The European Commission said, on Wednesday 7 February, that it had sent a letter of formal notice to Croatia because, in its view, the country is in breach of both the Services Directive and the Lawyers Directive.
Croatia is imposing conditions on these legal professionals that are too strict, according to the Commission. For example, they can only be members of a single law firm, the conditions for admission to the bar are disproportionate and law firms are prohibited from communicating about their activities via their social networks or websites.
What’s more, the Commission says that Zagreb is not respecting the free movement of workers in this sector. European law firms, for example, cannot set up a subsidiary in Croatia.
These Croatian provisions infringe the 1998 Directive on lawyers, which facilitates the practice of this profession, as well as the 2006 Directive on services, which offers freedom of movement for services in the EU. This is why, with its letter of formal notice, it is calling on Croatia to comply with European law. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)