The current caretaker government will not implement an EU directive which would lower the price of constructing high-speed internet connection.
The Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure announced that the European Commission’s directive on measures to reduce the cost of installing high-speed electronic communication networks would be considered after the new Parliament is constituted and new government is formed, reports HRT on October 1, 2016.
“Croatia will prepare a response to the opinion of the European Commission in which it will point out that the draft of the law would enter procedure as soon as new Parliament and government are constituted and formed”, the Ministry said in a statement. In parallel with this, the government will complete the process of amending the Law on Electronic Communications, which will also include certain parts of the provisions from the directive.
The Ministry pointed out that a public consultation period for the draft law transposing the directive had been fully completed. However, it added, in the meantime there have been circumstances which could not have been foreseen, which includes the fact that the government lost the vote of confidence and it continued in a caretaker capacity, while Parliament was dissolved, so it was not possible to complete the legislative process in accordance with the terms of the directive.
Croatia is one of 19 European Union member states which have received a warning from the European Commission because they have not yet included into their national laws a directive which aims to reduce the cost of building broadband networks by 30 percent.
It is one among a series of measures which the Commission presented in March 2013 with the aim of reducing the costs of establishing high-speed communication networks by 30 percent, and which all member states needed to include in their national legislation by 1 January. The 19 countries which have not yet done it have been given the final warning, and now they have two months in which to inform the Commission of measures taken for harmonization of their national legislations with EU law.
In addition to Croatia, the European Commission warned Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and the United Kingdom. If these countries do not inform the Commission about the measures taken for harmonization of national legislation with EU law, the European Commission may decide to refer them to the Court of the EU, as well as to propose fines.
