Croatia’s current national flag is a red-white-blue tricolor with the national arms in its center. Article 11 of the Constitution establishes this design. Constitution ↗
Specification
Article 10 of the 1990 law prescribes equal horizontal thirds, red uppermost, and hoist:fly 1:2. The arms’ center coincides with the diagonals’ intersection; the crown enters red and the shield extends into blue.
Article 7 specifies alternating red and white (silver) fields, beginning red at upper left. From the viewer’s left, the crown represents the oldest known Croatian arms, Dubrovnik, Dalmatia, Istria and Slavonia. Their devices are respectively a star and crescent; two red bars; three crowned leopard heads; a goat; and a marten between silver bars beneath a star. The crown alternates lighter and darker blue grounds. Gazette, Articles 7 and 10 ↗
Colors
Inspected SVG fills are red #FF0000, white #FFFFFF, dark blue #171796, light blue #0093DD, yellow #F7DB17 and black #000000. These identify the local screen artwork only. Parliament links a construction sheet with color codes, but its image could not be retrieved for inspection. No Pantone, RAL, textile tolerances or certified color conversions are asserted. Parliament’s graphic standards ↗
Construction notes
The specimen’s 1200 × 600 viewBox contains three overlapping rectangles exposing bands at y=0–200, 200–400 and 400–600. The arms use paths scaled by 0.00296202; their main shield is centered horizontally at approximately x=600. Visual inspection confirms the 25-field arrangement, red first field, five crown shields and extension into both outer bands.
Article 7 gives a main-field-to-small-shield height ratio of 1:2.5 and width ratio of 1:1. These textual relations do not supply a complete coordinate drawing.
The complete emblem’s bounding box is not a substitute for its legal center point. Its detailed curves, crown proportions and placement have not been independently measured against Parliament’s original construction sheet. Preserve the supplied artwork when scaling; these SVG coordinates are explanatory, not cutting dimensions. Specimen provenance →
Usage
Articles 11–12 cover state buildings, holidays, mourning at half-mast and public gatherings. Article 11 also addresses vessels, reserving detailed rules to government regulation; this entry documents the national rectangle. Flag law ↗
Historical record
Adoption, proclamation and gazette publication occurred on 21 December 1990. Article 31 made the law effective on publication. That date begins this record’s current design period. NN 55/1990 ↗
Parliament credits Miroslav Šutej for the state-symbol designs and Božo Kokan for their digital preparation. Its current reference page continues to identify the flag under the 1990 law and subsequent amendments. Digital preparation is a separate milestone from adoption. Parliament: state symbols ↗
Source trail
Reviewed 14 September 2026. Croatian legal terminology is paraphrased in English.
- Croatian Parliament: Constitution, Article 11 ↗ — constitutional identity.
- Narodne novine: NN 55/1990, document 1067 ↗ — original law, description, use and commencement.
- Croatian Parliament: state symbols and graphic standards ↗ — current official reference and design credits; linked construction and color sheet ↗ (not retrieved).
- Wikimedia Commons: artwork history, contributors and rights ↗ — public-domain/CC0 specimen; local asset audit →.
