Concession for Exploitation of Sources of Drinking Water and Sources of Mineral Water in Croatia

The most important issue for foreign investors interested in exploitation of sources of drinking water and sources of mineral water in Croatia for purposes of selling on the market , is naturally, how can they get the authorization to use those water sources for mentioned purposes.

Considering that water in Republic of Croatia belongs to public domain, way to get the authorization for exploitation of water sources is concession .

In this article, we’ll try to describe, shortly, the procedure for awarding the concession for exploitation of sources of drinking water and concession for exploitation of sources of mineral water, in Croatia and other issues related to awarding and using the concession, such as , rights and obligations of user of the concession, terms of concession agreement , concession charge, time period for which concession can be awarded, concession charge etc.

According to Croatian Law on waters from 1995. concession for exploitation of sources of drinking water is awarded through collecting bids or on the direct request (if it has not been decided that public competition will be held), accompanied with other necessary documentation.

Manager of State Water Directorate takes decision on starting the procedure for awarding the concession.

The decision on concession regulates: object of the concession, volume of concession works, users of the concession, purposes for awarding the concession, time period for which the concession will be awarded, and concession fee.

After conducting the awarding procedure State Water Directorate takes decision on awarding the concession, and then follows signing of concession agreement between State Water Directorate and selected candidate.

With the conclusion of the contract the user of the concession gets the right on exploitation of drinking waters on the teritory of Republic of Croatia for purpose of selling on the market.

Here the situation is different then in the previous case. The concession is awarded through public competition, so the interested foreign investor must apply to such public competition for awarding the concession.

An indicative notice for public competition with all the necessary informations interested investors can find in Official Journal of Republic of Croatia, and official notice boards of city, municipality or the county on whose teritory the concession will be awarded at.

All candidates who submitted the bids also gets a acknowledgment on reception of bid with the notice about the day and the hour of the reception and the signature of the authorized person.

The regulation on conditions on conditions and the procedure on awarding the concession on waters and public water good has following provisions related to procedure of public competition: