The lack of tradition in Croatia regarding the functional mechanism of a free market economy raises questions about the quality of legal protection mechanisms that ensure the preservation of free competition. What role does the Croatian equivalent to Article 102 TFEU (formerly Article 82 EC), created only in recent times due to the obligations of legal alignment for EU accession, play? In particular, whether the foundation for effective enforcement of the prohibition against the abusive exploitation of dominant market positions, which are excessively present in both the public and private sectors in Croatia, has been established in accordance with the acquis communautaire requires a systematic presentation and is the subject of research in this work.