Local Profile

Mediation in Croatia : the main issues

The development of alternative dispute resolution mechanism is of great importance in the Republic of Croatia. The Ministry of Justice describes mediation in its country as ”the creation of a tolerant environment, the maintenance of good relations between the parties in dispute (commercial disputes), the reduction of economic and social costs (family disputes), the resolution of interest-based disputes that could not be resolved in judicial proceedings (collective labour disputes)”.

Development  of mediation in Croatia

The first mediation organization in Croatia was established in 2000, and the first Mediation Centre in 2002. The Mediation Centre built by the Croatian Chamber of Commerce opened a legal framework for Mediation with the adoption of the first Rules of Mediation. Afterwards more centres and regional mediation centers were developed in the process of strenghtening mediation. The Croatian Mediation Association ( CMA ) was founded on  29. September 2003 to complement this mechanism of alternative dispute resolution.
The adoption of the Law on Mediation which entered into force on the 24th of October created the legal framework . Completing this law,  the Services for Extra Judicial Resolution of Labor Disputes and the Services for Extra Judicial Settlement in Criminal Proceeding against minors and Junior Adults were established. In the text below there is a description of the legal framework of mediation in Croatia.
Part of the development of mediation is the promotion of mediation as an alternative dispute resolution method through lectures, round tables, and the publication of articles written by experts. The Non-for-profit organizations involved in mediation proceedings play also an important role in Croatia.

Document about mediation and the development of Alternative Dispute Resolution “Strategy of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of  Croatia, 2005”.

Obstacles to the development of mediation

There is an insufficient knowledge in the general public about the mediation procedure. As a consequence there exists a lack of trust among the lay and professional public, and the resources to promote mediation as the reward method of dispute resolution mechanism are missing .
At the legal level, attorneys do not give enough support to mediation. The methods to encourage parties and their attorneys to opt mediation as favorable method for the resolution of their dispute are not known by the actors involved. 

Main challenges to mediation

Mediation in Croatia has to be improved through a better education in mediation, an increase of means to motivate the parties in the process, and by joining all the forces involved.
Indeed through the organization of permanent training institutions, education should include the largest possible number of participants (judges, attorneys, public prosecutors, lawyers, representatives of business and the general public). A stronger promotion of mediation through the media (films, books, brochures, lectures, newspapers, TV…) is also needed.
Measures should be adopted to motivate parties to choose mediation as the method for resolution of their dispute. Mediation services must be low in cost at the beginning. The cooperation with lawyers is important for the development of mediation in everyday disputes, therefore an increasing number of judges and attorneys has to be encouraged to engage in promoting mediation
Moreover, to change the social climate of litigation and parties exclusively addressing state courts to resolve their disputes, children in elementary and secondary schools and students at universities should also be trained in order to prepare them for an other approach to dispute resolution
Finally  all forces involved in mediation in the country should be joined with one single goal, the  promotion and the affirmation that mediation is the most appropriate dispute resolution method. For an exchange of Knowledge and experience in mediation new forms of international cooperation among mediators and mediation associations and organizations should be implemented.