Višnja Samardžija It simplified the administrative procedures for starting a business in Croatia. Instead of the several weeks that were previously needed to set up a business, it is possible to do this now in one week. HITRO.HR has been developed as a government service of wider scope, intended to enable citizens and entrepreneurs to get quicker, simpler access to information and services in one location. The better regulation process recently started aims to introduce regulatory impact assessments(RIA) into legislative procedures. The intention is to get a clear insight into the expected costs and overall impacts of new legal acts, particularly those that are being harmonised with the acquis. This is an initial step in a long-term process which will lead to better regulation but needs strengthened overall efforts to give results. The reform project HITROREZ (regulatory guillotine) was launched in 2006 with the aim of analysing and simplifying existing legislation, as well as to reducing administrative barriers in the business sector. Its final goal is to improve the quality of the existing legal framework by reducing and simplifying it. Croatia is implementing the principles of the EU Charter for Small Enterprises and, according to the EU report(European Commission, 2006e), has made the most significant progress in the region in achieving the charter's objectives. It was ranked in the highest position among eight countries in the following areas: education and training for entrepreneurship, cheaper and faster start-up, availability of skills, taxation and financial matters, successful e-business models and top-class small business support(European Commission, 2006e). There is a need to further develop the system of collecting and monitoring qualitative and quantitative indicators in Croatia in different areas. This system should be linked in the future to the EU system of indicators(Eurostat) and will enable Croatia to be compared on an equal basis with the EU member states and other candidates. Although the above-mentioned examples are chosen from different areas, they show that there is some progress towards implementing the Lisbon goals, but the approach and coverage is still not coherent enough. Therefore implementation of the Lisbon Strategy remains the challenge for Croatia in the accession period. 30