Importance of lawsuits for protection of collective interests and rights

Danas je u Europi važnost postupaka za zaštitu kolektivnih interesa i prava određenih skupina nanovo prepoznata, a u Republici Hrvatskoj nakon recepcije prava Europske unije. Ti su se postupci pojavili u pravnoj zaštiti potrošača, a potom u diskriminacijskom pravu. Tek nakon toga je naš Zakon o parničnom postupku regulirao opći okvir pokretanja postupaka za zaštitu kolektivnih interesa i prava, kao lex generalis. Uvođenje ovih postupaka treba smatrati pozitivnim napretkom, jer je hrvatsko pravo na taj način očigledno prepoznalo nužnost uvođenja zaštite kolektivnih interesa i prava u svoj pravni sustav u prilagođenom obliku, kao i mnoge europske države. Primjena ovog novog pravnog instituta nije još saživjela u praksi zbog nedostatka edukacije o njegovom postojanju od strane potencijalnih ovlaštenika i praktičara, jer njime se osigurava tzv. apstraktna pravna zaštita, dok su troškovi postupka realni. U radu se ukazuje na opći i poseban okvir pravne zaštite kolektivnih interesa i prava te legitimacije stranaka na traženje takve zaštite i odabira odgovarajuće tužbe ovisno o postojećim povredama. Potom su navedeni oblici pravne zaštite koju ovlaštenici mogu tražiti,a tuženici se istoj mogu usprotiviti samostalnom tužbom ili protutužbom. Posebno je ukazano na mogućnost sudjelovanja umješača i određivanja privremenih mjera u predmetnim sporovima, troškovima postupka, utvrđivanja nadležnosti za suđenje u tim sporovima te djelovanje subjektivnih granica pravomoćne odluke.Pre-bankruptcy procedure regulated by the Finance and Pre-bankruptcy Act (NN 108/12,144/12, 81/13, 112/13) is reminiscent of the recent out of bankruptcy forced settlement before the court. The intention of this Act was to regulate legal norms by which fast and effective reparation of insolvency, illiquidity and over indebted economic subjects could be made possible. In this law there are no indications that such a procedure would be of a coercive nature, but during the course of its implementation in practice it was noted that that certain of its provisions pointed to such a possibility. Due to this there came about the submission of an application to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia for constitutional assessment of these provisions. Thereby, certain participants in the pre-bankruptcy procedure were placed in a more favourable position and in this way allowed for misuse revealed in the submitted application. The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia in relation to the submitted application reached a decision numbered : U-I-4175/2013-PP on 27 July 2013 by which, in the preliminary procedure, allowing for partially submitted debtors’ complaints in the pre-bankruptcy procedure, reshaped the submitted application into a suggestion for assessment of consent of the stated Act, that is certain of its provisions with the constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, quashed a decision by which ceasing the procedure would have been determined and its unpostponable continuation would have been ordered. Since the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia emphasised that the judgement reached was of a precedential nature., the author analysed the Constitutional Court’s adopted stance which were the foundation of the reached decisions and the author has come to the conclusion that, given the importance of this problem area, a different judgement could have and should have been reached and the author considers that such a decision in the future should not be of a precedential nature