Summary: The project entails preparatory work for the drafting of the subsidiary legislation necessary for the implementation of the new legislative solutions of the Maritime code dealing with maritime wrecks, sunken objects, substandard ships and abandoned vessels. The project is run in cooperation with Plovput Ltd and the Ministry of maritime affairs, transport and infrastructure and it is financed by Plovput Ltd.

Summary: The project deals with the writing of the commentary to the provisions of the Maritime code of the Republic of Croatia. It is run in cooperation with the Croatian Maritime Law Association (CMLA). The commentary will be published in a form of a book containing the edited text of the Maritime code as amended (Official Gazette of the Republic of Croatia, no. 181/04, 76/07, 146/08, 61/11, 56/13, 26/15, 17/19) with commentary notes and remarks as well as the subject index. The project also entails the creation of an all-encompassing proposal of amendments to the Maritime code to be submitted to the Ministry of maritime affairs for consideration. The Maritime code is an all-inclusive peace of Croatian legislation of more than 1200 articles. It has been subject to a number of amendments over the past 15 years and this is the first time that it is being dealt with in this manner. The academic staff of the Adriatic Institute together with a number of the CMLA members who are the leading maritime law experts in Croatia participate on this project as co-authors. Dr. sc. Vesna Skorupan Wolff and dr. sc. Adriana Vincenca Padovan are nominated as the main editors of this publication which will be peer-reviewed by highly esteemed professors Jakša Barbić, Vladimir-Đuro Degan, Mihajlo Dika and Slobodan Kaštela.

Summary: A project dealing with the transport and maritime law issues of common interest to Italy and Croatia is running at the Adriatic Institue within the framework of the bilateral academic exchange between the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts and the University in Udine. The project is coordinated by Dr Adriana Vincenca Padovan of the Adriatic Institute in cooperation with Prof Rocco Lobianco and Prof Daniele Casciano. In the course of this bilateral exchange, Dr Padovan was a visiting scholar at the University of Udine in October 2019. She was also host to Prof Lobianco and Prof Casciano during their visiting research at the Adriatic Institute in December 2019 and January 2020.

Summary: The research project deals with the legal aspects of the establishment, management and the activities of the nautical tourism ports in Croatia, with a special focus on marina operator’s liabilities, insurance arrangements, standards of maritime safety and security and marine environmental protection. The nautical tourism is a branch of economy that is of a strategic interest to the Republic of Croatia. There are about 112 nautical tourism ports in Croatia, including about 56 marinas, 16 dry dock marinas and 36 nautical tourism ports of other types. The total capacity of berths is about 17.221. The total income of the nautical tourism ports in 2014 was over 94 million euros, and there is a constant stabile increase of the income from this activity each year. In accordance with the Nautical Tourism Development Strategy of the Republic of Croatia for the period 2009 – 2019, there is a plan for the construction and development of a number of new nautical tourism ports and a substantial increase of the number of berths. Considering this strategic orientation towards the further development of the nautical tourism as an important branch of the national economy, Croatia has an interest in providing clear and competitive quality standards for the nautical tourism ports, in order to achieve a more favourable position in comparison with the other Mediterranean states. The proposed research project consists of a comparative analysis of the respective legislation, insurance arrangements and court practice in the European countries; analysis of the European marina operators’ common practices, general terms and conditions, their experiences in the combat against and dealing with the adverse events such as vessel thefts, fire, unauthorised entry, marine accidents within the port, marine pollution, etc. The idea is to propose improvements in the legal framework relating to the regime of liability and insurance of the Croatian marina operators, with a view of enhancing their competitiveness, safety, security and environmental protection standards. In particular, a recommended model of general terms and conditions will be created as an innovative business solution for marina operators and a possible reform of the respective legislation will be proposed, paying due respect to the necessary compliance with the relevant EU legislation. The proposed project is aimed at consolidating the relevant national legislation and clarifying the related legal concepts through the currently lacking doctrine, with a view of unifying the domestic court practice and contributing to legal certainty in the interest of all parties involved. This should lead to a progress and further sustainable development of the nautical tourism sector in Croatia subject to the requirements of the marine environmental protection, maritime safety and security, particularly considering the country’s strategic orientation to that sector of economy and the planned substantial increase of the nautical tourism ports’ berthing capacities in the following years. Besides the acknowledged maritime law researchers as team members, the project will gather the related expert professionals with a view of developing a cooperation between the theory and practice and amongst all the interested key holders, including the marina operators, insurance companies, charter agencies, the Ministry of maritime affairs, transport and infrastructure, the Ministry of Environmental and Nature Protection and other competent public bodies. The project is financed by the Croatian Science Foundation (installation research project no. 3061).

Summary:

Croatia acquired its independence in 1991. However, except with Hungary, it has not yet fixed its boundaries with other neighbouring states. It has a serious dispute with Slovenia regarding the delimitation of maritime areas. Al¬though the 2001 Vienna Agreement on Succession Issues entered into force in May 2004, Serbia still unlawfully keeps large parts of state archives and some movable properties of the former SFRY. There are several unresolved issues of its relations with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, etc. The main aim of this project is the ascertainment of legal rules applicable on Croatia in the related domains, and thereby a better protection of its legal rights and interests in international intercourse. The final settlement of these and other issues are necessary steps in the process of building up of the international legal personality of the Repu¬blic of Croatia.

Project financed by the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia.