Under the new regulations, attorneys have the obligation to determine the origin of their clients' money, which HOK members believe is aimed at turning them into investigators and informants.

"Lawyers in Croatia are against breaking the law and respect all regulations that are in force, but they cannot accept that the basic principles of the legal profession are jeopardised by legal regulations," HOK president Leo Andreis told reporters ahead of a national conference of attorneys.

HOK representatives say that attorneys in the EU share their position on the matter.

The Zagreb conference today featured a seminar on the prevention of money laundering, organised in cooperation with colleagues from the Paris Bar Association. On Friday, Croatian attorneys will discuss models of adopting laws with attorneys from Germany.

Commenting on the adoption of legislation in Croatia, Andreis said that legal experts in working groups were often in the minority and that they were most often outvoted by politicians. He also objected to the practice of adopting legal amendments that were often impossible to incorporate into final legal texts.

It is not uncommon that laws contain many inconsistencies and contradictions, Andreis said, adding that this was also the case with regulations on the prevention of money laundering and terrorism which he said violated the right to provide legal help.