Chapter 4: Croatia

(continued)

MAPPING AND EVALUATION OF OPPORTUNITIES

International Decsionmaking

In Croatia the preliminary procedure of concluding and enforcing international laws (such as proposing, negotiating, signing etc.) occurs almost exclusively as an internal procedure within the governmental bodies, with few opportunities for public participation. Parliament is obliged to ratify international agreements whose implementation requires either the issuance of new domestic laws or the amendment of existing ones, international agreements of military or political nature, and international agreements that impose certain financial obligation to the Republic of Croatia. Thus, only at that final stage of the international decisionmaking process - i.e. ratification - is it possible to have more significant public participation as provided by laws and regulations on parliament or parliamentary procedure. In practice, public participation in international matters is rather rare.

TABLE 4: International Decisionmaking
	Initiation of DM (problem/ proposal)	Defining the scope, issues and stakeholders (pre-decision scoping)	Defining the scope of DM (impacts and alternatives)	Evaluation of the alternatives	Selection of the alternative (DM about the selected alternative)	Execution of the selected alternative	Post-decision monitoring & enforcement (feedback/ adjustment)
Phases of Decisionmaking LEVELS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Control of decisionmaking (right to decide)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Decisionmaking power is shared (right to joint decisionmaking)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Comments are seriously taken into account (right to be heard)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Adequate notification (right to be informed)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Access to information (right to access to information)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2

Preparation and Approval of National Laws and Regulations

In the national lawmaking process, there are certain legislative opportunities and practical examples of public participation. The general impression is that NGOs, as representatives of the public in this case, are neither using all the legal tools available nor is the extent of their involvement in accordance with the opportunities they have. The main limitation to their activities is the lack of funding.

TABLE 5: Preparation and Approval of National Laws and Regulations
	Initiation of DM (problem/ proposal)	Defining the scope, issues and stakeholders (pre-decision scoping)	Defining the scope of DM (impacts and alternatives)	Evaluation of the alternatives	Selection of the alternative (DM about the selected alternative)	Execution of the selected alternative	Post-decision monitoring & enforcement (feedback/ adjustment)
Phases of Decisionmaking LEVELS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Control of decisionmaking (right to decide)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Decisionmaking power is shared (right to joint decisionmaking)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Comments are seriously taken into account (right to be heard)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Adequate notification (right to be informed)	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
Access to information (right to access to information)	3	3	3	3	3	3	3

Preparation and Approval of National Strategies and Policies

In order to give a proper evaluation of "national strategies and policies," there is a need to distinguish between the strategies and policies ordered by law and the laws or regulations which stem from strategies and policies in a broader sense and which sometimes affect environmental matters. The latter have the same status regarding public participation. In the first case, the situation is similar to that of the case of national laws and regulations. In the second case, the strategies and policies can become a subject of influence through public participation due to their predominately political nature.

TABLE 6: Preparation and Approval of National Strategies and Policies
	Initiation of DM (problem/ proposal)	Defining the scope, issues and stakeholders (pre-decision scoping)	Defining the scope of DM (impacts and alternatives)	Evaluation of the alternatives	Selection of the alternative (DM about the selected alternative)	Execution of the selected alternative	Post-decision monitoring & enforcement (feedback/ adjustment)
Phases of Decisionmaking LEVELS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Control of decisionmaking (right to decide)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Decisionmaking power is shared (right to joint decisionmaking)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Comments are seriously taken into account (right to be heard)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Adequate notification (right to be informed)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Access to information (right to access to information)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2

Preparation and Approval of Local Rules and Regulations

The situation is similar to that of national strategies and policies concerning the local level. The decisionmaking process in local strategies and policies (whose issuance is ordered by law) allows the same extent of public participation as in the case of local laws and regulations. For political strategies and policies that have some influence on environmental issues, the level of public participation is significantly lower, as the political decisionmaking process normally takes place out of public reach.

Local authorities can issue laws and regulations within their scope of jurisdiction, i.e. when it is either ordered or allowed by laws and regulations of a higher (national) rank. In such cases, the decisionmaking procedure and legal opportunities for public participation are similar to those at the national level, which means that limited public participation possibilities are guaranteed, especially in terms of access to information, right to be informed, and right to be heard. The difference that should be pointed out is that in most practical cases the public is not very interested in participating unless a private interest is affected. The reason for this is that local laws and regulations are considered less significant. Also, some of the most active NGOs are mainly using their resources to challenge national - and, therefore generally applicable - laws rather than local ones.

