Croatia implementing paperless commercial courts project to make judiciary more efficient

High-level representatives of the Council of Europe, the European Commission’s DG for Structural Reform Support and the Ministry of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transformation participated in the kick-off meeting of the project "Paperless commercial courts in Croatia".

They gathered on Wednesday to promote a joint project aimed at modernising the Croatian judicial system, in particular commercial courts.

“With this project, we are continuing the process of digitalisation of commercial courts, in line with European green and digital policies. Digitalisation will further speed up judicial proceedings, reduce backlogs and save time and resources, making justice more efficient and bringing us in line with the highest European standards", said Damir Habin, Minister of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transformation.

“We are honoured that the Croatian Ministry of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transformation has once again put its trust in our Technical Support Instrument (TSI) that will provide the Ministry with the right expertise in the field of judicial reform. This project is indeed a continuation of the previous effort we did together to digitalise the justice sector and builds on a long-standing partnership between the European Commission Directorate for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM) and the Ministry, which started back in 2017. Croatia is one of the main beneficiaries of the TSI support, and DG REFORM stands ready to further support the Ministry in its structural reform efforts in light of the recommendation from the Rule of Law Report”, stated Nathalie Berger, Director for support to Member States Reforms - Directorate General for Structural Reform Support.

“This project, as part of continuous cooperation with the Croatian authorities, aims to modernise judicial procedures and aims to improve efficiency through the protection of judicial independence. He will support the Croatian authorities in striking a balance between the level of modernisation based on the principles of the rule of law and the protection of human rights", stressed Schnutz Durr, Director of Programming Unit, Programme Coordination Directorate, Council of Europe.

Since its start in August 2024, the project has been supporting the Croatian authorities in offering more efficient judicial services to Croatian citizens. It is ushering in a new wave of digital transformation that will optimise the commercial court operations by piloting four commercial courts in Dubrovnik, Split, Varaždin and Zagreb in transforming their operations to paperless.

The project furthermore supports the workflow digitalisation of Croatia’s commercial courts to increase their overall efficiency and will help optimise resources, reduce the length of proceedings and backlogs, in line with the Council of Europe standards, the European Convention on Human Rights and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. It also supports Croatian commercial courts in increasing the use of fully digital workflows for judges and court staff

The specific objective of this project is to support the Republic of Croatia in designing, developing and implementing reforms.

The project is co-financed by the European Union under the Technical Support Instrument and and implemented by the Council of Europe in cooperation with the European Commission.

For more information, see Croatia - Paperless Commercial Courts - Implementation of Human Rights, Justice and Legal Co-Operation Standards (coe.int)