The Croatian Transport Law Association in cooperation with the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Adriatic Institute), Faculty of Law in Zagreb and Institut du Droit International des Transports (IDIT) organized the 2nd International Transport and Insurance Law Conference – INTRANSLAW Zagreb 2017. The Conference was held in Zagreb on the 12th and the 13th of October 2017. A forum for an academic and professional discussion on the theme of Transport Law towards the Future was created. The international professional and academic conference of transport law and the law of transport insurance continues to provide an opportunity every two years for foreign and local professionals and academics in the field of transport and insurance to gather and exchange specialised knowledge and experience in the implementation of relevant laws and regulations and to assist in actual problem solving through a quality dialogue.
The Conference was co-organised within the DELICROMAR project, in particular, the section dealing with the legal issues related to the ports of nautical tourism. The section consisted of a number of presentations covering some of the most topical issues related to the subject, delivered by certain leading professionals in the field and several of our project team researchers.
Our project research team members participated in the conference by presenting three research papers.
The research paper “Arrest of a yacht in a croatian court for the purpose of securing a marina operator's claim“ was presented by doc. dr. sc. Adriana V. Padovan. The paper deals with the legal complexities related to the possibilities of arrest of yachts in Croatian courts for the purpose of securing the marina operators’ claims, such as the claims for the outstanding berthing fees, supplies (electricity, water, fuel), waste disposal, repairs, maintenance and similar marina operator’s services supplied to the owners and operators of yachts berthed in the marinas and other nautical tourism ports. The author examines the practice of the commercial courts in Croatia regarding the arrest of yachts and analyses the relevant positive law governing the matters related to the interim measures on yachts and ships for the purpose of securing and eventually enforcing the marina operators’ claims. he powerpoint presentation can be downloaded here.
The paper titled “The elements of the contract of custody in the marina operators' contracts of berth“ is a result of the joint research of dr. sc. Vesna Skorupan Wolff and doc. dr. sc. Adriana V. Padovan. The authors thoroughly analyse the contracts of berth containing the elements of custody as used in the practice of the Croatian marina operators. For a better understanding of the complexity of the legal relationships arising from these contracts, the special consideration is devoted to the legal nature of this type of contract, as an innominate atypical contract. The paper studies the features and the contents of the contract of berth with the elements of custody. A detailed analyses and interpretation of the relevant provisions of the marina operators’ general terms and conditions is provided as well as of the legal framework within which this type of contract functions. The subject matter of the analysis is also the judicial practice entailing the cases of damage to or the loss of the vessels berthed in the marinas. The rights and obligations of the parties to the contract of berth with the elements of custody are thoroughly studied. The authors explain the meaning and the extent of the obligation to take care of the vessel and they interpret the standard of due diligence in this context analysing the consequences of the marina operator’s default in exercising that duty. It is also important to define the moment when the specific contractual obligations commence and end. The powerpoint presentation can be downloaded here.
Dr. sc. Božena Bulum participated with a lecture and a paper titled "Prohibited Agreements of Competitors on prices and their Particularities in the Marina Case in the Republic of Croatia". As Croatian competition law doesn’t include detailed rules on exchange information and agreements between competitors, Croatian Competition Agency in these cases uses the European Union acquis as an interpretative instrument for the application of the Croatian competition rules. Judgements of the Court of Justice of the European Union are particularly important instruments for overcoming legal voids and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of Croatian rules on competition. In this paper the author will analyse the decision of the Croatian Competition Agency determining the existence of a prohibited agreement of undertakings on the future prices of berths in the marinas withing the territory of the Republic of Croatia, as well as the judgement of the High Administrative Court of the Republic of Croatia on appeal submitted against the decision of the Croatian Competition Agency. Many disputable issues, factual and legal, which appeared in that case will be examined, such as the existence of the anti-competitive contract amongst the marinas, determination of the relevant market, providing of nautical tourism services in ports open to public traffic, the role of the Croatian marinas association, etc. The relevant judgements of the Court of Justice of the European Union which Croatian Competition Agency used as an interpretative instrument for the application of the Croatian competition rules will be analysed, such as C-48/69 ICI v Commission, C-114/73 Suiker Unie v Commission, C-199/92 Hüls AG v Commission, C- 8/08 T-Mobile Netherlands BV and Others v Raad van bestuur van der Nederlandse Mededingingsautoriteit, etc., as well as the previously issued decisions of the Croatian Competition Agency on horizontal agreements on prices, such as Autobusni promet d.d. Varaždin i dr. („Kartel autobusnih prijevoznika), Biserka-ST d.o.o., Auto škola Centar d.o.o. i dr. („Autoškole u Splitu“), Hrvatski centar za razminiranje protiv AKD-Mungos d.o.o. i dr. („Razminirači“), Europapress Holding d.o.o. i NCL Media Grupa d.o.o. („EPH i NCL Media Grupa“), Tehnoplast d.o.o., i dr. („Upravitelji zgrada iz Splita“), Birdom d.o.o. i dr. („Trgovci uredskim materijalom“), etc. The overriding goal of the present paper is to provide a critical evaluation of the decisions of the Croatian Competition Agency and High Administrative Court of the Republic of Croatia and the rules applied in these decisions. he powerpoint presentation can be downloaded here.
The other presentations held within the section are the following:
Sanja Ljubetić (invited lecture), Adriatic Club International, ACI d.d. (HR) – “Construction of Buildings and other Infrastructure Objects in the Ports of Nautical Tourism”
Maja Bosnić Tabain, (invited lecture), Director, Department of Claims in Marine, Aviation, Transport and Credit Insurance, Croatia Insurance Plc. (HR) – „Marina Operator’s Liability Insurance in Croatian Business Practice with a Focus on the Topical Legal Issues”
Mićo Ljubenko, Attorney at Law, Ljubenko and partners Law Firm (HR) – „Marina Operator’s Liability“
Please follow the conference website for more information about dates, venue and participation.
The conference website is http://www.intranslaw.eu/.