Publication of Open Budget/Fiscal Data (HR0043)

Which public issue does the measure address? Budget transparency implies that citizens are able to gain budget information which is full, essential, accurate, timely, and presented in an understandable way. Budget transparency contributes to the better management of budget funds and enables citizens to call the authorities to account, thus increasing confidence in political processes. Apart from the positive effects on good management, budget transparency also results in considerable financial benefits for the state. Research has shown that countries with transparent budgets have better access to international financial markets and lower borrowing costs. Fiscal data must be made more accessible to the public and published in open format, both at the level of the State Budget and at the local and regional levels. In addition, since the publication of databases on payments executed from the single State Budget account, it has been noted that improvements need to be made in order to provide better search options and download data in machine-readable form.

What does the measure include? The main goal of the measure is to increase fiscal transparency, primarily by the timely publication and opening of fiscal data for reuse. The measure includes several activities which will guarantee the regular publication of accurate, relevant information on fiscal data and the option to download them for reuse.

How does the measure contribute to resolving the public issue? The measure contributes to resolving the issue of the timely publication of data in open format.

Why is this measure relevant to the values of the Open Government Partnership? The measure is relevant in terms of transparency, since it increases fiscal transparency, thus enabling citizens to participate more easily in budget processes (which should result in the more efficient provision of public services). In addition, the measure is relevant in regard to the issue of public accountability, because by increasing budget transparency and the entire budget process further, opportunities will arise to assess the accountability of civil servants and officials regarding the conduct of public policies within their competences.

Activities: Implementation start date: Implementation end date:

3.1. Increase the visibility and the use of the database on payments made from the single State Budget Account January 2022 ongoing

3.2. Publishing in a timely manner State Budget proposal with January 2022 ongoing 23 explanations in open format (Excel and Word)

3.3. Promoting transparent publishing of budget data / Popularisation of machine-readable budget data January 2022 ongoing

3.4. Publishing in a timely and continuous manner of a monthly series of revenues and expenditures of the State Budget on the website of the Ministry of Finance according to the national methodology of the calculation plan, publishing quarterly reports on revenues and expenditures of extra-budgetary beneficiaries and quarterly data for general government according to the new GFS 2014 methodology. ongoing ongoing

3.5. Publishing information on the spending of resources of the units of local and regional self-government, budgetary and extra-budgetary beneficiaries June 2022 ongoing

Number and title of activities: 3.1. Increase the visibility and the use of the database on payments made from the single State Budget Account Co-leaders: Ministry of Finance - State Treasury, Sector for Budget Execution Implementation indicators: - Increasing the refresh rate of data in a machine-readable form, available on the website of the Ministry of Finance on a weekly basis. The baseline value of result indicators: In the application Inquiry on payments from the State Budget by suppliers the data are refreshed daily. CSV files in a machine-readable form are refreshed and published on the websites of the Ministry of Finance on a quarterly basis Source of data and frequency of data collection: the transaction system of the State Treasury, and the data are collected on a daily basis for the previous day Financial resources required (Source of funding and planned resources): Resources are assured from the State Budget, section 025, Ministry of Finance, activity A538000 Administration and management, and they relate to resources for the ordinary activities of the Ministry. Implementation start date and implementation deadline: January 2022 – ongoing

Number and title of activities: 3.2. Publishing in a timely manner State Budget proposal with explanations in machine-readable form (Excel) Co-leaders: Ministry of Finance, State Treasury, Government of the Republic of Croatia, Croatian Parliament Implementation indicators: - The draft State Budget in a machine-readable form (Excel) published as a document for discussion on the websites of the Government and the Croatian Parliament (agenda) The baseline value of result indicators: The draft State Budget as well as its amendments are published on the websites of the Government (in the agenda), Croatian Parliament, and after adoption on the websites of the Ministry of Finance in a timely manner. Until now, the Ministry has referred a special part of the budget to the Government in PDF format, the Government forwards the same documents to the Parliament, while the MF published the Special part of the budget on the websites in both PDF and Excel format. 25 Source of data and frequency of data collection: Source: websites of the Ministry of Finance, the Government and the Parliament, frequency of collecting on an annual basis Financial resources required (Source of funding and planned resources): Resources are assured from the State Budget, section 025, Ministry of Finance, activity A538000 Administration and management, and they relate to resources for the ordinary activities of the Ministry. Implementation start date and implementation deadline: January 2022 – ongoing

