Croatia - The Judicial Academy of Croatia - EJTN

The Judicial Academy was established in 2004 as an institute within the Ministry of justice in charge of initial and continuous judicial training. It obtained the status of a public institution independent of the Ministry of Justice with the entering into force of the Judicial Academy Act on 1 January 2010.

The Croatian Judicial Academy is the central national judicial training institution in charge of the following:

• Judicial training of trainees in judicial bodies (as a preparation for the Bar Exam);
• Initial training of future judges and state attorneys (i.e. attendants of the State School for Judicial Officials which is an integral part of the Judicial Academy);
• Continuous judicial training of judges and state attorneys;
• Judicial training of judicial advisors; and
• Judicial training of civil servants in the judiciary.

Other activities of the Academy include international cooperation and projects. In addition to the trainings held at its headquarters in Zagreb, the Academy organizes training activities in its regional centres located at the county courts (second-instance courts) of Split, Rijeka, Osijek and Varaždin.

The Academy is governed by the Steering Committee, composed of 6 members (i.e. judges and state attorneys of the highest levels of the judiciary, law professors and a representative of the Judicial Academy staff). The Steering Committee makes all the strategic decisions on the functioning of the Academy. The Programme Council is the expert body of the Judicial Academy in charge of adopting the annual Judicial Training Programme. It is constituted of 13 members (judges, state attorneys, law professors and a representative of the Ministry of Justice and Administration). The Academy is managed by the Director assisted by three advisors (i.e. a judge and a state attorney seconded to the Judicial Academy).