In the Republic of Croatia, the status of artists is regulated by the Law on the Rights of self-employed Artists and Promotion of Cultural and Artistic Work ("Narodne novine" [Official Gazette], nos. 43/96, 44/96, corr. 127/00). This Law provides for social security of artists and regulates issues of pension, disability and health insurance of self-employed artists.

Cultural councils ensure the artists participation on cultural policies
In regard to the realization of the right to funds for artistic programs, the Law on Cultural Councils ("Narodne novine", no. 53/01) provides cultural professionals and artists with the right to bring decisions significant for culture and art in specific fields of artistic and cultural work (film and cinematography, music, theater arts, visual arts, architecture and town planning, literature and publishing, media culture) through cultural councils. Cultural professionals and artists are members of cultural councils for the above mentioned fields and they give their opinions to the minister of culture on annual programs of public needs in culture financed out of the state budget. This Law provides for the forming of cultural councils on the territory of counties or towns, depending on the decision of the representative body of the county, i.e., town. For the fields of activity of libraries, archives and museums, the influence of cultural professionals is exerted through the Croatian Library Council, Croatian Archives Council and Croatian Museum Council, in compliance with the Law on Libraries ("Narodne novine",/Official Gazette/ nos. 105/97, 5/98 and 104/00), Law on Archival Materials and Archives ("Narodne novine",/Official Gazette/ nos. 105/97 and 64/00) and Law on Museums ("Narodne novine", /Official Gazette/ no. 142/98).

Social protection

Self-employed artists
In the Republic of Croatia the Law on the Rights of self-employed Artists and Promotion of Cultural and Artistic Work ("Narodne novine" /Official Gazette/) nos. 43/96, 44/96, corr. 127/00). defines self-employed artists as those who do not hold jobs with an employer and to whom artistic work is the only and main vocation. Artists can join professional associations and form artists' organizations in the field of their artistic work.

The Republic of Croatia attaches particular significance to the protection of the social and professional status of artists, providing, on the basis of the mentioned Law, self-employed artists with the right to have their pension, disability and health insurance contributions paid out of the state budget upon the artist's written request. The procedure and conditions of granting this right are regulated by the Regulations on the procedure and conditions for granting self-employed artists the right to have contributions for pension and disability as well as health insurance paid out of the state budget of the Republic of Croatia ("Narodne novine"/Official Gazette" nos. 110/96,39/99,129/99 and 109/00).

Self-employed artists who do not enjoy the right to paid contributions for pension. Disability and health insurance from the state budget of the Republic of Croatia can pay these contributions by themselves

Employed artists
For artists who are permanently employed, the contributions are paid by the employer, providing protection of their social status in this way. The Law on Theaters ("Narodne novine"/Official Gazette/, nos. 61/91, 13/97 and 127/00) regulates the status of artists employed in theaters. The status of artists employed in public institutions financed out of state budget is regulated by the Law on Salaries in Public Services (“Narodne novine”/Official Gazette/, no. 27/01), Decree on job classifications and job complexity coefficients in public services ('Narodne novine"/Official Gazette/, nos. 38/01 and 112/01) and General Collective Agreement for senior and lower grade employees in public services ("Narodne novine"/Official Gazette/, no. 3/02).
The rights of unemployed artists, as well as of all other unemployed persons are regulated by the Law on employment mediation and rights during unemployment ("Narodne novine", /Official Gazette/ nos. 32/02 and 86/02 - corr.). We wish to point out that according to this Law, unemployed persons, including artists, have the right to health insurance and, under prescribed conditions, the right to compensation during unemployment.

Retirement 

The Law on the Rights of Self-Employed Artists and Promotion of Cultural and Artistic Work ("Narodne novine", /Official Gazette/ no. 43/96) regulates the payment of
contributions for pension insurance, which can be paid either individually by the artist or else paid out of the state budget. For specific artistic professions (classical ballet dancers, modern dance dancers, ballet masters, opera soloists, dancers-singers in professional folk dance ensembles) the years of service for pension insurance purposes are calculated by counting 12 months of service as 18 and lowering the age limit (one for every three years) in compliance with the Law on the prolonged duration of years of service for insurance purposes ("Narodne novine", /Official Gazette no. 71/99).

The right to a pension is regulated by the Law on Pension Insurance ("Narodne novine", /Official Gazette/ nos. 102/98,127/00, 59/01,109/01 and 147/02).

Trade Union Rights (including collective agreement rights) and Procedures  

Freedom of association
Article 43 of the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia ('Narodne novine",/Official Gazette/ no. 4 1 /0 1) guarantees the freedom of association for the purpose of protecting social, economic, cultural and other convictions and objectives and, to that end, trade unions and other associations can freely be established.

The right to establish professional associations and trade unions
Accordingly, artists can establish their professional associations in compliance with he Law on the rights of self-employed artists and promotion of cultural and artistic creativity for the protection and promotion of professionals interests, while artists who are working for employers can, in addition to the mentioned professional associations, freely establish trade unions in compliance with the Labor Law ('Narodne novine",/Official Gazette/ nos. 38/95,54,95,65,95 and 17/01) for protecting and promoting their labor-related rights. Likewise, artists can regulate their labor-related rights through collective agreements.
The labor-related rights of artists employed in public services are regulated by the General Collective Agreement for senior and lower grade employees in public services ("Narodne novine",/Official Gazette/ no. 3/02), which was the result of collective bargaining.

The procedures through which artists can realize their rights provided by law are regulated by the above mentioned laws and by-laws. These regulations also provide artists with the right to legal remedies, ensuring in this way control over the realization of their rights. In the realization of their rights, therefore, artists have legal protection in the form of legal remedies, guaranteed by Article 18 of the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia, wherein any arbitrariness in the proceedings is excluded.

Assistance to cultural promotion abroad

Assistance in presenting Croatian artists abroad is achieved within the framework of financing public needs in culture and in line with the Law on financing public needs in Culture "Narodne novine' / Official Gazette/ nos. 47/90 and 27/93) and accompanying by-laws mentioned above. In addition to the assistance given by the Ministry of Culture and competent Offices for culture of the local and regional self-government units, professional artists' associations are also active in rendering comprehensive assistance to artists in the realization of the projects at home and abroad

Source: Croatian Commission for UNESCO, february 2003.