“Croatia Fines Sleepers in Public — But That Snoring Surcharge? It's Complicated”
Croatia does prohibit and fine sleeping in public places under its Law on Misdemeanors Against Public Order and Peace. However, the specific extra fine for snoring while asleep in public originates from a widely-reported 2016 draft amendment — and no primary legislative source confirms it was enacted as law.
A legal relic from 1977
Croatia's Law on Misdemeanors Against Public Order and Peace dates back to 1977 (Narodne novine 41/77), and had become something of a legal relic: it had last been meaningfully amended in 1994, when — due to wartime inflation — fines were expressed in German marks, a currency that ceased to exist in 2002. For years, Croatian courts had to perform a multi-step conversion: marks to euros at the 1999 fixed rate, then euros to kuna, just to issue a fine.
The 2016 draft amendment
In 2016, a draft amendment to this law circulated through the Croatian government, aiming to modernise and expand its provisions. Croatian broadcaster RTL reported on the draft on May 18, 2016, highlighting some of its more colourful provisions: a 1,000 kuna fine for sleeping in a public place, plus an additional 1,000 kuna surcharge if you were snoring while doing so. The draft also proposed treating balconies as public spaces for the purposes of nudity and sexual activity offences.
Viral spread versus the actual amendment
The snoring provision quickly went viral internationally as a prime example of a 'weird law,' but all reporting traces back to coverage of the draft, not an enacted statute. The law was eventually amended (NN 114/22) to update fines in light of Croatia's planned euro adoption on January 1, 2023 — but Croatian government consultation records suggest the amendment focused on converting fines from German marks to euros, not on introducing the snoring surcharge.
Sleeping in public today
Sleeping in public is genuinely restricted across Croatia by local ordinances, with most major cities imposing fines starting at around €150. The 'snoring fine' as a distinct, separately-enforceable provision of national law remains unconfirmed by any primary official source.
Where the story gets it wrong
Many 'weird laws' sites present the snoring fine as settled, enacted Croatian law. In reality, the surcharge appears only in reporting on a 2016 draft bill, and no primary legislative source confirms it was enacted. The base claim that sleeping in public incurs a fine is genuine, but under local ordinances, not this specific national provision.
Even if the snoring surcharge had been enacted, it would have been denominated in kuna. Since Croatia adopted the euro on January 1, 2023, any kuna-denominated fine would now be historical, which further undermines claims that this is a currently enforceable provision.
The Law on Misdemeanors Against Public Order and Peace (Zakon o prekršajima protiv javnog reda i miru, NN 41/77 and amendments) prohibits acts that unlawfully disturb the peace, work, or normal way of life of citizens on streets and other public places. A 2016 draft amendment proposed fining sleeping in a public place 1,000 kuna, with an additional 1,000 kuna fine if the offender was also snoring. Sleeping in public places is separately prohibited by local regulations in most Croatian cities, with fines typically starting around €150.
- Current status
- Unknown
- Penalty
- Draft proposed: 1,000 kuna for sleeping in public + additional 1,000 kuna for snoring (~€133 each at 2023 conversion rate). Current municipal fines for sleeping in public typically start at €150.Fine: HRK1,000 – HRK2,000
- Jurisdiction
- Reported as a national-level provision under the draft Law on Misdemeanors Against Public Order and Peace; sleeping-in-public bans are also enforced at municipal level across Croatia.