The two-day event will be followed by a meeting of the Council of Europe Steering Committee on Bioethics.
In attendance were the director of the Council's Bioethics Division, Carlos de Sola, the Council's director of legal cooperation, Roberto Lamponi, and representatives of national ethics committees.
The conference was opened by Croatian Health and Social Welfare Minister Neven Ljubicic, who said this was the first time Croatia had organised a meeting of the leaders of Council of Europe member countries' national ethics committees.
Ljubicic said that in adjusting its laws to EU standards Croatia must follow conventions and recommendations, and that the Dubrovnik conference would serve as a starting point for acts to be adopted this and in the coming years.
He said national ethics committees and the Steering Committee on Bioethics were expected to adopt conclusions to help Croatia answer ethical questions about artificial insemination.
The minister recalled that a draft law on medically assisted insemination presented last September had been withdrawn with the explanation that it must be harmonised with EU legislation.
He said Croatia's law on the protection of patients' rights was among the most progressive in Europe, and that its law on organ transplants followed the best solutions which could be offered by national bioethics commissions.
According to the minister, the Bioethics Committee on Medicine is expected to give its opinion on the establishment of a mental health institute with a view to regulating the rights of people suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.