Projects
  • DRAFTING ACT ON THE TRANSPORT IN LINER AND OCCASSIONAL COSTAL SHIPPING / BOŽENA BULUM (PH. D.) / 2021.—2022.

    Keywords: liner and occasional costal shipping, public services, services of general economic interest, award of public service contracts, public service obligations, reimbursement of the costs of public service obligations
    Summary: The project is being implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure as a partner, and relates to the drafting of a new Act on Transport in Liner and Occasional Coastal Shipping. The current Law on Transport in Liner and Occasional Coastal Maritime Transport (Official Gazette 33/06, 38/09, 87/09, 18/11, 80/13, 56/16, 121/19) regulates the system public regular maritime transport which ensures regular maritime connection of inhabited islands with the mainland and inhabited islands with each other. Dr.sc. Bulum is a member of the working group and will provide expert opinions and comments on the drafts of the new Act on Liner and Occasional Coastal Shipping regarding the issues of awarding and executing contracts for the provision of public liner transport services. Work on the text of its provisions and harmonization of the views of all stakeholders on a number of contentious issues is still ongoing. In 2017, the Public Procurement Act and the Concessions Act entered into force. Given that these are umbrella laws governing public procurement procedures and the granting of concessions for the provision of public service of general economic interest and also granting concessions for the provision of public transport on lines without public service obligation, it is necessary to harmonize the specifics of public line transport with these umbrella laws by the new Act. Also, aid schemes and individual aid granted to shipowners in the form of public service compensation need to be harmonized with the requirements of EU regulations and the domestic State Aid Act.

  • DEVELOPMENT OF THE CROATIAN PORT LEGISLATION DEALING WITH PROVISION OF MOORING SERVICES IN THE CROATIAN PORTS OPEN FOR PUBLIC TRAFFIC / DR.SC. BOŽENA BULUM (PH. D.) / 2020.—2021.

    Keywords: Croatian port legislation, mooring services, self-handling
    Summary:

    The project is dedicated to the solution of the disputable issue of self-supply (self-handling) port services by carriers providing maritime cabotage in Croatia. It is run cooperation with the joint stock company Rapska plovidba.



  • CHALLENGES IN LEGAL REGULATION OF SEAPORTS - APPLICATION OF THE EUROPEAN UNION LAW AND NATIONAL LEGAL TRADITION / DR.SC. BOŽENA BULUM (PH. D.) / 2020.—2021.

    Keywords: provision of seaport services, financing of seaport infrastructures, taxation of seaports, EU law and case-law on seaports, Croatian legal framework on seaports
    Summary:

    In the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts - Adriatic Institute a scientific research project has been implemented. The project implementation period is from January 2020 to December 2021. The project team is composed of four members including principal researcher. They are:

    Associate Professor, Elena Orrù, Department of Legal Studies of the University of Bologna - Alma Mater Studiorum, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Željka Primorac, Ph.D., University of Split, Assistant Professor, Marija Pijaca, Ph.D., University of Zadar and Božena Bulum, Ph.D., Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, (principal researcher).

    The research project consists of examination of existing legal regime for public ports (ports open for public transport) in Croatia with special focus on competition law issues, such as access to the market of port services, financing of port infrastructure and tax exemptions for seaports. The research also includes the analysis of European Union law, case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union and administrative practice of the European Commission. In addition, comparative analysis of the respective legislation and judicial practice in other European countries (e.g., Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Belgium and France) will be made. In that context it should be pointed out that a sector-specific rule that regulates access to the port services market, financing of ports and pricing policy in ports has started to apply from March 2019 in the European Union Member States. It is Regulation (EU) 2017/352 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 February 2017 establishing a framework for the provision of port services and common rules on the financial transparency of ports. The research team of the project will explore influence of the Regulation 2017/352 on the existing models for the provisions of port services in the EU Member States. Also, disputable issue of self-supply (self-handling) of port services by carriers providing maritime cabotage in Croatia will be analysed. The issue of self-handling is not regulated by Regulation 2017/352, but jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union should be applied.

