Provision of public services

If you are contesting a bill in court or out-of-court proceedings, the trader providing the public services cannot suspend the service until the end of the court or out-of-court proceedings, provided that you are paying uncontested bills

Public services include:
  • Electricity distribution
  • Natural gas distribution
  • Heating distribution
  • Electronic communications services
  • Public water supply and public sewerage
  • Public gas supply service
  • Chimney sweeping
  • Universal electricity supply service
  • Post services
  • Public passenger transport
  • Collection of mixed and biodegradable municipal waste.

The trader providing a public service has to enable you to peruse the general terms and conditions, as well as any public service terms of use, in advance and publish these terms on their website.

Price and calculation

The price of provision of public services has to be calculated by applying the prices determined by special regulations. Traders may not charge readings of metering devices, except in cases provided for in special regulations.

Grievance procedure

The trader providing a public service has to enable the consumer to file a written complaint and respond to that complaint without any delay, but no later than 15 days from the receipt of this complaint. 

If the trader failed to respond to the complaint in writing within this time limit or if the consumer still believes their right were infringed after receiving a response, they can raise a grievance with the consumer grievance committee of the public service provider, of which committee a representative of a consumer protection association has to be a member.

The committee has to respond to the grievance raised by the consumer in writing within 30 days from the date of its receipt. 

Only after the consumer has filed a written complaint with the trader; that is, raised a grievance with the committee in case of a public service, they can file a report with the State Inspectorate's Market Inspection or bring court or out-of-court proceedings to further exercise their consumer rights. 
If you failed to resolve your dispute with a trader with the help of a written complaint, court proceedings are not the only option for its resolution available to you. More precisely, in that case you can apply for dispute resolution with the trader to one of the alternative dispute resolution entities competent for consumer disputes in the Republic of Croatia. There is a number of advantages for which citizens should decide to initiate alternative dispute resolution instead of bringing proceedings before an ordinary court.

The advantage of alternative resolution of consumer disputes is that it is a much more flexible option than bringing an action before a court, it is conducted in a more informal setting and it will be cheaper for both the consumer and the trader. Moreover, if agreement is reached in such disputes, this agreement is an acceptable resolution for both parties involved in the dispute.

The following entities perform alternative resolution of consumer disputes:

Court of honour:

The Court of Honour of the Croatian Chamber of Trades and Crafts, Zagreb, Ilica 49/II, sud-casti@hok.hr
 
Mediation Centres:

1) Mediation Centre at the Croatian Chamber of Trades and Crafts, Zagreb, Rooseveltov trg 2, mirenje@hgk.hr
2) Mediation Centre at the Croatian Chamber of Trades and Crafts, Zagreb, Ilica 49/II, mirenje@hok.hr
3) Mediation Centre of the Croatian Insurance Bureau, Zagreb, Martićeva 71, mirenje@huo.hr
4) Mediation Centre of the Croatian Mediation Association, Zagreb, Martićeva 1, mirenje@huo.hr
5) Profi Test d.o.o., “Medijator” Mediation Centre, Bjelovar, Petra Hektorovića 2, medijator@medijator.com.hr

Service suspension

If you are contesting a bill from a trader providing a public service in court or out-of-court proceedings, this trader may not suspend the provision of this service until the end of the court or out-of-court proceedings, provided that you are duly paying all subsequent uncontested bills, unless you terminated your contract with the trader providing the public service.

If the trader providing the public service suspended its provision before the competent authority or person notified the trader of the instituted proceedings, the trader is obliged to start providing the service again or continue providing it until the end of the court or out-of-court proceedings.

The trader providing the public service is also obliged to do this in case of institution of proceedings for enforced recovery against the consumer.

Limitation period for claims

The limitation period for claims for public services, for example for supplied electricity and heating, gas, water, chimney sweeping services and cleaning services, where the supply or service has been provided to a household, is one year.