The article deals with the commercial characteristics of insurance contracts. It considers the application of the regulations in the insurance contract in view of the parties of obligatory relations as well as the real jurisdiction of the courts in deal with legal proceedings. The unique property insurance law and the rules of the commercial law are always applied to the insurance contracts no matter whether the insurer is a sales person or no t. The legal provisions on the real court jurisdiction refer only to diversification of the real jurisdiction among specific courts and the application of the proceedings rules, whereas the unique legal provisions of the property law are applied to all the legal proceedings regarding insurance contracts independently on the parties in the legal proceedings or the court where such legal proceedings are held.
Commercial customs represent a commercial practice which is widely used and in terms of law considered to be well-known and accepted by the parties involved, except in the case they have agreed differently. Due to the fact that such a commercial practice has been widespread the salesmen expect from the contract parties to conduct in such a way. The Act on Obligatory Relations, which came into effect at the beginning of 2007, determines the conditions for application of commercial customs in obligatory relations between the salesmen (to whom the above stated customs are to be applied according to the mutual practice) and the persons which are not necessarily all salesmen (between non-salesmen or non-salesmen and salesmen). In these relations the customs are to be applied if their application has been contracted or legally determined. The subjective theory of application of commercial customs has been retained, which is justifiable because the parties involved are not professionals and they will not be expected to be familiar with all the sources in a particular profession. The protection of non-salesmen is especially necessary if they enter the obligatory relation with salesmen.
The author of the article analyses two contracts specifically stated in the Act on Obligatory Relations as quite common contracts in commercial relationships. They are both based on the contract on order according to which the orderee is authorized and obliged to perform certain activities on behalf of the orderer. Prior to the conclusion of these contracts there should firstly be an order as a one-sided expression of will of one person to another. After the orderee has accepted the above stated order the contract on order emerges. Due to the fact that the contract on commission sales and the contract on representation are specific, this article provides a comparative analysis of the legal provisions referring to both contracts including the review of the VAT regulations and the samples of these contracts.
The procedure of transformation of socially-owned ownership into private ownership has not been completed despite a large number of acts and by-laws because neither the recording into land registers has been carried out nor have the non-registered persons who have acquired the right to ownership entered their transferred right to use, to manage and to have on disposal the real estate into land registers. The shortage of transfer and final provisions which would enable a faster and more efficient recording of real estate into land registers, which are entered in the real estate cadastral managed by the authorised cadastral offices, has resulted into two kinds of ownership (socially owned and private) recorded in the land registers, which represents an obstacle of development of real estate market and investments into real estate.
The author of the article analyses a case from court practice in which an employee claimed for damages from the employer caused by the fall from the ladder during work. He critically reviews some elements of the court decision and makes a conclusion that the work with use of ladders can be considered as the work with increased danger. The employer is responsible for the accident at work caused by the fall from the ladders during the work according to the causality in terms of the provision stated in the Art. 15 of the current Act on Protection at Work as well as in terms of the Art. 1064 of the valid Act on Obligatory Relations. However, the inappropriate conduct of the worker upon the use of ladders, which caused the damage, can reduce the volume of the employer’s responsibility or entirely exclude his/her responsibility if the inappropriate conduct of the worker could not be foreseen by the employer or if the employer could neither avoid nor remove the consequences of such conduct.
The issues referring to the completion of bankruptcy procedure of a bank and a savings bank are regulated by the regulations which were valid in the time when the bankruptcy procedure was started, which means in the case the bankruptcy procedure was started before 1 January 1997 when the Bankruptcy Act came into effect. Before this date the provisions of the Act on Compulsory Settlement, Bankruptcy and Liquidation from 1994 are to be applied, because the bankruptcy procedures and the procedures of compulsory settlement started before the date when the Bankruptcy Act came into effect shall be completed according to the Act on Compulsory Settlement, Bankruptcy and Liquidation. Due to the fact that the banks and savings banks are specific legal persons, their bankruptcy procedure is also regulated by the Bank Act from 2002, which is also effective now, as well as by the Bank Act from 1998.
The Act on Regional Planning and Construction has introduced into the Croatian legal system the institute of decision on conditions of construction. According to this Act the construction of the building with the construction (gross) surface area not larger than 400 m2 and the construction of the building with the construction (gross) surface area not larger than 600 m2 can start according to the fi nal decision on conditions of construction. In addition, before obtaining the location permit and the decison on conditions of construction the owner of the construction land is obliged to deliver to the unit of the local government a part of the construction land which is according to the document on regional planning determined for the construction of infrastructure buildings or equipment, which will serve to this construction plot or the building to be constructed on this plot.
The institutes of cession (assignment) and compensation are compatible with the taxation procedure. The tax administration is namely not obliged to assign the right to tax return if the assignee is under distraint or has unsettled liabilities for public payments which are collected by the tax administration. According to the Act on Money Transfers the tax payer who has unsettled due payments on the account (blocked giro-account) cannot assign the right to tax return and contribution return during the blockade. The rights and liabilities from the tax-debtor relationship seize through compensation as well. However, the return of the overpaid tax and the tax paid without any legal basis will not be realized if the tax authorities have previously determined that the tax payer has overdue unsettled liabilities, contributions or public payments which are collected by them.
The development of stock exchange markets has increased the interest in going in the examinations for brokers and investment advisors. The Croatian Agency for Supervision of Financial Services (HANFA) passed in 2006 the Rulebook on conditions for obtaining broker and investment licences, which was amended in 2007. The Rulebook determines the curriculum and the conditions for acquiring and check-up of the knowledge necessary to obtain a broker or investment advisor licences. The program of education for future brokers or investment advisors is organized by HANFA, the attendance of which is not the requirement for sitting for the examination. The examinations for brokers and investment advisors can be sat for by the persons who have graduated from college and paid the examination fees.
The European Commission has published the document Value Added Tax Rates in EU Countries, which provides the current review of the VAT rates in some EU countries as at 1 January 2008. Using these and other available data the article analyses the VAT rate system in some EU member countries including the historical development of these rates within the European Union. It also stresses the requirements of the EU referring to the number and sum of the VAT rates, stating those member countries in which the number and sum of VAT rates have been changed including their frequency and dynamics. Finally, the article presents the VAT rate system in the Republic of Croatia as well as its possible developments in the near future within the framework of negotiations on entering the EU.
