Online safety & content laws in Croatia (2026)

The EU Digital Services Act (Regulation (EU) 2022/2065) is directly applicable in Croatia and constitutes the principal comprehensive online-safety and content-moderation framework, covering intermediaries, online platforms, and very large online platforms (VLOPs) with 45 million+ EU users.

Croatia enacted its national DSA Implementation Law, which entered into force on 17 April 2025. It designates HAKOM as the Digital Services Coordinator, establishes complaint mechanisms for users against intermediary service providers, and sets national fines of €6,630–€66,360 or up to 6% of global annual turnover.

HAKOM (Croatian Regulatory Authority for Network Industries) has been the designated DSC since February 2024. It holds investigative powers, coordinates among national competent authorities, manages the trusted-reporter framework, and publishes annual DSC activity reports as required by Article 55 of the DSA.

The European Commission sent Croatia a first letter of formal notice in 2024 and a second in April 2026, finding that the national DSA Implementation Law does not fully empower HAKOM to impose the maximum penalties, meet proportionality requirements, or sanction individuals for non-cooperation — constituting an ongoing infringement of the DSA.

Croatia has no standalone national age-verification law; it relies on the EU's harmonised approach. The European Commission published an age-verification blueprint (July 2025), with a feature-ready solution available from April 2026, designed to be interoperable with EU Digital Identity Wallets. Croatian awareness campaigns aligned with DSA obligations are being conducted by the Safer Internet Centre.

Croatia's BIK 2025 country profile notes children's online protection as an emerging priority, partially addressed in national law and implemented through the Safer Internet Centre Croatia and the UNICEF/Agency for Electronic Media 'Media Literacy Days' project. A National Programme for Children in the Digital Environment 2024–2026 exists but had not been formally adopted as of the 2025 profile. All three major telecoms signed a Code for the Protection and Promotion of Children's Rights in the Digital Environment.