The Interpretative Effect of European Law in the Judgment of the Croatian Constitutional Court No U-III-1410/2007 (in ‘Croatian Yearbook of European Law & Policy. Vol.4, 2008’, p247-266)

On 13 February 2006, the Constitutional Court of Croatia issued a very important judgment in which it resolved a difficult situation created by divergent judgments of the Administrative Court of Croatia in which The Administrative Court ruled on decisions made by the Croatian Competition Agency. The Administrative Court’s judgments diverged in the interpretation of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the Republic of Croatia and the European Community. In the ongoing pre-accession period it is of great importance to instruct the Croatian judiciary how and when the criteria and standards of the comparative law of the European Community should be applied. This is especially important in cases which involve the Croatian Constitutional Court, as its primary function is to preserve the division of powers in Croatia. According to the Administrative Disputes Act, an administrative dispute can be initiated against the decisions of administrative bodies against which appeals are not permitted, in other words before the Administrative Court. Given that the largest part of the European acquis communautaire relates to administrative law, the focus points of the application of European law in Croatia will be administrative legislation, administrative proceedings and administrative law in general.