The Law on State Survey and Real Estate Cadastre (OG 16/07, 124/10), hereinafter: the Law, is the first regulation defining the establishment of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure in Croatia (NSDI). When the Law was being prepared, a proposal of the INSPIRE Directive (hereinafter: the Directive) was published, so that basic principles of the Directive were transposed into Croatian legislation in the frame of the Law. Based on the analysis concerning spatial information status in Croatia and recommendations given in the Study on National Spatial Data Infrastructure in the Republic of Croatia from 2005, the Law also defines the institutional frame of NSDI.

As already stated, the Law is an incomplete transposition of the Directive into Croatian legislation. At that time, the adoption of such legislation was a big step for Croatia, especially in relation to the region and even some European countries. However, a need for extending the Law and a more detailed definition of open questions appeared through the development of NSDI in Croatia followed after the Law was enacted. Inspired by the process of Croatia joining the European Union and related commitments, it was decided to start with preparing a new law to further define NSDI and also be a complete transposition of the Directive into Croatian legislation. According to the Programme of the Government of the Republic of Croatia for the Adoption and Implementation of the Acquis Communautaire for 2011 (NPIEU), preparation of drafting a new law on NSDI are going to start in 2011, while adoption of the Law is planned, according to the NPIEU 2011, by the Croatian accession date. The NSDI Council included in its Plan for 2011 activities on preparing a draft of the new law. The State Geodetic administration, which performs secretariat work of NSDI Council, has launched a series of activities in order to prepare a draft of the new NSDI law.