1. Introductory provisions

1.1. These general terms and conditions of use of the platform with electronic services for e/m-Signature and e/m-Stamp (hereinafter referred to as the platform) regulate the rules of use of the platform by natural persons or authorised representatives of legal entities. The platform consists of a web and mobile application and corresponding API components for integration with the information systems of public law bodies. By using the platform, you accept these General terms and conditions and give your consent to the processing of personal data.

1.2. By accepting these General terms and conditions, users agree to use the platform only in accordance with their original purpose, their legitimate purpose and in a way that does not endanger, restrict or prevent the operation and use by third parties.

1.3. Read the general terms of use carefully before using the platform service provided by the Ministry of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transformation.

1.4. This act contains legally binding terms and conditions necessary for the use of the platform. The platform shall create/embed a qualified electronic signature having the same legal effect as the handwritten signature of several trust service providers pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market and repealing Directive 1999/93/EZ.

1.5. Any questions or comments concerning the functioning of the platform shall be addressed to the email address: potpis.pecat@rdd.gov.hr

1.6. Any request or question relating to the processing of personal data as well as withdrawal of consent to the processing of personal data may be submitted in writing to: Ministry of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transformation, Ivan Lucic 8, 10000 Zagreb or by e-mail to: zastitapodataka@rdd.hr

1.7. The service will be provided in accordance with these General terms and conditions of use, and the handling of complaints or the enforcement of legal claims by users and in accordance with the Privacy Notice (see Annex 1). By accepting these General terms and conditions of use, the User agrees to transfer some of their personal and/or business data in accordance with the Privacy Notice, which is an integral part of the General terms and conditions of use.

1.8. Ministry of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transformation reserves the right to amend and/or supplement the General terms and conditions without prior notice, of which users/cross-border users will be informed in due time

1.9. These General terms and conditions shall apply from 20 March 2023.

2. Definitions/terms

2.1. “User” means a natural person or authorised representative of a legal person using a service and holding a valid signing certificate

2.2. “Platform” means a platform with electronic services for e/m-Signature and e/m-Stamp of the Republic of Croatia as a joint shared public administration service established

2.3. “Service provider” is the Republic of Croatia, Ministry of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transformation

2.4. supported means for the creation of a qualified electronic signature and a qualified electronic seal are all means fulfilling the conditions laid down for qualified certificates pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market and repealing Directive 1999/93/EZ.

3. Scope of the general terms and conditions of use

3.1 The platform can only be used by a user with a valid qualified electronic signature and a qualified electronic seal in accordance with the conditions laid down for qualified certificates pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market and repealing Directive 1999/93/EZ. The use of the platform by natural persons who do not fulfil this condition is not authorised and is considered to be a violation of these General terms and conditions of use.

3.2. The general terms and conditions of use shall enter into force from the date specified under the heading until they are abolished.

3.3. The Republic of Croatia, Ministry of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transformation reserves the right to change the manner and circumstances of the operation of the platform in accordance with the provisions applicable to amendments to the General terms and conditions of use and to cease providing or restricting the operation of the platform.

3.4. If any provision of the general terms and conditions is or becomes invalid or unenforceable, this will not affect the validity of the remaining provisions.

3.5. If these General terms and conditions are modified, the service provider shall disclose: the fact of the amendment, the date of entry into force of the amendment and draw up a new text of the general terms and conditions in force from that date on the website and make it available from the date of entry into force of the amendment.

3.6. If the user continues to use the platform after the date of entry into force of the change to the General terms and conditions of use, the user shall be deemed to have accepted the new General terms and conditions of use with the modified content.

4. Use of e/m-sSgnature and e/m-Stamp service

4.1. The use of the platform is subject to compliance with these General terms and conditions and compliance with the provisions contained therein.

4.2. The service provider may suspend the service during the period of completion of the necessary maintenance work.

4.3. The service provider may refuse to provide the service and may terminate the provision of the service to the user with immediate effect if required by law or by an official/judicial decision or if the Platform is used in contravention of the General terms and conditions of use or otherwise unlawfully or improperly, taking into account the purpose of the service

4.4. When creating an electronic signature of a document, the user shall determine whether or not the electronic signature of the document includes a visual representation of the electronic signature or seal on the document. In accordance with legal regulations, the visual representation of the electronic signature and/or seal does not represent and does not have the characteristics of the electronic signature and/or seal itself.

4.6. The Republic of Croatia, Ministry of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transformation, is not responsible in case of inability to use the platform due to inappropriate user behaviour.

4.7. The Republic of Croatia, Ministry of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transformation, is not responsible for the unavailability of the platform resulting from technical problems or force majeure

4.8. Service procedure

4.8.1. The user shall access the platform and confirm its intention to sign or seal the document electronically by clicking the button on the graphical interface of the platform. In doing so, the Platform does not enter into the content of the document or verify the legal authority to sign the document, which is the sole responsibility of the user.

