Vehicles of foreign nationals

Learn about the rules which apply to participation of motor vehicles of foreign nationals in road traffic in Croatia

Motor vehicles and trailers registered outside the territory of the Republic of Croatia may participate in traffic on the territory of the Republic of Croatia only if they have:

• valid transport licence, proof of technical roadworthiness, registration plates issued by the competent authority of the country where the vehicle is registered
• the international code of the country of registration or the registration plate issued by the competent authority of the country where the codes and number are laid down in European Union legislation.

Vehicles of diplomatic or consular missions and offices of foreign countries and of international organisation representations in Croatia, as well of their staff, foreign commercial, traffic, cultural and other representations, foreign correspondence bureaus and permanent foreign correspondents; that is, of foreign nationals who have been granted permanent or temporary residence in Croatia, may participate in road traffic only if they are registered in Croatia.

Vehicles registered abroad and owned by foreign nationals with temporary residence in Croatia or vehicles of Croatian nationals who temporarily come to Croatia from abroad may participate in road traffic for a maximum of three months from the date of their entry into Croatia.

To vehicles of foreign nationals who have been granted temporary residence, log books are issued with the validity period corresponding to the period for which they have been granted temporary residence; that is, for the period for which they have been granted temporary import of their vehicle if this period is shorter than the temporary residence they have been granted.

For vehicles registered in the Member States of the European Economic area, when registering vehicles in the Republic of Croatia, without change of ownership, proof of the technical roadworthiness of vehicles issued in the Member States of the European Economic area shall be recognized, if they meet the deadlines set for roadworthiness testing in the Republic of Croatia. For vehicles registered in the Member States of the European Economic area, when registering vehicles in the Republic of Croatia, with a change of ownership and for vehicles registered outside the European Economic area, only evidence of vehicle roadworthiness issued by authorised vehicle roadworthiness testing centres in Croatia is recognised.