Number and title of activities: 3.3. Promoting transparent publishing of budget data / Popularisation of machine-readable budget data Co-leaders: All members of the Croatian County Association Implementation indicators: - The draft State Budget, Rebalance Budget and reports in machine-readable form published in a timely manner; - Current budget data for 20 counties and the City of Zagreb published in a machine-readable, standardised form; work on the popularisation of open data and transparency Source of data and frequency of data collection: Counties, two times per year Obligation to publish budget data are laid down in Article 144 of the Budget Act. Financial resources required (Source of funding and planned resources): Activity is conducted continuously and is financed from the budget of the Croatian County Association Implementation start date and implementation deadline: January 2022 – ongoing

Number and title of activities: 3.4. Publishing in a timely and continuous manner of a monthly series of revenues and expenditures of the State Budget on the website of the Ministry of Finance according to the national methodology of the calculation plan, publishing quarterly reports on revenues and expenditures of extra-budgetary beneficiaries and quarterly data for general government according to the new GFS 2014 methodology. Co-leaders: Ministry of Finance, State Treasury, Bureau for Macroeconomic Analysis and Planning Implementation indicators: - Monthly series of revenues and expenditures of the State Budget published in a timely and continuous manner on the website of the Ministry of Finance according to the national methodology of the calculation plan, quarterly reports on revenues and expenditures of extra-budgetary beneficiaries and quarterly data for general government according to the new GFS 2014 methodology published. The baseline value of result indicators: Publishing data on the websites of the Ministry of Finance Source of data and frequency of data collection: SAP information system of the State Treasury, financial reports of budgetary and extra-budgetary beneficiaries of the State Budget and units of local and regional self-government, financial reports of non-profit organisations, and annual 26 financial report of undertakings and other legal entities that are included in the sectoral coverage of the general government. SAP - monthly; OTHER - biannually and annually Financial resources required (Source of funding and planned resources): Resources are assured from the State Budget, section 025, Ministry of Finance, activity A538000 Administration and management, and they relate to resources for the ordinary activities of the Ministry. Implementation start date and implementation deadline: ongoing

Number and title of activities: 3.5. Publishing information on the spending of resources of the units of local and regional self- government, budgetary and extra-budgetary beneficiaries Co-leaders: Ministry of Finance, State Treasury, Sector for Budget Execution, Sector for Budget and Financing of Local and Regional Self-Government Units All persons obliged to publish information about resource spending according to the Budget Act Implementation indicators: The provision of Article 144, paragraph 10 of the new Budget Act prescribes the obligation for units of local and regional self-government, budgetary and extra-budgetary users to publish information on spending of resources on their websites in such a way that this information is easily accessible, searchable and machine-readable. The publication of information implies at least the publication of payments from the budget, that is, the financial plan during the budget year, the publication of information about the paying agent and the type of expenditure, and the publication of information about the recipient of funds, including his personal identification number, the name of a legal entity, or the name and surname of a natural person, except for information that represents classified information according to the Act regulating the secrecy of data and information whose publication would be contrary to special regulations. The Minister of Finance will determine the content, the minimum set of data, the method of publication of information on the spending of funds on the websites of units of local and regional self-government, budgetary and extra- budgetary users, and the frequency of publication of information, as well as the method of mass download. The Minister will adopt an Instruction by 30 June 2022. Since the publication of information on the spending of resources is a legal obligation, we expect that all units of local and regional self-government, as well as budgetary and extra-budgetary users of both state and local budgets, will publish information on the spending of budgetary resources. The baseline value of result indicators: Currently, a very small number of units of local and regional self-government, budgetary and extra-budgetary users publish the above mentioned information about the spending of budget resources. Source of data and frequency of data collection: Source: websites of units of local and regional self-government, budgetary and extra-budgetary users, and the frequency of publishing will be prescribed by Instruction Financial resources required (Source of funding and planned resources): Resources for adopting Instruction are assured from the State Budget, section 025, Ministry of Finance, activity A538000 Administration and management, and they relate to resources for the ordinary activities of the Ministry. 27 Activity is conducted continuously and is financed from the budget of the persons obliged to publish information (units of local and regional self-government, budgetary and extra-budgetary beneficiaries) Implementation start date and implementation deadline: June 2022 – ongoing

Action Plan Review

Commitment 3. Fiscal Transparency

● Verifiable: Yes

● Does it have an open government lens? Yes

● Potential for results: Modest