 for less than 1 GB.
- DVD R/W: EUR 0.01 per unit/less than 10 GB.
- Memory card: EUR 0.55 for less than 16 GB and EUR 1.10 for more than 16 GB.
- USB stick: EUR 0.55 for less than 16 GB and EUR 1.10 for more than 16 GB.

Furthermore, the following rates apply to devices:
- MP3 player: EUR 1.93 per unit.
- CD writer (internal): EUR 0.55 per unit.
- CD recorder (external): EUR 2.75 per unit.
- DVD writer (internal): EUR 0.55 per unit.
- DVD recorder (external): EUR 4.13 per unit.
- Computer hard disc: EUR 0.27 per unit.
- Analogue audio recorder: EUR 0.82 per unit.
- Analogue video recorder: EUR 1.37 per unit.
- PC – personal computer: EUR 0.82 per unit.
- Hifi HD recorder: EUR 5.50 per unit.
- Apple iPod: EUR 1.95 per unit.
- Mobile phone with MP3 function: EUR 1.37 per unit.