4.8.2. A summary (hash) of the user’s document is then generated and the document is prepared for signature.

4.8.3. Once the user enters the correct PIN of the signing certificate he/she owns, or after he/she successfully performs authentication actions (if the platform accesses in the e-citizens system), the platform creates a digitally signed document and the user can download it.

5. Data privacy protection

5.1. Detailed provisions relating to the processing of the user’s data and the Notice on the Protection of personal data are set out in Annex 1.

5.2. The service provider shall process data made available by the user in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, both from the EU, in particular Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EZ (General data Protection Regulation, hereinafter referred to as “GDPR”) and Croatian.

6. Accountability

6.1. Liability of the Platform owner

6.1.1. The owner of the platform shall not be liable for any consequences resulting from infringements by users of the provisions of these general terms and conditions of use, including but not limited to events which may be related to incorrect user use of the platform, behaviour or infringement by users, etc., accepted by the user.

6.1.2. The liability of the platform owner will be limited to liability for the behaviour and damage caused by the deliberate behaviour of the platform owner. In addition, the owner of the platform will not be liable for any direct or indirect damage resulting from the use of the platform, including but not limited to lost profits and consequent damage.

6.1.3. The owner of the platform is not obliged to bear or compensate for damage attributable to circumstances beyond its control.

6.1.4. The owner of the platform cannot be held liable for technical disturbances, including but not limited to any delays in electrical, internet or computer networks.

6.1.5. The owner of the platform shall not take responsibility for any damage caused by the use, maladministration or deletion of any part or content of the website.

6.2. Responsibility of the beneficiary

6.2.1. Users are obliged to bear or make good any damage resulting from violations of the requirements set out in the General terms and conditions of use.

6.2.2. Beneficiaries will be relieved of liability if they show that the breach of the general conditions of use is caused by circumstances beyond their control which could not have been foreseen in accepting them and cannot be expected to circumvent that circumstance or prevent damage.

In particular, beneficiaries shall be responsible for:

6.2.3. The user assumes responsibility and guarantees that they use the service only with supported means to create a qualified electronic signature that comply with the applicable laws, regulations and standards applicable to the provision of trust services. The user shall be liable for any damage resulting from the use of a service with inappropriate means of producing a qualified electronic signature.

6.2.4. The prerequisite for using the service is that users must not use the platform for purposes other than those laid down in these General terms of use and legislation. Users may use the platform only in person or if they are authorised to do so. Users are responsible for all activities related to the use of the platform.

7. Handling of complaints

7.1. Users may lodge a complaint via the e-mail address of the potpis.pecat@rdd.gov.hr

7.2. The platform owner shall send a response regarding the validity of the complaint to the user through the contact specified by the user in the complaint within thirty (30) days. The service provider shall state the reasons for the rejection decisions.

7.3. The owner of the platform shall keep the complaint and a copy of the response concerning the merits of the complaint for a period of 1 year and present them at the request of the competent authorities auditing such cases.

8. Final provisions

8.1. Force majeure

Does not constitute an infringement if either party is unable to fulfil its obligations under these General terms and conditions of use for any reason not attributable to either party (force majeure). An event of force majeure includes all unforeseen events that cannot be prevented by man (e.g. war, earthquake, flood, fire, act of terrorism, etc.), which do not depend on the will of the parties and directly interfere with a party in fulfilling its agreed obligation.

The contractual time limits shall be extended for the duration of force majeure.

The platform owner shall notify the threat or occurrence of a force majeure event and its intended duration through the platform owner, but the platform owner shall not be liable and shall not affect the provision of services by the trust service provider.

8.2. The parties agree that all issues regulated by these General terms and conditions of use will be resolved by applying the rules of Croatian law.

8.3. The parties will seek to resolve any disputes regarding the use of the platform peacefully. Disputes that cannot be settled peacefully will be settled before the competent court in Zagreb, which has territorial jurisdiction.

8.4. Annex 1 forms an inseparable part of the general conditions of use.

Annex 1

PERSONAL DATA PROCESSING INFORMATION

CONTROLLER

Ministry of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transformation, Ivan Lucic 8, 10000 Zagreb

DATA TO BE COLLECTED, PURPOSE AND LAWFULNESS OF COLLECTION AND PROCESSING

We collect and process personal data for the purpose of performing tasks of public interest and our official authority and for the purpose of respecting legal obligations in accordance with the law or other Regulation of the Republic of Croatia and the law of the European Union. This shall include:

• processing of personal data to enable you to use the National identification and Authentication system (NIAS) and electronic credentials and certificates in accordance with the eIDAS Regulation
• processing of personal data to enable you to provide e-services
• processing of personal data to respond to a query

Such processing may include the following categories of data:

• personal identification information of users

Collection and processing of personal data is lawful based on:

• Article 6 (1) (c) requires processing in order to comply with legal obligations
• point (e) of Article 6 (1) is necessary for the performance of a task in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority by the controller of REGULATION (EU) 2016/679 of the EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT and of the COUNCIL of 27 April 2016 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EZ.

