Judicial Reform 85

In performing the Republic of Croatia’s judicial system reform in 2006, the Ministry of Justice realised, to the full extent, the determined activities and measures used to accomplish the judicial system reform objectives.

Land registry reform: In 2005 and 2006, the Ministry of Justice carried out the envisaged measures and activities for establishing order in the land registry, achieving the promptness in the operations of the land registry departments and speeding up the process of establishing

digital land registry.22 From the onset of the land registry reform to July 2006, the number of

unsolved land registry cases was reduced by 175,978. In the same period, a total of 1,130,502 of land registry cases were solved and 3,130,378 land registry certificates were issued. In the Municipal Court in Zagreb, the number of unsolved cases was reduced by 77,612. A total of 77% of land registry files have been transferred into the electronic form.

Creditor protection and claim collection: Pursuant to the provisions of the amended Enforcement Act, the Ministry of Justice has prepared the action plan for reducing the backlog in enforcement cases at municipal and commercial courts. Since the beginning of application of the action plan (1 October 2005), the number of unsolved cases has continuously been reduced by 8-13% per month. In the first six months of 2006, 346,871 cases were solved. The total number of unsolved cases was reduced by as much as 68.7%. Since January 2006, public notaries adopt enforcement decisions on the basis of a valid document. They have adopted 131,611 enforcement decisions so far. A total of 9,016 complaints have been filed against the issued decisions. In this manner, a considerable burden of enforcement cases has been lifted from courts. In July 2006, the Croatian Parliament adopted the amendments to the Bankruptcy Act, which eliminated the impediments to the implementation of the bankruptcy proceedings and expedited the bankruptcy proceedings.

Modernisation and more efficient operation of courts: The project for the modernisation and more efficient operation of courts continued into 2006. The Ministry of Justice started a process of rationalisation, reorganisation and restructuring of courts and in May 2006, it

launched a pilot project of a merger of 8 minor offence courts and municipal courts.23 The

Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia continued to delegate the cases from the burdened courts to less burdened courts. A total of 38,945 cases were delegated. The Ministry of Justice and courts also started with the pilot project “In-Court Conciliation” for the parties in the civil

22 _{2002 CARDS project – project of modernisation and digitalisation of land registry and cadastre (I stage)}

2002 CARDS project – project of modernisation and digitalisation of land registry and cadastre (II stage)

23 _{2002 CARDS program – judicial system modernisation – support to more efficient and modern functioning of the judicial}

system.

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procedure.24 The final objective of the judicial system reform is a reduction in the total

number of unsolved court cases. According to the data as at 30 June 2006, unsolved cases totalled 557,978, that is, 28% less relative to the total number of unsolved cases.

Penal legislation reform: In June 2006, the second stage of the amendments to the substantive criminal legislation was completed by the adoption of the Act on the Amendments to the Penal Act. In March 2006, the Government of the Republic of Croatia adopted the National Anticorruption Programme 2006-2008. That Programme defines the framework measures for preventing corruption and sets the time limits and the legislative, executive and judicial authorities which will implement the action plans. The Ministry of Justice is appointed a co- ordinating entity in implementing the National Anticorruption Programme.

Objectives and Measures for Performing the Judicial Reform Activities 2007-2009

Concerning activities related to the judicial reform implementation, in the period 2007-2009 special attention will be given to the following objectives and activities:

Modernisation and more efficient operation of courts: In 2007, as in the previous years, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia will continue delegating the cases from the courts with an excessive case-load to less burdened courts, for the purpose of a more expedient solving of old and unsolved cases. The Ministry of Justice will perform an on-going supervision over the operation of the court administration and will propose adequate measures in order to increase efficacy of courts and eliminate the identified irregularities. In 2007, the judicial inspection will carry out supervision in all county courts and in municipal courts, as appropriate. The supervision of the court administration will be performed by the judicial inspection established within the Ministry of Justice. The standards are also being prepared for the work of judges, which will determine and assess, in an objective manner, the actual performance of each individual judge. The Ministry of Justice is determined to carry out the reorganisation of the court network, taking into account efficacy and effectiveness of the judicial system, as well as the historical, traditional and developmental characteristics of each individual area. In the period 2007-2009, it will also continue with the process of rationalisation of the court network. The Minister of Justice issued a decision on a merger of 8 minor offence and 8 municipal courts, as the pilot courts within the framework of the project for the rationalisation of the court network. The results of these pilot courts will serve as the basis for upgrading the court network rationalisation project.

