Machine-readable price lists in Croatia: the XML/CSV rule for websites

On the same day as the anchor price decision, 10 September 2026, the Croatian Government also adopted the Decision on publishing price lists of products and services as a measure of direct price control (Odluka o objavi cjenika proizvoda i usluga, NN 101/2026). It also enters into force on 1 October 2026. The aim is to make prices available for automated comparison – by customers, price comparison apps and the authorities.

This article is for information only and is not legal advice.

Who it applies to

The obligation applies to traders and service providers that have an established website (point V of the Decision). If a company has a website, the price list of its products or services must be published on it.

Format, updates and keeping versions

• Format: the price list is published in a digital form suitable for automated processing, as a file in XML or CSV format (point II).
• Traders update the product price list once a day, no later than 8:00 a.m. for the current working day.
• Service providers update the service price list after every change, no later than 8:00 a.m. on the day the change is published.
• Retention: published price lists must remain available for 30 days from publication or from each change.
• Automated collection: the trader or service provider must allow software tools and automated programs to retrieve price data in real time (point VII).

Which fields the price list must contain

For products the price list contains (point III):

1. name,
2. product code,
3. brand,
4. unit of measure, where applicable,
5. price per unit of measure, where applicable,
6. retail price, with information on whether it applied during a special form of sale and the name of that form of sale,
7. anchor price,
8. barcode,
9. availability (available or unavailable).

For services the price list contains the name of the service, the retail price with information on any special form of sale, and the anchor price (point IV).

The Decision also prescribes the file name: the type of retail outlet, the outlet's address and label, a storage number and a timestamp with date and time. A trader with several outlets uses a single file structure for all of them (point VI).

From 17 November 2026 the obligation is also in the Consumer Protection Act

The Act amending the Consumer Protection Act (NN 59/2026) adds to Article 7 a provision that a trader must publish valid product price lists on its website. That provision enters into force on 17 November 2026, and the manner of publication will be set out in an ordinance by the minister responsible for consumer protection. Failing to publish valid price lists on the website is listed among offences for which a trader that is a legal person faces a fine of €1,500 to €50,000, and an inspector may order the irregularity to be remedied within a set deadline.

The Act on Exceptional Price Control Measures (NN 40/2025), on which the Government Decision is based, sets fines of €3,000 to €30,000 for a legal person for breaches of the price list measure, but its Article 12 expressly ties those obligations to supermarkets, hypermarkets, discount stores and cash & carry retailers.

What it means in practice

Maintaining such a price list by hand quickly becomes a separate job: a new file every day before 8 a.m., a 30-day archive, a barcode and an anchor price for every item, a promotion flag. It should therefore be generated from the same source that produces the price on the website – the store catalogue – so that the price list and the website never show different amounts.

A short checklist:

• Does every product have a code, a brand and a barcode?
• Is the anchor price stored as a separate value that never changes?
• Is the file generated automatically every day before 8:00?
• Are previous versions available for 30 days?
• Is the file publicly available and can automated programs retrieve it?

How AI MAX Commerce handles it

On the AI MAX Commerce platform the price list is generated automatically from the catalogue every day at 7:00, in XML and CSV, with all fields from points III and IV of the Decision and an archive of daily versions. A public example is the price list of the Silverex online store. If you want the same for your store, get in touch or see AI MAX Commerce.