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Description
Croatian citizens and business entities use state courts to settle disputes almost exclusively, resulting in courts being overburdened with cases and becoming increasingly ineffective. Number of civil law cases where court-annexed mediation was used is extremely low in relation to overall number of cases on municipal and commercial courts. Therefore, additional measures are required to increase the use of court-annexed mediation in the Republic of Croatia.
The project includes cross-border cooperation element, namely, analysis of the existing mediation system in comparison with other European states will be carried out (Norway, Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Slovenia) to highlight the possibilities for improving the Croatian mediation system. Cooperation will be realised through study visits to mentioned countries to gain insight into the functioning of their system of alternative dispute settlement
The overall objective: Strengthened rule of law and increased efficiency of the judiciary
The specific objective: Reinforce the system of court-annexed mediation in the Republic of Croatia and increase its use
The project consists of following components:
- Component 1 – Analysis of the existing mediation system in comparison with other European states
- Component 2 – Sociological-legal examination of the reasons behind the underutilization of mediation
- Component 3 – Manual on court mediation
- Component 4 – Training the professional staff (judges, lawyers, civil servants, court advisers, state attorneys) on mediation
- Component 5 - Awareness raising campaign
Summary of project results
Croatian citizens and business entities use state courts to settle disputes almost exclusively, resulting in courts being overburdened with cases and becoming increasingly ineffective. Number of civil law cases where court-annexed mediation was used is extremely low in relation to overall number of cases on municipal and commercial courts. Therefore, this project had the mission to popularize the use of court-annexed mediation in the Republic of Croatia among legal practitioners.
The aim of the analysis of the existing mediation system of the Republic of Croatia in comparison with the mediation systems of other European countries was to investigate the application of mediation within the legal system of the Republic of Croatia, as well as to investigate comparative mediation systems and create a document that will indicate the possibilities of improving the Croatian mediation system in general, with special emphasis on court mediation. By conducting a comparative analysis and providing recommendations, an effort is made to propose a way to improve the system of court-annexed mediation and achieve more efficient justice. Based on the established needs of judges, lawyers and the parties, the recommendations were drawn up precisely in relation to the aforementioned groups of addressees.
The work on the preparation of the document of comparative analysis of the system began with the preparation of a sociological-legal analysis of the reasons for insufficient use of mediation in the Republic of Croatia. The created sociological-legal analysis was used during the preparation of other analyses, within the framework of which an analysis of the mediation system in the Republic of Croatia was carried out by branches of law (civil law, enforceable law, inheritance law, bankruptcy law, administrative law, consumer disputes, disputes from the financial sector, family law disputes, criminal law).
The manual on court mediation was prepared to help judges in their daily work when conducting mediation in courts. The manual was printed and distributed to all judges and court advisors of municipal, commercial, and administrative courts, in approximately 2000 copies.
By conducting training for mediators, namely for 500 persons directly involved in the work of the judiciary or persons who are otherwise relevant for the development and acceptance of mediation in the Republic of Croatia (judges, court advisors, lawyers, state attorneys, civil servants, representatives of the academic community and the educational system), a successful result of the activity was achieved. Basic and additional training for mediators was conducted, and 543 people attended the training, mostly basic training. 45 out of 543 people attended additional training for mediators.
In order to promote mediation during the implementation of the project, a number of visibility activities were carried out. The project logo, communication strategy and promotional materials were developed. Promotional materials were distributed to training participants, study visit participants and hosts in the countries visited, as well as at round tables and at a conference. Posters and leaflets were distributed and are visible in all municipal and county courts in the Republic of Croatia. Three conferences were held, the kickoff conference, the conference during the implementation, and the final conference to present the achieved results. A project website was created and regularly updated with new information. A promotional video was made, which was broadcast on television, radio, and the Internet. For the purpose of education and gaining positive knowledge about the importance of peaceful dispute resolution from a young age, a comic was created for elementary school students (ages 5th to 8th grade). The comic shows the conflict and how it can be resolved in a peaceful way, which is suitable and understandable for children of the specified age. The comic was produced in 12,000 copies and is distributed in physical and digital form to approximately 1,000 elementary schools in the Republic of Croatia. Round tables on various subjects concerning mediation were organized.
The aim of the project was to additionally promote mediation on courts as an alternative way of resolving disputes and the target is set to 0,95% of court-annexed mediation cases in the total number of civil litigation cases.
Data for 2023 shows that the ratio of resolved mediation cases vs. total number of resolved cases is 0,41% on municipal courts but the value for commercial courts is 2,60% compared to 1,13 % from 2020 data. Data for municipal courts shows significant raise of total resolved cases from 2021 to 2023, compared to data from 2020 so the overall ratio is lower than was expected before the implementation of the project.
Both municipal and commercial courts have 0,58% of mediation cases in total number of cases. As the base value of the indicator is 0,35% this can be assessed as moderate positive movement after project closure.
Observing, in addition to mediation, the share of cases in which a court settlement was concluded, which is also a peaceful way of resolving disputes that can be preceded by mediation, the share of both conciliation and court settlements in civil cases in 2023 in municipal courts is 4.77%, and in commercial courts is 9.28%, which indicates an increase.
Summary of bilateral results
Firstly because the project has high match with Norway and has provided great value of expertise from Norwegian side (making it more relevant for both partners). Croatian and Norwegian experts collaborated from the analysis of the under-utilization of mediation and socio-legal examination of the reasons for such an attitude, to organizing various educational and promotional activities to try to encourage judges and citizens to consider mediation and to have it more represented in practice. Excellent bilateral cooperation that was developed among the partners throughout the project cycle has led to evolve further in terms of new bilateral ideas and projects.