Under the amendments, which were adopted with the necessary two-thirds majority, judges will have to submit a declaration of assets to the Justice Ministry within 30 days upon taking up office.
If they fail to do so, judges may not receive their salary, and if they state false information in their declaration of assets, they will face disciplinary proceedings. The parliament also adopted Social Democrat Mato Arlovic's proposal that citizens should have access to information on judges' financial status.
A judge may be transferred to work in another court of the same degree up to 50 kilometres from his place of residence and for a period of two years at most. The purpose of this measure is to help overburdened courts reduce the backlog of cases and make staff cuts at courts which have too many judges.
The parliament also amended the Law on the State Prosecutor's Office and the Law on Public Notaries, and adopted the Law on Land Surveying and Cadastral Books.
The Sabor ratified an agreement with the European Commission envisaging 25 million euros for agriculture and rural development in the country. The funding is to be provided by the EU pre-accession fund SAPARD.
By sending a bill on consumer protection to second reading the parliament ended today's session, which is to continue next week.