Conference of the project "Reinforcing the system of court-annexed mediation" on 24 January 2023

On 24 January 2023, a conference of the project “Reinforcing the system of court-annexed mediation in Croatia”, co-financed under the Norwegian Financial Mechanism, was held in Zagreb to present the results achieved so far as well as the upcoming activities.
The conference was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, the State Attorney’s Office of the Republic of Croatia, the Judicial Academy, the Education and Teacher Training Agency, the Croatian Chamber of Notaries, the Croatian Bar Association, the Croatian Chamber of Trades and Crafts, the Croatian Mediation Association, the Croatian Association of Bankruptcy Trustees, as well as many distinguished judges, lawyers, public notaries, mediators and lawyers.
So far, as part of the project, a sociological analysis of reasons for the insufficient use of the mediation institute in Croatia has been completed, an analysis of the mediation system in Croatia has been completed for nine branches of law, as well as an analysis of court mediation in enforcement proceedings, family and succession disputes, disputes arising from the areas of commercial, administrative and criminal law, mediation in consumer disputes and disputes arising from the financial sector. Roundtables were also held on the topics of mediation in consumer disputes, non-contentious, insolvency and criminal proceedings, and training for over 300 mediators was conducted.

In addition, study trips to Portugal, Norway, the Netherlands and Ireland were carried out, and the website “mirenje.gov.hr” was developed, where basic information relating to court-annexed mediation and the project can be obtained.  
In 2023, a manual is planned for court-annexed mediation and a comparative analysis of the mediation system in Croatia compared to Portugal, Norway, the Netherlands and Ireland. It is also planned to undertake a study trip to Norway with the aim of getting acquainted with a new module for training mediators.  

The conference presented the current procedure of court-annexed mediation in Croatia as well as procedures in the countries visited during study trips. 
The results achieved so far in mediation training were presented, as well as plans for the realisation of the remaining trainings by the end of 2023. Through this project, as well as the planned and future changes in the mediation system, mediation should become a more commonly used dispute resolution tool in Croatia.