The initiative to establish a CIRED has been long present in Croatia. It has been launched from time to time prompted by the establishment of CIGRE Croatian National Committee in 1992 and its activities, when the distribution system was not yet within its principal area of interest. Croatian specialists have individually participated in CIRED conferences in the past ten years or so – and based on this interest CIRED accepted Croatia at a Directing Committee meeting in Barcelona in May 2003 as its liaison national committee and an associate member.

In the spring of 2006, the Croatian committee of CIRED was established. This year, 2008, Croatia is to become a member country of CIRED Directing Committee, as the first from South East Europe.