"It is impossible to effect change in the judiciary without cooperation and openness to change because changes are a prerequisite for strengthening public trust in the justice system. By reinforcing the institute of mediation, we want to raise public awareness about the possibility of resolving disputes in a more convenient, faster and cheaper manner", said Minister of Justice and Public Administration Ivan Malenica at the round table discussion on "Mediation in non-contentious proceedings" on 21 October in Novinarski dom, Zagreb.
The round table discussion was organised on the occasion of the European Day of Justice, established by the Council of Europe and the European Commission in 2003. The European Day of Justice is marked on 25 October with the aim of bringing the judiciary closer to citizens and familiarising them with the legal system and the work of the courts.
Minister Malenica pointed out that the Ministry's role in the justice system is to provide a framework within which judicial bodies can work efficiently and independently. Such a framework is achieved through action in three directions: legislative changes, organisational activities and development projects.
Given the numerous advantages of mediation as a form of alternative dispute resolution that represents the most convenient, fastest and cheapest manner of resolving disputes between parties, the Ministry of Justice and PŠublic Administration has been drafting amendments to the Mediation Act as well as a new Non-Contentious Proceedings Act (the current Act has been in force since 1934).
"The current Mediation Act has been in force since 2011, but we are aware that amicable dispute resolution is unfortunately not at a satisfactory level. Hence we have envisaged measures in the National Recovery and Resilience Programme to further enhance the mediation procedure. In our view, mediation would take place in a mediation centre or centres, which would also deliver trainings for mediators. The Central Mediation Centre in Zagreb will be located on the future Justice Square – the largest infrastructural project of the next investment cycle of the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration, with the estimated value of of HRK 2 billion", said the Minister, adding that Croatian courts receive over a million cases a year, part of which could certainly have been resolved through mediation.
"The key message we want to send to our fellow citizens is to trust the mediation system, to try to resolve their disputes in a procedure that will preserve their relations, in a procedure in which there is no defendant or plaintiff, and there are no losers because the dispute is resolved by a settlement", the Minister concluded.
The panelists discussing the topic were Dr. Ivan Borković, judge of the Municipal Civil Court in Zagreb, Dr. Juraj Brozović from the Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb, Ms Sanja Tafra, President of the Mediation Centre of the Croatian Bar Association, Mr Srdjan Šimac, President of the Croatian Mediation Association, Ms Ana Lovrić, Head of Civil and Commercial Law Regulations Sector and Ms Arijana Kozlevčar, Project Manager of the project "Reinforcing the system of court-annexed mediation".
The discussion focused on the relationship between non-contentious proceedings and mediation, the mediation skills necessary for quality court-annexed mediation, ways to improve the mediation system in Croatia and the benefits of the mediation institute for citizens as well as the judicial system as a whole.
The panelists concluded that mediation offers the possibility of significantly improving the dispute resolution system in Croatia, following the good examples of other countries, both in non-contentious and other proceedings.
These possibilities relate not only to the efficiency of the justice system, but also to access to justice, self-determination of parties, the transformation of disputes at a personal and social level, and the general acceptance of society's rules.
Although mediation is not sufficiently recognized and used in Croatia at the moment, it is necessary to keep the positive ideas that already exist and to build on them through upcoming legislative and other initiatives. In particular, it was highlighted that parties could contribute to the establishment of a more efficient and better quality judiciary through their own efforts.
The Round table "Mediation in non-contentious proceedings" was organised as part of the activities under the project "Reinforcing the system of court-annexed mediation", worth HRK 11.2 million, co-financed from the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014-2021 and implemented by the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration in cooperation with the Norwegian Courts Administration and the Judicial Academy.
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