     In recent years European Commission brought several decisions on corporate tax exemptions and reductions applicable to ports in the several EU Member States.  Some of these decisions are confirmed by the General Court. The research team of the project will analyse the influence of the EU institutions’ decisions on the corporate tax exemption on the domestic law. Regulations in force in Croatia, Article 48/3 of the Maritime Domain and Seaports Act (MDSA) define port authorities as non-profit legal persons. In addition to that, pursuant to Article 66/1 of the MDSA port services in ports open for public transport may be provided only by private operators on an economic basis. Private operators use port land, infrastructure and superstructure to provide port services, in accordance with the concession agreement. Therefore, Croatia has chosen the landlord port management model for its ports, as defined in the World Bank Port Reform Toolkit. It means that port authorities do not provide port services. They have the role of a landlord, responsible for managing the real estate within the port area which includes long-term development of the land and maintenance of basic port infrastructure. These rules are not in accordance with the current business practice of ports open for public traffic in Croatia, in which port authorities provide port services and make profits. These profits are not subject to taxation in accordance with the legal rules applicable in Croatia. Currently there is no legal literature published in Croatia dealing with the research topic. The project is aimed at increasing the level of knowledge on the subject among the academics, practitioners and port industry.



  • Interpretation of the CMR convention (Geneva, 1956.) in the practice of Croatian courts / Izv. prof. dr. sc. Adriana Vincenca Padovan; Irena Nišević, mag. iur. / 2020.—2022.

    Keywords: CMR, Croatian case law, road carrier's liability
    Summary: Dr Adriana Padovan of the Adriatic Institute and Prof Nikoleta Radionov of the Zagreb Law Faculty participate as country correspondents on the international project coordinated by the Dutch Stichting Vervoeradres in cooperation with the Institut du Droit International des Transports – IDIT from Rouen (France). The project gathers correspondents from more than 20 European countries. The final goal is to publish a new edition of the book K. F. Haak, The liability of the carrier under CMR, Haag, Stichting Vervoeradres, 1986. The publication will be useful for the legal practitioners and academics specialised in transport law and will contain valuable information on the application of the CMR convention and its interpretation in comparative law. In addition, an internet database is being created containing the relevant national legislation, case law and national reports on the interpretation of the CMR convention. Prof Radionov and dr Padovan collected more than 600 decisions of Croatian courts dealing with the application of the CMR convention. They analysed and systemised the collected case law according to certain important legal issues and they successfully identified: a) the issues that have so far led to ununiformed positions of the Croatian courts and b) issues that have been interpreted in a manner which is not in line with the relevant international practice. They suggested certain solutions for the future development of the domestic case law that should be in line with the prevailing interpretation of the CMR convention in its international application. Based on this analysis, Prof Radionov and dr Padovan prepared a country report which has been published on the IDIT website. In the second phase of the project Prof Radionov and Dr Padovan are preparing scientific paper in which the results of the scientific research at hand will be published. Furthermore, in October 2021 Prof Radionov, Dr Padovan, Dr Iva Savić and Irena Nišević, LLM have participated in the preparation of project documentation for submitting the COST Action Proposal OC-2021-1-25263 CMR Advisory Council Project. The Proposal was submitted on October 27th 2021 by the Main Proposer, Prof Cécile Legros, University of Rouen Normandy – France. The results are expected to arrive at May 2022.

  • Legal aspects of nautical tourism / Prof. dr. sc. Adriana Vincenca Padovan / 2020.—2022.

    Keywords: nautical tourism, legal framework, marinas, yacht chartering companies
    Summary: This project dealing with the legal aspects of nautical tourism is run in cooperation with the Croatian chamber of economy (CCE). It is a sort of continuation of the cooperation between the Adriatic Institute and the CCE established under the DELICROMAR project. The cooperation still predominantly involves the Association of Croatian marinas. The work includes the issues of implementation of the standard contractual clauses and terms and conditions used by the marina operators and yacht chartering companies. Furthermore, significant part of the work entails the issues of implementation of the new legislative solutions adopted by the amendments to the Maritime code in 2019 which affect the nautical tourism industry in Croatia, such as the new provisions on berthing contracts, yacht chartering contracts, yacht and boat owner’s liabilities, abandoned vessels etc. The project also entails a close cooperation with the Ministry of maritime affairs, transport and infrastructure. The project is partially financed by the CCE.