Parliament to debate bill giving more powers to sanitary inspectors

Zagreb -  The Croatian Parliament will continue its session on Wednesday in its building in St. Mark's Square, and it will discuss, among other things, a bill giving more powers to sanitary inspectors and putting COVID-19 on a list of infectious diseases.

Under the Bill on the Protection of the Population from Infectious Diseases, sanitary inspectors will be able to order isolation and self-isolation in one's own home or other appropriate facility as well as organised quarantine for persons disrespecting prescribed safety measures.

For cases of non-compliance, the bill envisages fines for natural persons of HRK 8,000 to 15,000.

Under the bill, a decision on declaring an infectious disease epidemic would be made by the Government, while the health minister would be in charge of making a decision on declaring a danger of an infectious disease epidemic.

It has been proposed that the bill be passed under fast-track procedure due to the speed at which the coronavirus epidemic is spreading and that it go into force on the day following the day of its publication in the Official Gazette.

Also on the Parliament's agenda is a bill on safety in off-shore hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation which incorporates into the national legislation an EU directive on the prevention of and response to major disasters related to off-shore operations.

This week the Parliament returns to its building which was damaged in the March 22 earthquake, after in recent weeks it held sessions in a former building of the INA oil company.