odd_parity

(just a note: this is not an April Fool's Day joke)

Croatian Standards Institute (HZN) is in spotlight again. After the long battle for adoption of ODF standard in Croatia and what was probably the most intense news coverage ever of that institution, CSI went to hibernation, quite literally. Today, the Business.hr magazine poked the sleeping institution with a disturbing story and a strong critique of Mr. Dragutin Funda, Director General of CSI.

There's a lot written in that article in Business.hr magazine, issue 373. I am going to quote most interesting parts and follow them with my more or less accurate English translation (so you can check it with a professional translator).

“Dok vlade nekih zemalja tek sada, prisiljene krizom, razmišljaju o uvođenju četverodnevnog radnog tjedna, Dragutin Funda, ravnatelj Hrvatskog zavoda za norme (HZN), već dulje radi samo po tri dana. Čak dva dana u tjednu, i to obično ponedjeljkom i petkom, ravnatelj institucije izuzetno važne za ulazak Hrvatske u EU uopće ne dolazi na posao, već putuje u Visoku poslovnu školu Minerva u Dugopolju. U Minervi je Funda dekan, direktor i, po svemu sudeći, suvlasnik, a na paralelni ga posao vozi njegov službeni vozač iz Zavoda.”

“While foreign governments these days are, due to the crisis, starting to think of cutting work week to just four days, Dragutin Funda, head of Croatian Standards Institute (CSI) for some time now is working just three days per week. Two days a week, usually on Monday and Friday he is traveling to Minerva Business College in Dugopolje. He is a dean there, director, and possibly even a co-owner; his official driver from CSI is driving him to his parallel job.”

“Isto tako, umjesto da štiti intelektualno vlasništvo i ISO norme, Funda je prepisao službenu ISO brošuru 'Potrošači i norme' i u feljtoniziranu je obliku objavio u časopisu Suvremena trgovina te potpisao vlastitim prezimenom.”

“Instead of protecting intellectual property and ISO standards, Funda took official ISO brochure 'Customers and standards(??)', and in modified version published it in Suvremena trgovina (Modern Trade) magazine, signed by himself.”

“'Nije nam jasno kako nitko iz vlasti ne vidi što se događa u Zavodu. Prihvaćanje normi nužnih za proces europskih integracija još uvijek ne kasni samo zato što jer se mi iznimno trudimo. Međutim, cijeli se sustav raspada i uskoro taj tempo više nećemo moći pratiti', upozoravaju djelatnici Zavoda, koji inzistiraju na anonimnosti.”

“'We cannot understand how the government can't see what is going on in CSI. Acceptance of standards important for our integration into European Union is still on track just because we have put extra effort in it. However, whole system is breaking down and very soon we will not be able to keep up that pace', anonymous CSI employees have warned.”

Now, watch this:

“Saznali smo i da se Funda otvoreno upleo u odlučivanje o jednoj normi koja se tiče Microsofta, koji je pak bio sponzor Fundine knjige 'Sustavi obrazovanja kvalitetom u obrazovnim institucijama'”.

“We have been told that Funda openly intervened in decision making process regarding certain standard that was of interest to Microsoft, who in turn happened to be the sponsor of Funda's book (the name of that book is hard for me to translate meaningfully, sorry).”

Probably connected with this:

Zavod je sada pod ingerencijom Ministarstva gospodarstva, a donedavno je bio pod Ministarstvom znanosti, u kojem Funda navodno ima snažnog zaštitnika, koji ga je i doveo za ravnatelja.”

“CSI is now under the authority of Ministry of Economy; previously it had been under authority of Ministry of Science, where it is rumored that Funda has powerful protector, who pushed him to the position of CSI Director General.”

And, there's a little bit more:

“Sada tvrtka Combis u okviru 3.5 milijuna kuna vrijednog projekta informatizacije HZN-a uvodi Microsoftov softver, što je napravljeno bez analize hoće li odgovarati specifičnim potrebama normizacije.”

“Now Combis (an IT company) is implementing Microsoft technology as a part of informatisation project worth 3.5mil.kn. (about 500.000€) that has been started without analysing first whether that technology would be able to adapt to CSI business processes.”

The icing on the cake:

“Nadalje, djelatnici HZN-a navode da ravnatelj ne odlazi na generalne skupštine međunarodnih tijela za normizaciju, pa sumnjaju da ne govori strane jezike (zbog čega je navodno doktorirao u Novom Sadu), te izbjegava susrete sa strancima.”

“CSI employees state that Director General does not travel to meetings of international standardization bodies, therefore they presume that he doesn't speak any foreign language; he is avoiding meeting with foreign visitors as well.”

I know what you're thinking. But yes, it is possible in Croatia. And the other thing that just flew trough your mind as completely impossible – is possible. We will be hearing more of this.

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