The creation of Croatian customs legislation in the procedureof delclaration of independence and dissolution from the Yugoslav state

Abstract

The establishment of the Republic of Croatia’s own customs service was
an indispensable part of the process of declaring independence on June 25, 1991. At that time, together with the historic decision to declare independence, the Parliament passed the Customs Service Act. On the day of the separation of Croatia from the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia i.e. on October 8, 1991 and the publication of customs laws in the Official Gazette (Narodne novine), the Yugoslav customs legislation ceased to be valid, and the application of Croatian customs regulations began. The archives of the Croatian Parliament and the Government of the Republic of Croatia, which show the process of preparation, creation and adoption of regulations from the customs system, are the first archives pertaining to the independent Croatian customs system and are invaluable, not only for customs but also for the entire history of the Homeland War. The aim of this paper is to present the first activities in the establishment of the customs service on the basis of archival materials created by the work of the democratically elected legislative and executive authorities. According to new acts and otheroc duments of the Croatian government and parliament, customs legislation was adopted as the basis for the fiscal, legal and territorial sovereignty of the Republic of Croatia.