Zagreb - Several bills were sent on Friday to the Croatian Parliament for a second reading, including the bill on foreign nationals, under which there will no longer be an annual quota for the employment of foreigners.
That law has divided the opposition parties in the Parliament, with some saying it puts Croatian citizens at risk and the others saying that it should be even more open.
The bill on foreign nationals stipulates that there will no longer be an annual quota for the employment of foreigners and employers in search of labour will contact the Croatian Employment Service (HZZ), which will issue an opinion on the employment of foreigners.
Before submitting an application for a stay and work permit for foreigners, employers will have to request that the HZZ conducts a labour market test. If there are no domestic workers on the labour market, employers' application for the employment of foreigners will be approved.
Another novelty is that the law will regulate the temporary residence of digital nomads, that is, foreign nationals who work online for foreign employers.
The bill on the execution of prison sentence will also receive a second reading. This law ensures the equal position of all convicts during the execution of a prison sentence and accelerates the process of sending convicts to serve their prison sentence.
Amendments to law on ID cards to receive second reading
The bill of amendments to the Law on Identification Cards, whereby new ID cards will be issued as of August 2021, has also been sent to the parliament for a second reading.
In line with the European Parliament's regulation on strengthening the security of identity cards of Union citizens, biometric identifiers in the form of a facial image and two fingerprints will be stored in the storage medium of the new ID cards in interoperable digital formats.
In addition, the new ID card will contain the two-letter country code of the Republic of Croatia (RH), printed in negative in a blue rectangle and encircled by 12 yellow stars.
The amendments to Protection Against Noise Act will also receive a second reading, and they propose measures the goal of which is to prevent excessive noise emissions and reduce the existing noise levels to the permissible levels.
Other laws that will receive a second reading are the act on the posting of workers to Croatia and the act on cross-border enforcement of fines.