At its 20th session on 18 September 2015, the Croatian parliament adopted the final proposal of the new Law on Humanitarian Aid.
The new Law declared null and void the Law on Humanitarian Aid of 2010, under five year implementation of which, certain deficiencies have been noticed, that have been eliminated by the new Law. More clearer conditions for obtaining writ for constant collecting and providing of humanitarian aid, which will in the end lead to profiling of non-profit legal entities that deal with this activity indeed. Mechanisms of control of humanitarian aid collecting and providing are being strengthened by this Law as well. Thus, for the first time, proceeding with financial assets gathered through humanitarian actions but not spent has been regulated, in a way that the humanitarian action organizer is obliged to keep the not spent assets on the account and to pay them in on the account of the first forthcoming humanitarian aid that has been approved with the same mark of type, i. e. logo (e. g. child healing, purchase of orthopaedic apparatus, purchase of medical equipment and similar). Provisions regulating refund of assets gathered through humanitarian actions but that have not been spent purposely and appropriately are being introduced by this Law for the first time, and in that sense, role of the competent State Attorney in the procedures conducted before the competent bodies for the purpose of these assets’ refund. According to the old Law, such was not feasible, since it was not clear who, and in which way, can initiate procedures for refund of these assets, that have not been owned neither by the beneficiaries nor by the organizers, but by all the citizens who donate funds for the assets.
Furthermore, a maximum level of transparency in collecting assets will be ensured, as well as more efficient prevention of misuse in collecting and providing of humanitarian aid. This has been enabled by the prescribed provisions of law binding the competent offices of state administration to ensure public availability of submitted annual reports from the permanent collectors of humanitarian aid, as well as of the reports on actions performed. The reports will be published on each office’s websites.
Text of the final proposal of the Law on Humanitarian Aid can be found
here. The Law comes into force on 1 November 2015.
At its 20th session on 18 September 2015, the Croatian parliament adopted the final proposal of the new Law on Humanitarian Aid.
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