Describes the country's standards landscape, identifies the national standards and accreditation bodies, and lists the main national testing organization(s) and conformity assessment bodies.
Last Published: 5/31/2019

Overview
Croatia’s government has harmonized its technical standards legislation with EU Directives. To create an internal market where goods legally manufactured in one member state can be sold in the market of another member without any additional testing and certification, the EU is in a continuous process of harmonizing technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures among the member states. Since the EU consists of independent states, the EU adopts Directives and publishes references to harmonized standards that each member state is required to transpose into its own legislation and national standards system. More detailed information on the EU standards and certification is available from the U.S. Commercial Service at the U.S. Mission to the EU in Brussels:

 Although the Croatian representative or importer is held directly responsible for product safety and for its conformity with Croatian technical regulations, the ultimate responsibility lies with the manufacturer.

Standards
The Croatian Standards Institute (HZN) is the public institution responsible for preparation, adoption, editing, and publication of Croatian standards. Any legal entity or natural person with a seat or residence in Croatia may be a member of the HZN and participate in its work. The members include interested Croatian manufacturers, testing and measuring laboratories and certification bodies, educational and scientific institutions, chambers of commerce, industry associations, consumer associations, and government institutions. Only 0.2% of Croatian standards are of purely Croatian origin; the rest of them are adopted European and/or international standards. HZN maintains an on-line catalog of Croatian and other standards that can be mailed to interested users for a fee. As per EU directives, the Croatian standards are voluntary.
Mr. Igor Božičević, Director General
Ulica grada Vukovara 78
10000 Zagreb
Tel: +385 1 610 60 95
e-mail: hzn@hzn.hr
Croatian Standards Institute
 
Testing, inspection and certification
The basic elements of the conformity assessment procedure in Croatia are defined by the Law on Technical Requirements for Products and Conformity Assessment published in Official Gazette No. 80/2013 and No14/2014. The Croatian Accreditation Agency is the public institution that confirms to Croatian private sector laboratories, companies and physical persons that they meet certain standards required to participate in the conformity assessment process, i.e. issues them a formal accreditation:
Croatian Accreditation Agency (HAA)
Ms. Biserka Bajzek, Managing Director
Ulica grada Vukovara 78
10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Phone : +385 1 610 6322
Email : biserka.bajzek@akreditacija.hr
Website : Croatian Accreditation Agency

As a part of creating the internal market, the EU has developed harmonized standards to be used for accreditation of third parties in the conformity assessment process in order to enable creation of an EU-wide network of equally technically capable laboratories and conformity assessment bodies whose certificates are valid throughout the EU. Each member state has designated conformity assessment bodies on its own territory that meet these standards and has notified them to the EU Commission that keeps the list of such Notified Bodies. The list of the Croatian Notified Bodies is available at: Croatian Notified Bodies List

Publication of technical regulations
Technical regulations are published in the Croatian Official Gazette, along with all other laws and regulations. Some technical laws and regulations have been translated into English, primarily for the needs of the EU accession process. The U.S. Commercial Service at the American Embassy Zagreb can assist U.S. exporters to find out about the legislation relevant to their type of product and can also arrange for translation services, if necessary.

Contact Information
U.S. Embassy - U.S. Commercial Service
Damjan Bencic, Senior Commercial Specialist
Zagreb, Croatia
Tel:  +385 (0)1 661 2186
Email: Damjan.Bencic@trade.gov
Website: export.gov/croatia/

Prepared by our U.S. Embassies abroad. With its network of 108 offices across the United States and in more than 75 countries, the U.S. Commercial Service of the U.S. Department of Commerce utilizes its global presence and international marketing expertise to help U.S. companies sell their products and services worldwide. Locate the U.S. Commercial Service trade specialist in the U.S. nearest you by visiting http://export.gov/usoffices.


More Information

Croatia Market Access Trade Development and Promotion