Land registry reform: The setting in order of the land registries will continue in 2007 and the land registry reform will be completed by the end of the third quarter of 2008. In 2007, all the legal and technical conditions will be fulfilled for the establishment of the digital land registries and the common land registry database will be created, where land registry department data and cadastre data will be networked. The Ministry of Justice will continue monitoring systematically the situation in the land registry departments and will continue with the training of all land registry clerks. 1,402 land registry clerks have undergone training so far and 84 land registry clerks have passed the examination for the authorised land registry clerk and have gained authority to act in land registry procedures. Informatisation of the land registry department has continuously been performed.

Increase in efficiency of creditor protection and claim collection: In 2007, the Ministry of Justice will continue to implement the action plan for reducing the number of enforcement cases at municipal and commercial courts. The Ministry of Justice will monitor, on an on- going basis, the monthly inflows of new enforcement cases, solved cases and the status of

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unsolved cases at municipal and commercial courts, and especially the acting of public notaries in issuing the enforcement decisions. The programme for reducing the number of unsolved cases will be carried out in the 2007-2009 period.

The amendments to the Bankruptcy Act from July 2006 expedited the bankruptcy proceedings and imposed a greater responsibility on the bankruptcy trustees in their acting in bankruptcy proceedings. In 2007, the criteria for the appointment of the bankruptcy trustees will be established, training for the bankruptcy judges will be organised concerning the new Bankruptcy Act, as well as the examinations for bankruptcy trustees.

Penal legislation reform: In July 2006, the Ministry of Justice forwarded the Draft Act on the Amendments to the Penal Procedure Act into the parliamentary procedure. The proposed amendments introduce the audiovisual conference, as a method of providing legal assistance, expand the list of criminal offences in the case of which special investigative measures may be taken, such as receiving and giving of bribe in economic crime, and modify the provisions relating to the custody time limits in the investigation stage, for the purpose of ensuring efficacy of actions in the cases involving a remand in custody. In 2007 and 2008, training of judges and state attorneys will be carried out within the Judicial Academy, for the purpose of implementation of the amendments to the Penal Act.

Implementation of the Anticorruption Strategy: The National Anticorruption Programme 2006-2008, adopted by the Government of the Republic of Croatia in March 2006, contains a defined framework of measures for fighting corruption and time limits for the legislative, executive and judicial authorities which will adopt them.

The Ministry of Justice, as well as other authorities determined by the National Anticorruption Programme 2006-2008, will implement action plans for the purpose of implementation of the said programme. The action plans represent a concretization of the National Programme, i.e. a plan of action for every authority in fighting corruption. They, as such, contain tasks, determined by the National Programme, measures and time limits for the implementation of these tasks, responsible persons in each authority, funds required for the realisation of the required measures and sources of financing, as well as performance indicators. The National Anticorruption Programme is currently at the stage of implementation of measures set by that programme. The authorities responsible for performing the activities under that programme will deliver the reports on the implementation of the measures to the Ministry of Justice, in order to allow insight to that Ministry into the implementation dynamics of these measures.

The collective objective of the anticorruption strategy is to reduce corruption to the level at which it will not represent an obstruction to the social, economic and political development and will not be perceived by the citizens as a crucial impediment. Individual objectives of the integrated and responsible implementation of the National Anticorruption Programme 2006- 2008 are the following:

• to identify and punish the corrupted individuals, in order to avoid generalisations that

are detrimental,

• to strengthen the professional ethics and to guarantee a smooth development for the

state and local administration, small and medium size entrepreneurs and for the economy,

• _{to ensure responsible public administration for the citizens,}

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