Enter Croatia market with a .COM.HR Domain

The provision the regulation devotes to this zone is a single sentence: an application for .com.hr, a paid lower-level domain, may be filed by all legal and natural persons. No condition of nationality, residence, EU connection or commercial registration applies. This is the widest door in Croatia's domain system; for second-level .hr names the same regulation draws a far narrower frame.

Yes. While the regulation reserves paid second-level .hr names for legal persons established in the EU and for EU citizens holding a Croatian OIB, it sets no such limit for the lower-level .com.hr and says instead that «all legal and natural persons» may apply. If you are taking an address aimed at the Croatian market from a country outside the EU, this is the zone the rules leave open to you.

The difference lies in level and eligibility. .hr is a second-level name: free registrations are reserved for persons registered in Croatia, paid ones for legal persons established in the EU and EU citizens holding a Croatian OIB. .com.hr belongs to what the regulation calls lower-level domains and is open to everyone. Technically the address has three parts; on term, both follow the rules for paid registrations.

Under article 11, paid names may be registered, at the user's choice, for one, two or five years. At the holder's request the registration may be extended for a further period of the same or a different length. Renewal of a name already registered may be refused only on the grounds set out in the regulation, so your right to renew is protected by the rules rather than left to discretion.

Under article 13 a name may be between one and 63 characters. It may use the letters of the Croatian and English alphabets (case is not distinguished), the digits 0 to 9 and the hyphen; a hyphen may be neither the first nor the last character and may not appear twice in a row. In addition, a name must not enable the holder to misrepresent themselves, and must not be identical or confusingly similar to a name in which they hold no right.

Yes. Article 24 provides that during the registration period the user of a paid domain may request a change of user in favour of a third natural or legal person, against payment. One procedural rule deserves attention: a change of user cannot be carried out at the same time as a change of registrar. If you plan both, sequence them; you can start the transfer steps on the domain transfer page.

The regulation contains its own arbitration rules, which cover the whole Croatian domain space. A third party may start proceedings by asserting that the name is identical or confusingly similar to a name in which it holds a right, that the holder has no right or legitimate interest in it, and that it was registered contrary to good faith. The outcome may transfer the name to the applicant or delete it, and CARNET may make no change to the name while arbitration is running.

Article 26 provides that CARNET may delegate registration work only to legal persons and self-employed natural persons with a registered seat in the European Union; the work that may be delegated expressly includes the registration and deletion of paid lower-level names such as .com.hr. An authorised registrar must comply with the regulation and decide on applications in good time, and the authorisation may be withdrawn where it does not.