UCITS passporting in Croatia

Marketing of EEA UCITS Scheme units in Croatia is regulated by the Croatian Act on Open-Ended Investment Funds with a Public Offering (Official Gazette No 44 2016, 126/2019 and 76/2022) (the “Act”). 

Units of an EEA UCITS Scheme may be marketed in Croatia by (i) a Croatian management company which obtained a license from the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency (the “HANFA”) or (ii) an EEA Management Company, authorised to operate such EEA UCITS Schemes by the home Member State of the respective EEA UCITS Scheme. Except for the direct marketing by the Croatian management company or EEA Management Company, marketing of EEA UCITS Schemes is also possible by third party distributors (acting for the benefit of a management company), subject to license requirements applicable to the relevant distributor. 

Any EEA Management Company which markets units of an EEA UCITS Scheme in Croatia, is obliged to ensure that facilities are available in Croatia for: 

1. execution of requests for issuance and redemption of units and ensuring payments related to UCITS units to unitholders in a manner regulated by the UCITS prospectus; 
2. provision of information to investor on possible models of submitting a request for the issuance or redemption of units, as well as the payment methods based on the request for units redemption; 
3. facilitating the processing of information and access to procedures and measures related to the resolution of investor complaints and the exercise of investor rights arising from their investments in the UCITS fund, and 
4. making prospectus, UCITS rules, financial reports, KIID and HMSA confirmations available to the investors for the purpose of their review and making copies in accordance with the Act. 

An EEA Management Company seeking to directly market the units of an EEA UCITS Scheme in Croatia will inform HMSA of its intention by submitting a notification letter (the “Notification”) and accompanied annexes (please see below). The EEA Management Company may commence marketing units of an EEA UCITS Scheme in Croatia as of the date when it was informed by the HMSA that the Notification (with accompanying documentation) had been forwarded to the HANFA. 

The Notification must include the content prescribed by Commission Regulation (EU) No 584 / 2010 and the additional content prescribed by HANFA in accordance therewith, which is provided on HANFA’s official website 1 . The Notification must be accompanied by the following documents: 

1. applicable prospectus, the EEA UCITS Scheme rules (or other relevant documents), latest annual report and where appropriate, any subsequent biannual reports; 
2. KIIDs in Croatian; 
3. an attestation granted by HMSA to the effect that the EEA UCITS Scheme fulfils the conditions imposed by the UCITS Directive (the form of which is available in Annex II to the Commission Regulation (EU) No 584/2010). 

The EEA Management Company is obliged to inform HANFA, without delay, about the commencement of the marketing of EEA UCITS Scheme units. 

1. HANFA charges fees in relation to the inward and outward EEA Management Company notifications up to HRK 4,000 (approximately EUR 532), whereas in case of umbrella funds, the respective fee is increased by HRK 1,000 (approximately EUR 132) per each sub-fund; 
2. EEA Management Companies managing UCITS funds in Croatia are obliged to pay a fee to HANFA amounting to 0.3 ‰ (per thousand) of the total assets of such UCITS fund. 2
   Full guidance (in Croatian) on fee charges can be found  The fee is payable per each UCITS fund established in Croatia; 
3. EEA Management Company which markets units of an EEA UCITS Scheme directly is required to pay EUR 1,850 per fund on a yearly basis (supervision fee). In the case of an umbrella fund, this fee increases for each subsequent sub-fund by EUR 390; 
4. an EEA Management Company which markets units of an EEA UCITS Scheme in Croatia through a branch is required to pay EUR 2,650 per fund on a yearly basis (supervision fee). In the case of an umbrella fund, this fee increases for each subsequent sub-fund by EUR 590.