Croatian Law MCP Server

The NN (Narodne novine) alternative for the AI age.

Query 4,531 Croatian statutes -- from the Zakon o provedbi GDPR and Kazneni zakon to the Zakon o radu, Zakon o trgovačkim društvima, and more -- directly from Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible client.

If you're building legal tech, compliance tools, or doing Croatian legal research, this is your verified reference database.

Built by Ansvar Systems -- Stockholm, Sweden

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Why This Exists

Croatian legal research means navigating Narodne novine, zakon.hr, and EUR-Lex for EU implementation status -- across a dense system of codes and implementing regulations. Whether you're:

• A lawyer validating citations before the Vrhovni sud (Supreme Court) or Ustavni sud (Constitutional Court)
• A compliance officer checking GDPR implementation status under the Zakon o provedbi Opće uredbe o zaštiti podataka
• A legal tech developer building tools on Croatian law
• A researcher tracing EU directive transposition across 4,531 statutes

...you shouldn't need dozens of browser tabs and manual cross-referencing. Ask Claude. Get the exact provision. With context.

This MCP server makes Croatian law searchable, cross-referenceable, and AI-readable.

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Quick Start

Use Remotely (No Install Needed)

Connect directly to the hosted version -- zero dependencies, nothing to install.

Endpoint: https://mcp.ansvar.eu/law-hr/mcp

Client	How to Connect
Claude.ai	Settings > Connectors > Add Integration > paste URL
Claude Code	claude mcp add croatian-law --transport http https://mcp.ansvar.eu/law-hr/mcp
Claude Desktop	Add to config (see below)
GitHub Copilot	Add to VS Code settings (see below)

Claude Desktop -- add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "croatian-law": {
      "type": "url",
      "url": "https://mcp.ansvar.eu/law-hr/mcp"
    }
  }
}

GitHub Copilot -- add to VS Code settings.json:

{
  "github.copilot.chat.mcp.servers": {
    "croatian-law": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.ansvar.eu/law-hr/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Use Locally (npm)

npx @ansvar/croatian-law-mcp

Claude Desktop -- add to claude_desktop_config.json:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "croatian-law": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@ansvar/croatian-law-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Cursor / VS Code:

{
  "mcp.servers": {
    "croatian-law": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@ansvar/croatian-law-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Example Queries

Once connected, just ask naturally:

• "Što govori Zakon o provedbi Opće uredbe o zaštiti podataka o privoli?"
• "Je li Kazneni zakon još uvijek na snazi?"
• "Pretraži 'zaštita osobnih podataka' u hrvatskom zakonodavstvu"
• "Koje EU direktive provodi Zakon o radu?"
• "Što kaže članak 144. Kaznenog zakona o povredi tajnosti?"
• "Pronađi odredbe o prijavljivanju povreda osobnih podataka"
• "Koji hrvatski zakoni provode NIS2 direktivu?"
• "Validiraj citat 'članak 5. Zakona o zaštiti osobnih podataka'"
• "Usporedi zahtjeve za zaštitu podataka kroz NIS2 implementacije u hrvatskom pravu"

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What's Included

Category	Count	Details
Statutes	4,531 statutes	Comprehensive Croatian legislation from Narodne novine
Provisions	157,667 articles	Full-text searchable with FTS5
Database Size	253 MB	Optimized SQLite, portable
Freshness Checks	Automated	Drift detection against Narodne novine

Verified data only -- every citation is validated against official sources (Narodne novine, zakon.hr). Zero LLM-generated content.

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See It In Action

Why This Works

Verbatim Source Text (No LLM Processing):

• All statute text is ingested from Narodne novine (nn.hr) and zakon.hr official sources
• Provisions are returned unchanged from SQLite FTS5 database rows
• Zero LLM summarization or paraphrasing -- the database contains statute text, not AI interpretations

Smart Context Management:

• Search returns ranked provisions with BM25 scoring (safe for context)
• Provision retrieval gives exact text by statute identifier + article number
• Cross-references help navigate without loading everything at once

Technical Architecture:

Narodne novine / zakon.hr --> Parse --> SQLite --> FTS5 snippet() --> MCP response
                               ^                        ^
                        Provision parser         Verbatim database query

