New Copyright Law entered into force in Croatia
The new Croatian Copyright and Related Rights Law, which implements EU Directives 2019/790 and 2019/789 and aligns national legislation with the digital age, entered into force on 22 October 2021.
Key changes include a broader definition of copyright-protected works, explicitly covering audiovisual and journalistic works and video games and multimedia content. The law also introduces the country-of-origin principle for cross-border internet broadcasting services.
To address the “value gap” on digital content-sharing platforms, service providers are now required to obtain authorisation from rights holders, ensuring fair compensation for authors. The law also strengthens copyright protection in employment relationships and introduces a new related right for publishers of informative publications.
Legal uncertainties around the use of protected works in the digital and cross-border context have been addressed. For instance, copyright-protected works may now be used for automated computer analysis (text and data mining) for academic purposes without compensation. Additionally, use of such works in digital teaching is permitted for non-commercial educational purposes.
The law also improves the framework for collective rights management, making it more detailed and extending mandatory collective management to all types of programme retransmission. It includes clear rules for rights management in direct injection transmission (signal delivery directly to distributors without prior public access).
Finally, provisions on supervision and copyright infringement enforcement have been aligned with other inspection and administrative regulations, modernising oversight in this field.