The Croatian government owns 2.9% of the shares of Hrvatski Telekom. It is reported that in December 2015, following the public auction, CERP sold 500,000 of its shares in the Company (0.6% of HT d.d. share capital) via the Zagreb Stock Exchange trading system. Following this sale of shares, CERP reduced its holding from 3.5% to 2.9%.

It is reported that Croatia mandates functional and accounting separation for operators with significant market power (SMP) in the telecom market.

It is reported that the Croatian Regulatory Authority for Network Industries (HAKOM), the executive authority for the supervision and administration of services in the telecommunications sector, is independent from the government in the decision-making process.

The European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provides a comprehensive framework for data protection that applies to all EU Member States. Croatia implemented the GDPR in 2018 through the Law on the Implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation.

The Directive 2000/31/EC (E-Commerce Directive) is the legal basis governing the liability of Internet Services Providers (ISPs) in the EU Member States and includes a conditional safe harbour. Not all Member States have transposed the relevant articles consistently, leading to divergent national case law that could cause legal insecurity on an EU level.
In Croatia, safe harbours are mainly defined in the Act on Electronic Commerce as implementing Directive 2000/31/EC, therefore covering activities of mere conduit, intermediary storage and hosting. Those aspects are provided in Arts. 16-18 of the Act on Electronic Commerce. In addition, Art. 19 contains an exemption for hyperlinks made available by the service provider.

The Directive 2000/31/EC (E-Commerce Directive) is the legal basis governing the liability of Internet Services Providers (ISPs) in the EU Member States and includes a conditional safe harbour. Not all Member States have transposed the relevant articles consistently, leading to divergent national case law that could cause legal insecurity on an EU level.
In Croatia, safe harbours are mainly defined in the Act on Electronic Commerce as implementing Directive 2000/31/EC, therefore covering activities of mere conduit, intermediary storage and hosting. Those aspects are provided in Arts. 16-18 of the Act on Electronic Commerce. In addition, Art. 19 contains an exemption for hyperlinks made available by the service provider.

Art. 17 of Directive 2019/790 on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (DSM Directive) mandates that providers of content-sharing services seek authorisation from rights holders and implement technical solutions to remove and prevent unauthorised uploads by their users (so-called upload filters), under penalty of losing their liability safe harbour. Further arrangements are envisaged for complaints and dispute resolution mechanisms. Such upload filters are reported to be a significant cost for online platforms. Graduated exemptions are expected to be put in place for new providers active in the EU for less than three years with a turnover under EUR 10 million and with fewer than five million users. The provision is subject to a challenge in the Court of Justice by Poland (C-401/19).
To implement Directive 2019/790, the Parliament has adopted the Act on Copyright and Related Rights, therefore making online content-sharing service providers partially liable for copyright violations on their platforms.

Croatia and the European Union have adopted the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Performances and Phonograms Treaty. Croatia ratified the Treaty on 3 July 2000, with its provisions coming into force on 20 May 2002. Subsequently, the European Union ratified the Treaty on 14 December 2009, and it entered into effect on 14 March 2010.

Art. 85 of the Utilities Directive (2014/25/EU) contains provisions allowing contracting public entities to reject foreign goods not covered by any EU international commitments from its tender procedures. In these cases, a tender submitted for the award of a supply contract may be rejected where the proportion of the products originating in third countries exceeds 50% of the total value of the products constituting the tender (Art. 85.2). Additionally, in cases of equivalent offers, the provisions provide for a preference for European tenders and tenders covered by EU's international obligations. In practice, this possibility has rarely been used.
In Croatia, the Directive has been transposed with the Public Procurement Act NN 120-16.

It is reported that the extensive use of state-owned companies limits the impact of ongoing procurement reforms to promote competition for public funds and increases the risk of conflicts of interest. Moreover, despite major progress in increasing transparency, corruption remains a significant concern, considering that, for instance, some stakeholders report the existence of discriminatory technical specifications in public procurement tenders.

Croatian law prohibits any discrimination between investments on the basis of nationality. Foreign investment rules follow a reciprocity principle.

Art. 17 of the Patent Act establishes that foreign companies must act through a representative in order to register a patent with the Croatian Intellectual Property Office. In addition, a translation of the patent shall be provided in Croatian at least two months after filing.

Croatia is a party to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).