Croatia (2021 eInvoicing Country Sheet)

Legislation

Act on eInvoicing in public procurement (transposing Directive 55/2014/EU) entered into force on 1 November 2018.(OJ 94/2018).

The Act obliged all public procurement entities (purchasers/procurers) to receive and process EN-compliant electronic invoices (eInvoices) as of 1 December 2018.

The Act also introduced mandatory issuance of structured eInvoices for suppliers /issuers of eInvoices to public administrations as of 1 July 2019.

According to the Act, all eInvoices issued in public procurement must comply with the European standard on eInvoicing (EN 16931).

Furthermore, the Act broadened the scope of the Directive and Croatia has made eInvoicing mandatory for procurement procedures below the following thresholds: purchase of goods and services below 200 000.00 HRK and works below 500 000.00 HRK. The Act also made eInvoicing mandatory for all procurement using direct purchasing with purchase orders and other similar procedures.

eInvoicing platform and management solutions

There is a central national platform for the exchange of eInvoices, Servis eRačun za državu. All information intermediaries for B2G eInvoice exchanges must connect to this platform, which interconnects public purchasers, contracting authorities, sectoral contractors and information intermediaries with their clients. The platform is also connected to Peppol (FINA Peppol Access Point connected to it) so that all Peppol members could send eInvoices via the central platform.

This model allows:

• The connection of all participants with a single connection point (connection with the Access Point), which significantly saves the resources needed for integration;
• The standardisation of the exchange protocol, as all participants make a single connection to a single Access Point;
• A unique record of all participants with an easy switch of sectoral contractors from one information intermediary to another;
• A record and a single statistical analysis of all received messages/invoices, regardless of the economic sector involved in the transaction (which is a powerful tool for overseeing irregularities).

It is not necessary to establish bilateral contractual relations or agreements between all parties in the system. A simple registration to Servis eRačun za državu is sufficient to exchange eInvoices with other registered users.In Croatia, there is large number of eInvoicing service providers – those connected with FINA Central platform for B2G segment are listed on the Ministry of economy page, but on B2B market there is even more, especially international in the EDI segment.There is currently no proposal from the Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Crafts to make electronic invoicing mandatory for the B2B sector, however B2B eInvoicing is strongly recommended.

Approach for receiving and processing

Public purchasers/Contracting authorities receive eInvoices via the central eInvoicing platform Servis eRačun za državu.

The processing of eInvoices depends on the public purchasers/contracting authorities technology (fully automated or semi-automated, where the processing of eInvoices requires some human intervention).

For B2G, all suppliers must issue eInvoices when dealing with public contracting authorities, while for B2B no specific requirements are mandatory for the issuing. Similarly, for B2G all receiving of eInvoices is required for all contracting authorities, while for B2B the buyers consent for receiving eInvoices is required.

EInvoices sent through Peppol are not required to be electronically signed, and their archiving is mandatory for 11 years[2].

eInvoicing implementation in sub-central level contracting authorities 

The national eInvoicing model is required at both the central and sub-central levels. All contracting authorities and associated companies are required to implement eInvoicing for their public procurement processes. With the full implementation of the eInvoicing Act from 1 July 2019, all eInvoicing exchanges must comply with EN 16931 and be transmitted via the national platform.

All central contracting authorities are required to connect directly to the central platform, while the sub-central entities may choose to either connect directly to the platform or to use an information intermediary. All information intermediaries (service providers) are required to comply with EN 16931 and the technical specifications needed to connect to the platforms. Intermediaries are monitored and a list of compliant companies is published on the Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Crafts web page.

Status on the implementation of the European Standard on eInvoicing (EN)

Following the establishment of the CEN/TC 434 working group on eInvoicing, the Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Crafts had established a Croatian technical committee on eInvoicing (HZN/TO 573) in 2014, which is under the supervision of the Croatian Standard Institute.

The European Standard on eInvoicing (EN) is fully implemented in Croatia. The Croatian government recommends the use of the OASIS UBL 2.1 syntax for B2G public procurement. However, the Cross-Industry Invoice (CII) is accepted as an alternative.

Croatia has a CIUS at the national level that complies with Croatian VAT legislation. The national CIUS provides descriptions of elements and data that should be used in invoices for public procurement. 

More information is available here. The national CIUS for Croatia can be found here.

Monitoring eInvoicing implementation

All B2G eInvoice exchanges are monitored through the central eInvoicing platform Servis eRačun za državu. The Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Crafts, as the implementing body, may audit public procurement eInvoices, as well as the checking the conformity and operations of information intermediaries.

More than 3.5 million eInvoices have been exchanged through the Croatian eInvoicing platform between July 2019 and mid-February 2020.[5]

Additional information

The Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Crafts has undertaken various activities to promote the use of eInvoicing in Croatia, one of which is coordination and participation in projects funded through the CEF Telecom programme.

eInvoicing was part of the three projects undertaken (two now completed), from 2015 to 2018, by the Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Crafts, as a coordinator of Croatian partner consortia. Through these projects, central government bodies, private companies and public authorities of local and regional government were supported to prepare to receive and process an eInvoice.

In cooperation with the Financial Agency (central eInvoicing intermediary actor) and the Croatian Association of Employers, more than 40 educational workshops through Croatian cities (Zagreb, Split, Osijek, Rijeka, Varaždin and Vukovar) have been organised. This initiatives aimed to promote and educate business entities and public administration bodies in receiving/issuing eInvoices.

Through November and December 2018, and through January 2019, the Financial Agency organised and conducted at least 30 technical workshops for eInvoice issuers/suppliers, system integrators (issuing), and public purchasers (receiving and issuing). 

[1] (Smith, 2021), [2] (Smith, 2021), [3] (eInvoicing Boost for Croatia - eIBC: presentation of project results, 2021), [4](DigitalALL Public conference, 2021), [5] (Another step forward in the exchange of electronic invoices, 2020)

Last updated:  Jan 17, 2022 10:19