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Croatia: Civil ensign

image by Zoltan Horvath, 15 May 2024

1991 legislation
1992 legislation
1994 legislation
1997 legislation

See also:

Croatia

1991 legislation

Law No. 1097 Pravilnik o čamcima (Regulation on boats), published on 11 August 1991 in the Croatian official gazette Narodne novine, was the first Law in Croatia regulating flags at sea. The Croatian flag is mentioned in Article 62 as follows:

Boats for public purposes should hoist the flag of the Republic of Croatia on rear mast or at some other suitable place during daytime (from sunrise to sundown). Other boats can also hoist the flag of the Republic of Croatia. The size of the flag is 0.46 x 0.80 m*; the flag should be in neat condition.

*This weird size must be a typo for 0.40 x 0.80 m, that is proportions 1:2.

Željko Heimer, 3 September 1997

1992 legislation

Regulation Pravilnik o isticanju i vijanju zastave trgovačke mornarice Republike Hrvatske i isticanju znakova na brodovima trgovačke mornarice Republike Hrvatske (Regulations on hoisting and flying the flag of the merchant fleet of Republic of Croatia and displaying the symbols on vessels of the merchant fleet of Republic of Croatia, text), adopted on 25 February 1992 and published on 26 March 1992 in Narodne novine, No. 16, includes:

Article 1.
The flag of the merchant fleet of the Republic of Croatia (in further text: flag) is equal to the flag of the Republic of Croatia and is hoisted on all vessels of the merchant fleet of Republic of Croatia.

Article 2.
The flag can be of the following sizes:
1) 2.5 x 3.75 m
2) 1.40 x 2.10 m
3) 0.80 x 1.20 m
4) 0.50 x 0.75 m

The size of the flag should correspond to the size of the vessel.

The Regulations further define when the vessel should hoist the ensign, the administrative signal and the house flag, citations and regulations of dressing the vessel, dipping, use of presidential standard and foreign flags when delegations are on board, use of flags at half staff and similar.
Željko Heimer, 1 December 1996

1994 legislation

Law No. 313 Pomorski zakonik (Naval Law), published on 7 March 1994 in Narodne novine, No. 17, includes the following prescriptions:

Article 29.
A foreign submarine, or other underwater means of transportation, during the time of passing through the territorial waters of Croatia, should navigate at the sea surface and hoist the flag of her state.
Article 100.
A foreign vessel ought to hoist the flag of her nationality while she is in the territorial or inland waters of the Republic of Croatia.

Article 131.
The registration document proves the Croatian nationality of a ship, giving her the right and obligation to hoist the flag [ensign] of the Repubic of Croatia.

Article 194.
A ship that granted the Croatian nationality has the right and obligation to hoist the flag of the Republic of Croatia. The right and obligation from Line 1 of this Article do not concern ships without a crew. Vessels [not a ship] listed in the ship register on the territory of the Republic of Croatia have obligation to hoist the flag of the Republic of Croatia out of the limits of inland waters and territorial water of the Republic of Croatia.

Article 195.
The flag [ensign] of the Republic of Croatia is a sign of the Croatian nationality of a ship.

Article 196.
The flag [ensign] of the Republic of Croatia on a ship has the shape of the flag of the Republic of Croatia, but with a width-to-length ratio of 1:1.5.

According to this Law, the 1992 Regulation on the ensign should remain valid until a new Law would be adopted. Therefore, only the 1997 Law validated Article 196 of this Law, indirectly. This had no much influance since both 1992 Law and this Law define the ensign in the same way.
The Law is also valid for the vessels of the Croatian Navy "unless it is prescribed differently"; therefore the 2:3 ensign must also be the war ensign.
Željko Heimer, 8 December 1998

1997 legislation

Regulation No. 761 Pravilnik o isticanju i vijanju zastave trgovačke moranrice Republike Hrvatske i isticanju znakova na brodovima trgovaflorinke mornarice Republike Hrvatske (Regulations on hoisting and flying of the flag of merchant navy of Republic of Croatia and display of signs on the vessels of merchant navy of Republic of Croatia), published on 16 May 1997 in Narodne novine, No. 51, includes the following:

The flag should be of the size regulated in Article 196 of the Naval Law.

Željko Heimer, 4 December 1998