After numerous promises, it seems that fees paid by Croatian companies could finally be lowered.
On Thursday, the government adopted an action plan for simplification of administrative procedures for businesses, which includes 104 individual measures and should save Croatian companies about 1.5 billion kuna this year, reports Novi List on January 5, 2017.
“This is another proof that 2017 will be the year of entrepreneurship and that we will put the focus on the real sector of the economy and create favourable business climate in Croatia”, said Prime Minister Andrej Plenković at the beginning of the cabinet meeting. The intention of the action plan is to simplify administrative burden for businesses. The plan provides for 104 individual measures to be taken by the end of this year. It is expected that it should bring savings for companies in the amount of 1.5 billion kuna this year, and Plenković also announced further measures with regard to regulatory reform.
Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Martina Dalić said that this marked the beginning of the reform of the business climate in Croatia, which is one of the main pillars of the government’s policies. The aim of the package is to implement measures that will enable cheaper businesses operations and contribute to improving the business climate, she said. The action plan outlines measures in the areas of occupational safety, health and sanitary protection, energy efficiency, trade and establishment of companies, she added.
Dalić stressed some of the measures included in the plan. For example, in the field of occupational safety and health, companies will be able to independently use an online form to make a risk assessment, which will bring savings in the amount of 450 million kuna a year. The government will also reduce the cost of education of employees in charge of first aid and occupational safety by 50 percent.
Minister Dalić said she expected the implementation of the plan to proceed relatively quickly so that the most important measures could be implemented during the first half of this year. Measures relating to simplification of establishing companies and crafts have a slightly longer term for implementation, but it should happen by the end of the year.
As part of the plan, the government adopted a decision on establishment of the Commission for Reduction and Elimination of Non-Tax Levies. Dalić said that its task was to update the register of non-tax levies, analyze existing levies and reduce them by 30 percent, which would bring additional savings to the economy.
The action plan itself consists of two parts: measures to reduce excessive administrative costs and measures to liberalize the market of professional services.
The objective of the first part is to lower costs for the economy by an average of 30 percent by the end of 2017, with savings of up to 1.5 billion kuna. The second part has the goal of facilitating access to the market of professional services, which will allow for more competition in the field of auditing services, legal and attorney services, and driving schools.
The biggest savings for businesses are planned in the area of occupational safety and health, in the total amount of 1.3 billion kuna, from the current 2.38 billion kuna a year. Savings in the area of sanitary and health conditions will bring companies about 97 million kuna. Changes in the area of establishing companies will bring savings in the amount of 37.5 million kuna, while those in the area of energy efficiency will bring 9.3 million kuna.