Traditional Research vs. This MCP

Traditional Approach	This MCP Server
Search zakon.hr by statute name	Search by plain Croatian: "zaštita osobnih podataka pristanak"
Navigate multi-article codes manually	Get the exact provision with context
Manual cross-referencing between laws	build_legal_stance aggregates across sources
"Je li ovaj zakon na snazi?" -- check manually	check_currency tool -- answer in seconds
Find EU basis -- dig through EUR-Lex	get_eu_basis -- linked EU directives instantly
No API, no integration	MCP protocol -- AI-native

Traditional: Pretraži zakon.hr --> Navigi višečlane zakone --> Ctrl+F --> Usporedi s EU direktivama --> Ponovi

This MCP: "Koji EU akt je osnova za članak 5. Zakona o provedbi GDPR?" --> Done.

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Available Tools (13)

Core Legal Research Tools (8)

Tool	Description
search_legislation	FTS5 full-text search across 157,667 provisions with BM25 ranking. Supports Croatian, quoted phrases, boolean operators, prefix wildcards
get_provision	Retrieve specific provision by statute identifier + article (e.g., "Kazneni zakon" + "144")
check_currency	Check if a statute is in force, amended, or repealed
validate_citation	Validate citation against database -- zero-hallucination check
build_legal_stance	Aggregate citations from multiple statutes for a legal topic
format_citation	Format citations per Croatian conventions (full/short/pinpoint)
list_sources	List all available statutes with metadata, coverage scope, and data provenance
about	Server info, capabilities, dataset statistics, and coverage summary

EU Law Integration Tools (5)

Tool	Description
get_eu_basis	Get EU directives/regulations for a Croatian statute
get_croatian_implementations	Find Croatian laws implementing a specific EU act
search_eu_implementations	Search EU documents with Croatian implementation counts
get_provision_eu_basis	Get EU law references for a specific provision
validate_eu_compliance	Check implementation status (future, requires EU MCP)

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EU Law Integration

Croatia joined the EU on 1 July 2013. All EU regulations apply directly; directives require transposition into Croatian law.

Metric	Value
EU Membership	Since 1 July 2013
Acquis communautaire	Full EU legal order applies
GDPR	Implemented via Zakon o provedbi Opće uredbe o zaštiti podataka (NN 42/2018)
NIS2	Transposed via Zakon o kibernetičkoj sigurnosti (NN 14/2024)
AML4/5	Implemented via Zakon o sprječavanju pranja novca i financiranja terorizma
EUR-Lex Integration	Cross-references link Croatian statutes to source EU acts

Key EU-Derived Croatian Legislation

1. Zakon o provedbi Opće uredbe o zaštiti podataka (NN 42/2018) -- GDPR implementation
2. Zakon o kibernetičkoj sigurnosti (NN 14/2024) -- NIS2 transposition
3. Zakon o elektroničkim komunikacijama -- Electronic Communications Code transposition
4. Zakon o tržištu kapitala -- MiFID II transposition
5. Zakon o sprječavanju pranja novca -- AML directive transposition

See EU_INTEGRATION_GUIDE.md for detailed documentation and EU_USAGE_EXAMPLES.md for practical examples.

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Data Sources & Freshness

All content is sourced from authoritative Croatian legal databases:

• Narodne novine -- Official Gazette of the Republic of Croatia
• Zakon.hr -- Consolidated Croatian legislation portal
• EUR-Lex -- Official EU law database (cross-reference metadata)

Data Provenance

Field	Value
Authority	Narodne novine d.d. (Official Gazette)
Languages	Croatian (sole official legislative language)
Coverage	All national Croatian legislation; EU regulations apply directly
Source	narodne-novine.nn.hr, zakon.hr

Automated Freshness Checks

A GitHub Actions workflow monitors Narodne novine for changes:

Check	Method
Statute amendments	Drift detection against known provision anchors
New statutes	Comparison against NN publication index
Repealed statutes	Status change detection

Verified data only -- every citation is validated against official sources. Zero LLM-generated content.

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Security

This project uses multiple layers of automated security scanning:

Scanner	What It Does	Schedule
CodeQL	Static analysis for security vulnerabilities	Weekly + PRs
Semgrep	SAST scanning (OWASP top 10, secrets, TypeScript)	Every push
Gitleaks	Secret detection across git history	Every push
Trivy	CVE scanning on filesystem and npm dependencies	Daily
Socket.dev	Supply chain attack detection	PRs
Dependabot	Automated dependency updates	Weekly

See SECURITY.md for the full policy and vulnerability reporting.