TABLE 7: Preparation and Approval of Local Rules and Regulations
	Initiation of DM (problem/ proposal)	Defining the scope, issues and stakeholders (pre-decision scoping)	Defining the scope of DM (impacts and alternatives)	Evaluation of the alternatives	Selection of the alternative (DM about the selected alternative)	Execution of the selected alternative	Post-decision monitoring & enforcement (feedback/ adjustment)
Phases of Decisionmaking LEVELS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Control of decisionmaking (right to decide)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Decisionmaking power is shared (right to joint decisionmaking)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Comments are seriously taken into account (right to be heard)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Adequate notification (right to be informed)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Access to information (right to access to information)	3	3	3	3	3	3	3

TABLE 8: Preparation of Regional/Local Policies (Strategies)
	Initiation of DM (problem/ proposal)	Defining the scope, issues and stakeholders (pre-decision scoping)	Defining the scope of DM (impacts and alternatives)	Evaluation of the alternatives	Selection of the alternative (DM about the selected alternative)	Execution of the selected alternative	Post-decision monitoring & enforcement (feedback/ adjustment)
Phases of Decisionmaking LEVELS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Control of decisionmaking (right to decide)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Decisionmaking power is shared (right to joint decisionmaking)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Comments are seriously taken into account (right to be heard)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Adequate notification (right to be informed)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Access to information (right to access to information)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2

Preparation and Approval of Territorial Plans (Spatial/Local Land-Use Plans)

The area of land-use planning provides public participation opportunities that are definitely among the best developed, both in legislation and practice. Thus, the public hearing is mandatory for any level of the land-use plans (county, municipality, town). In addition, there is mandatory notification regarding public hearings, accompanied by a legally regulated form of giving comments. However, despite the fact that public authorities regularly fulfill the legal requirements, response by the public could be more forthcoming in practice.

TABLE 9: Preparation and Approval of Territorial Plans (Spatial/Local Land-Use Plans)
	Initiation of DM (problem/ proposal)	Defining the scope, issues and stakeholders (pre-decision scoping)	Defining the scope of DM (impacts and alternatives)	Evaluation of the alternatives	Selection of the alternative (DM about the selected alternative)	Execution of the selected alternative	Post-decision monitoring & enforcement (feedback/ adjustment)
Phases of Decisionmaking LEVELS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Control of decisionmaking (right to decide)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Decisionmaking power is shared (right to joint decisionmaking)	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
Comments are seriously taken into account (right to be heard)	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
Adequate notification (right to be informed)	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
Access to information (right to access to information)	4	4	4	4	4	4	4

EIA

The public participation opportunities provided by EIA regulations are generally adequate. Thus, the public has the right to participate in public insights and is entitled to give opinions, proposals and suggestions, either in written or oral form. Nevertheless, the practice of these public participation opportunities suffers from what is a common drawback in Croatia: insufficient involvement.

TABLE 10: Environmental Impact Assessment
	Initiation of DM (problem/ proposal)	Defining the scope, issues and stakeholders (pre-decision scoping)	Defining the scope of DM (impacts and alternatives)	Evaluation of the alternatives	Selection of the alternative (DM about the selected alternative)	Execution of the selected alternative	Post-decision monitoring & enforcement (feedback/ adjustment)
Phases of Decisionmaking LEVELS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Control of decisionmaking (right to decide)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Decisionmaking power is shared (right to joint decisionmaking)	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
Comments are seriously taken into account (right to be heard)	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
Adequate notification (right to be informed)	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
Access to information (right to access to information)	4	4	4	4	4	4	4

The process of environmentally-related permitting is an administrative procedure that occurs almost exclusively between parties, with the administrative body in charge of permit issuance on one side and the legal or natural person who requests such a permit on the other. As such, the permitting process is hardly open for the influence of those whose direct interest is not affected by the particular permit. Siting does not exist as a separate form, but as a part of EIA, or the land-planning procedure in Croatia.

TABLE 11: Siting/Permitting
	Initiation of DM (problem/ proposal)	Defining the scope, issues and stakeholders (pre-decision scoping)	Defining the scope of DM (impacts and alternatives)	Evaluation of the alternatives	Selection of the alternative (DM about the selected alternative)	Execution of the selected alternative	Post-decision monitoring & enforcement (feedback/ adjustment)
Phases of Decisionmaking LEVELS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Control of decisionmaking (right to decide)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Decisionmaking power is shared (right to joint decisionmaking)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Comments are seriously taken into account (right to be heard)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Adequate notification (right to be informed)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Access to information (right to access to information)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2

REC * PUBLICATIONS * DOORS TO DEMOCRACY - CEE * CROATIA