Croatia will postpone rules requiring businesses to display “anchor” prices alongside current prices, due to take effect on October 1, Economy Minister Ante Susnjar said on September 28.
The rules would have extended price-display requirements from retail to consumer services, a category that takes in the restaurants, cafes and service providers at the centre of Croatia’s visitor economy, and required businesses to publish price lists online. Businesses had warned of the administrative burden, particularly for services where prices vary. The delay comes as operators sell the country to new source markets, helped by links such as Air China’s Beijing-Zagreb service.
“If it turns out that we have set a solution too broadly or have not left enough time for its implementation, it is responsible to correct it,” Susnjar wrote on X. He said the government would propose delaying implementation and withdrawing the decisions due to come into force on October 1.
The anchor price system was designed to let consumers see how the price of a product or service had changed by showing a reference price next to the current one. Susnjar said postponing the measures did not mean dropping the aim of giving consumers clearer information on price changes.
New regulations covering the base price and the publication of price lists are planned to take effect in November. Susnjar said they would set out reasonable exemptions and remove administrative requirements that offer no real benefit to consumers, and that he would invite business and employers’ associations to discuss them.