ZAGREB, Jan 4 (Hina) - The Croatian government on Thursday decided that the state would no longer control the prices of oil products, brown bread, fresh milk, fertilisers, telephone subscription and 'National Gazette' forms. The
reasons for this change are Croatia's full membership in the World Trade Organisation and the fact that some companies, such as Croatian Telekom and the National Gazette, have lost their monopoly on the market. With some products, such as brown bread and milk, price control has had a negligable social effect. Direct state control measures will continue to apply to the prices of electricity, natural and liquified gas, unprocessed wood, radio and television subscription, railway and boat passenger transport and prices of standardised envelopes and post cards. According to the regulations on direct control measures and the highest level of oil products' prices, oil comp
ZAGREB, Jan 4 (Hina) - The Croatian government on Thursday decided
that the state would no longer control the prices of oil products,
brown bread, fresh milk, fertilisers, telephone subscription and
'National Gazette' forms.
The reasons for this change are Croatia's full membership in the
World Trade Organisation and the fact that some companies, such as
Croatian Telekom and the National Gazette, have lost their monopoly
on the market. With some products, such as brown bread and milk,
price control has had a negligable social effect.
Direct state control measures will continue to apply to the prices
of electricity, natural and liquified gas, unprocessed wood, radio
and television subscription, railway and boat passenger transport
and prices of standardised envelopes and post cards.
According to the regulations on direct control measures and the
highest level of oil products' prices, oil company INA will no
longer need the consent of executive authorities to change prices.
The prices will be set according to a separate formula based on
trends in world prices on the Mediterranean market every 15 days and
the US dollar rate. The producer's price of oil products will also
depend on the customs rate of each oil product and storage and
manipulation costs. Deregulation is of extreme importance for
INA's future, its restructuring and privatisation, Economy
Minister Goranko Fizulic said.
Fizulic does not expect the cancellation of price control will lead
to an increase in prices. If the current trends on the Mediterranean
market and the dollar rate continue, there is no reason to expect,
at least not in the near future, that oil products' prices will
rise, Fizulic said.
The government sent into parliamentary procedure three bills - on
associations, working hours for retail shops and changes to the Law
on Weapons.
The new bill on associations includes many new regulations,
including the reduction of the number of founders, from 10 to five,
and it authorises county offices for general administration to
register and control associations. The bill also simplifies the
registration procedure and contains a provision on the voluntary
nature of registration. This means that associations can operate as
such even if they are not registered and are not legal persons,
Justice Minister Stjepan Ivanisevic said.
According to the bill on retail shops, they could start working at 6
am at the earliest and stop at midnight at the latest. This
regulation provoked a heated debate among the ministers who support
entrepreneurial freedom and demand that shops be allowed to work
throughout the night and the ministers who believe that solutions
should not be imposed on local units and support the protection of
workers who are often not paid for night work.
Tourism Minister Pave Zupan Ruskovic advocates the proposal that
entrepreneurs wishing so should be allowed to work throughout the
night, because it is the time when tourists spend the most.
Vice Premier Slavko Linic says the bill provides the possibility of
working until midnight, and that how this should be regulated
further is up to local units to decide.
Prime Minister Ivica Racan believes that the list of shops allowed
to work longer than allowed by the law should include a regulation
saying that such shops may be determined by the city, i.e.
municipality, with a special decision.
Changes to the Law on Weapons include a proposal that the deadline
for the hand-over of weapons be extended once more, by one year, and
envisage harsher penalties for weapon-holders who fail to undergo
medical check-ups within one year. In such cases, fines would
amount to 10,000 - 30,000 kuna and prison sentences would last 60
days.
The Government has also changed the Regulation on the Customs
Tariff for 2001 thus exempting fertiliser imports from customs
taxes. Croatia's only factory of fertilisers, Petrokemija from
Kutina, will face the competition and prices of fertilisers will be
formed on the market.
Replying to an inquiry by MP Zarko Katic, Foreign Minister Tonino
Picula said the government would soon discuss a platform for
negotiations with Slovenia, including all issues which had to be
resolved. So far, Croatia has signed 31 international agreements
with Slovenia of which 15 have been ratified by the Croatian
parliament, he said.
(hina) rml