The Croatian broadcaster HRT released information on the new rules for the national final Dora 2003, as well as the closing date for submitting songs and the use of televoting.

As far as the rules of the national contest are concerned, the main changes include the allowing the general public to submit their own songs, without being signed to a record company beforehand. In Dora 2003 all songs will have to be performed in the Croatian language, and only Croatian songwriters are allowed to enter.

Only three days before the first national final, which will be held in Israel, the date for submitting songs will expire. The deadline has been set to 20th January.

As previously known, 24 songs will participate in the two semi finals. In addition, a jury of twelve members will pick out four further entries, which will have the status of being reserves. Both in the semi finals as well as the final itself, a system based purely on televoting will be used. This way, the Croatian TV viewers will have all the power in the upcoming version of Dora, and will thereby be totally responsible for the selection of the Croatian participant in Riga.