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Important Disclaimers

Legal Advice

THIS TOOL IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE

Statute text is sourced from official Narodne novine and zakon.hr publications. However:

• This is a research tool, not a substitute for professional legal counsel
• Court case coverage is not included -- do not rely solely on this for case law research; consult official Vrhovni sud and Ustavni sud databases
• Verify critical citations against primary sources for court filings
• EU cross-references are derived from statute text and metadata, not EUR-Lex full text analysis
• Consolidated versions on zakon.hr may differ from the Narodne novine original -- always verify against the official gazette for legal proceedings

Before using professionally, read: DISCLAIMER.md | PRIVACY.md

Client Confidentiality

Queries go through the Claude API. For privileged or confidential matters, use on-premise deployment. Consult Hrvatska odvjetnička komora (HOK) guidelines on the use of AI tools in legal practice.

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Development

Setup

git clone https://github.com/Ansvar-Systems/croatian-law-mcp
cd croatian-law-mcp
npm install
npm run build
npm test

Running Locally

npm run dev                                       # Start MCP server
npx @anthropic/mcp-inspector node dist/index.js   # Test with MCP Inspector

Data Management

npm run ingest                    # Ingest statutes from Narodne novine
npm run catalog:crawl             # Crawl NN law catalog
npm run catalog:build-csv         # Build catalog from CSV
npm run catalog:ingest            # Ingest from catalog
npm run catalog:sync-fast         # Fast sync via CSV + ingest
npm run build:db                  # Rebuild SQLite database
npm run drift:detect              # Run drift detection against anchors

Performance

• Search Speed: <100ms for most FTS5 queries
• Database Size: 253 MB (optimized, portable)
• Reliability: 100% ingestion success rate across 4,531 statutes

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Related Projects: Complete Compliance Suite

This server is part of Ansvar's Compliance Suite -- MCP servers that work together for end-to-end compliance coverage:

@ansvar/eu-regulations-mcp

Query 49 EU regulations directly from Claude -- GDPR, AI Act, DORA, NIS2, MiFID II, eIDAS, and more. npx @ansvar/eu-regulations-mcp

@ansvar/slovenian-law-mcp

Query Slovenian legislation -- neighbour state, similar legal system. npx @ansvar/slovenian-law-mcp

@ansvar/security-controls-mcp

Query 261 security frameworks -- ISO 27001, NIST CSF, SOC 2, CIS Controls, SCF, and more. npx @ansvar/security-controls-mcp

70+ national law MCPs covering Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and more.

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Contributing

Contributions welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Priority areas:

• Court case law expansion (Vrhovni sud, Ustavni sud, VSRH)
• EU cross-reference expansion (full directive-to-statute mapping)
• Historical statute versions and amendment tracking
• Lower court decisions (Županijski sud, Općinski sud archives)

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Roadmap

• Core statute database with FTS5 search
• Full corpus ingestion (4,531 statutes, 157,667 provisions)
• EU law integration tools
• Vercel Streamable HTTP deployment
• npm package publication
• Court case law expansion (Vrhovni sud, Ustavni sud)
• Full EU text integration (via @ansvar/eu-regulations-mcp)
• Lower court coverage (Županijski, Općinski archives)
• Historical statute versions (amendment tracking)
• Web API for programmatic access

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Citation

If you use this MCP server in academic research:

@software{croatian_law_mcp_2026,
  author = {Ansvar Systems AB},
  title = {Croatian Law MCP Server: AI-Powered Legal Research Tool},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://github.com/Ansvar-Systems/croatian-law-mcp},
  note = {4,531 Croatian statutes with 157,667 provisions and EU law cross-references}
}

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License

Apache License 2.0. See LICENSE for details.

Data Licenses

• Statutes & Legislation: Narodne novine d.d. (public domain government works)
• EU Metadata: EUR-Lex (EU public domain)

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About Ansvar Systems

We build AI-accelerated compliance and legal research tools for the European market. This MCP server started as our internal reference tool for Croatian law -- turns out everyone building for the Adriatic and EU markets has the same research frustrations.

So we're open-sourcing it. Navigating 4,531 statutes and their EU source directives shouldn't require a law degree.

ansvar.eu -- Stockholm, Sweden

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