LEGITIMATE INTERESTS

The controller has a legitimate interest in collecting your personal data for the purpose of improving the functioning and improvement of the platform for statistical purposes. To this end, we can further collect your opinions, comments or suggestions, as well as an e-mail address to provide an answer.

Collection and processing of personal data is lawful based on:

• point (f) of Article 6 (1) the legitimate interests of controllers or third parties to REGULATION (EU) 2016/679 of the EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT and of the COUNCIL of 27 April 2016 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EZ. You may object or restrict the processing. Failure to provide information will not result in negative consequences.

USE COOKIES

Under certain circumstances, we can collect and process personal data based on your prior consent. Such processing is carried out when we collect “cookies” to improve the operation of the system and to improve your user experience. At any time, you can withdraw your consent and stop further processing without negative consequences.

The aforementioned collection and processing of personal data is lawful based on:

• Article 6 (1) (a) the data subject has given consent to the processing of his or her personal data for one or more specific purposes

REGULATION (EU) 2016/679 of THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT and of the COUNCIL of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EZ. More detailed information on the use of cookies can be found at the link: (use of cookies)

RECIPIENTS OF PERSONAL DATA

Controllers shall: we do not forward the data you provide to other controllers and do not disclose it to third parties except in certain circumstances where we are bound by the relevant regulations to the extent necessary to achieve the stated purpose.

Processors: We can forward personal data for use to providers of it communication solutions and services acting as contracted processors. In that case, the processor shall process the personal data only on our order, on our behalf, in order to fulfil the purpose for which the personal data were collected and in a manner as determined by mutual agreement and in accordance with the requirements of the General Regulation. These may be the following processors:

• Agency for commercial activities manufacturing, Service and commercial Ltd., Savska cesta 31, 10 000 Zagreb
• Financial Agency, Ulica grada Vukovara 70, 10000 Zagreb

OTHER PAGES AND LINKS

When you follow the link to a service provided by a ministry, state administrative organisation, agency, office and other body or institution using the platform site, then that organisation will be independent controller and responsible for the data you share with them. It will apply its own privacy policy and provide its notification of the processing of personal data.

For example, when you want to submit an e-application for a passport, you will be redirected to the provider’s website and https://eputovnica.mup.hr. This site will have privacy policies that will inform you about the processing of your personal data related to the requested service and provide you with information on how to exercise your rights. Therefore, before using a particular service, it is recommended to familiarize yourself with the privacy policy of the service provider.

RETENTION PERIOD OF PERSONAL DATA

We process the collected personal data until the purpose of collecting personal data is met. Once the purpose for which the data were collected has been fulfilled, the data are no longer used and stored in the data controller’s storage systems where they are stored in accordance with the legal regulations on archival preservation.

YOUR RIGHTS IN RELATION TO THE PROCESSING OF PERSONAL DATA

You have the right to require:

• information about how your personal data are processed: you may request detailed information, in particular about their purpose of processing, about the type/of personal data being processed, including insight into your personal data, about recipients or categories of recipients, and about the envisaged period during which the personal data will be stored
• copy of personal data: a copy of the personal data being processed about you is provided. Additional copies may be charged on the basis of administrative costs
• correction of incorrect data: You have the right to request the correction or supplementation of personal data if your data is incorrect, complete and up to date

You can also:

• object to the way your personal data are processed
• request the deletion of your personal data
• require that the processing of your personal data is restricted in certain circumstances
• request the deletion of your personal data
  • the law shall not apply to the extent that processing is necessary
  • to exercise the right to freedom of expression and information
  • in order to comply with a legal obligation requiring processing in Union or Croatian law or for the performance of a task in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority by the controller
  • for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes to the extent that the exercise of rights is likely to render impossible or seriously jeopardise the achievement of the objectives of that processing
  • for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims

We will notify you of the request within 30 days by regular electronic means unless you request otherwise.

PROCESSING SECURITY

We collect and process personal data in a manner that ensures an adequate level of security and a high level of confidentiality in their processing by ensuring the effective application of the data protection principles, including protection against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage by applying appropriate technical and organisational protection measures

CONTACTS

For questions related to the collection and processing of personal data through the e-citizens system or in order to exercise your rights, you can contact:

• Ministry of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transformation, Ivan Lucic 8, 10000 Zagreb
• Data Protection Officer: email: zastitapodataka@rdd.hr, tel.: +385 1 44 00 840

Where you believe that your personal data have been infringed, you may lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority:

• Personal data Protection Agency, https://azop.hr, Selska cesta 136, Zagreb,

PRIVACY POLICY CHANGE NOTIFICATION

We regularly update our privacy policy and for this reason there may be a necessary change of content. You will be informed about all amendments in a timely manner via this website.