Speaking at a press conference, Justice Minister Vesna Skare Ozbolt announced legislative changes to speed up court proceedings and ensure a more efficient judiciary, as well as changes that would enable the electronic delivery of court documents.
Stressing the importance of transparency in the judiciary, Skare Ozbolt said that all land books would be available on the Internet by the end of the year. At present, land books from 71 courts are available on-line.
A register of real estate under seizure is being drawn up, the minister said, announcing changes to the Law on Legal Profession defining minimum criteria for practicing law.
During the news conference, a video link was established between the Justice Ministry and the Land Registry of the Zagreb Municipal Court, whose president Nives Radisic said that the number of unsolved cases in the land registry had been reduced since last September from 141,000 to 90,000.
Skare Ozbolt said the ministry would be connected via a video link with the Supreme Court, which will be connected in the same way with county courts. This should facilitate Supreme Court sessions which are attended by county court presidents, who currently travel to Zagreb for sessions of the Supreme Court.
The State Prosecutor's Office will be connected via a video link with county prosecutor offices.
Supreme Court president Branko Hrvatin said the new system of communication would improve supervision of lower courts. The web site of the Supreme Court contains 73,000 court rulings and the use of new technologies will ensure judicial transparency, Hrvatin said.
The head of the European Commission Delegation to Croatia, Vincent Degert, said he was satisfied that the Croatian government had adopted the strategy of judicial reform, for which the EC granted 220 million kuna. The reform of the judiciary is necessary for admission to the EU and the development of democracy, the rule of law and the market economy, he said.
The head of the OSCE Mission to Croatia, Jorge Fuentes, also commended the judicial reform.
The European Day of Civil Justice was marked in Croatia for the first time last year. The purpose of the event is to acquaint citizens with the functioning of the legal system in their countries and inform them about their rights in the area of civil justice.