This paper starts out from the fact that Croatian library community requires new cataloguing rules. The introduction gives a brief overview of two examples from the history of Croatian cataloguing which are related to the present decision to be made about the selection and of the new (national) cataloguing rules. This is followed by an attempt to give arguments as to what kind of cataloguing rules are required: the new code of rules should pro vide a framework for all types of resources and all types of contents; it should be aligned with the new international cataloguing princip les, models and standards, while taking into account the present national theory and practice; and moreover, it should be applicable to the organization of information of other library related communities, such as archival, museum, publishing, distribution, bookselling, information providers, rights management communities, etc. The main part of the paper discusses the conceptual models FRBR and FRAD, and their implementation in national cataloguing rules REI CAT and RD A. As the FRBR model has been presented in the Croatian library science literature from several aspects, in the model overview focus was put on the final FRAD version published in 2009. The review of Italian (REI CAT) and Anglo-American (RDA) cataloguing rules, which are in terms of theory based on the mentioned conceptual models, is for the purposes of this paper reduced to the analysis of the manner in which the two rules resolve the relation between the conceptual models and their implementation, which is primarily demonstrated in the area of defining the objectives of the catalogue and terminology used. In addition, the framework structure and the main distribution of chapters of the two codes is analysed in detail as it indicates the solution to the mentioned relations, and it dictates a certain cataloguing process, i.e. logical order of analysis of the materials and their processing. The paper also gives a brief overview of the fundamental decisions regarding the development of the foregoing codes relative to the previous cataloguing rules, and possible future developments thereof. In conclusion, the paper presents several research topics which could contribute to defining the direction of development of Croatian cataloguing rules. Finally, the authors specify four possible scenarios for the development of the next generation of Croatian cataloguing rules.