Organisation of the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration

Regulation on the Internal Organisation of the Ministry of Justice (Official Gazette, no.: 98/17) governs the internal organisation of the Ministry, the names of the administrative organizations and other internal organisational units in its composition.
Cabinet of the Minister

Responsibilities:

  • professional and administrative support to the Minister and state secretaries
  • protocol and public relations, freedom of information requests, receipt of petitions and complaints from the scope of the Ministry
  • ensuring timely delivery of materials to the Government and the Croatian Parliament
  • coordination of international cooperation tasks
  • communication and presentation of the Ministry’s activities
  • writing opinions to submitted draft law proposals and other proposed regulations and documents, and participation in the drafting thereof
  • participation in developing the strategic plan of the Ministry.
General Secretariat
Responsibilities:
  • financial planning and accounting, legal and general affairs, ancillary and technical tasks for the Ministry and the Civil Service Board
  • administrative and professional tasks relating to capital investments in judicial and penal institutions and the Ministry
  • professional tasks of equipment planning for the Ministry and judicial institutions
  • management of the assets used by the Ministry, judicial and penal institutions
  • coordination and cooperation with the ministry competent for the management of state assets
  • professional tasks relating to the analysis, proposals, adoption, implementation and maintenance of information systems in the Ministry as well as in judicial and penal institutions
  • planning, construction, use and maintenance of IT infrastructure as well as proposing and applying information security measures
  • organisation and coordination of staff IT training 
Directorate for Judiciary Organisation
Responsibilities:
  • tasks relating to judicial administration
  • drafting proposals of laws and other regulations governing the organisation of the judiciary
  • tasks relating to the work of legal practitioners
  • organisation and delivery of professional examinations in the judicial system
  • tasks relating to the notary public services
  • tasks relating to the work of insolvency administrators and trustees in personal bankruptcy proceedings, permanent court appraisers and permanent court interpreters
  • tasks relating to the security of judicial institutions
 
 
 
Directorate for Civil, Commercial and Administrative Law
Responsibilities:
  • administrative and professional tasks relating to drafting proposals for laws and other regulations in the areas of civil, commercial and administrative law and their enforcement
  • conducting first and second instance special administrative proceedings from the scope of civil, commercial and administrative law
  • supervision of the work of land registry offices
Directorate for Criminal Law
Responsibilities:
  • tasks relating to drafting proposals for laws and other regulations in the area of criminal law and their enforcement
  • professional handling of pardon proceedings
  • maintenance of criminal records, misdemeanour records and the register of unpaid fines, and international exchange of criminal records data
  • institutionalisation and coordination of the victim and witness support system within the judiciary
  • coordination of the strategic development of the judicial system in Croatia – international and interinstitutional cooperation and monitoring of the application of international documents in the issues of victim and witness support, and participation in the development of regulations and opinions to regulations governing the rights of victims and witnesses
  • tasks of the Commission for Monitoring and Improvement of the Victim and Witness Support System
  • participation in the work of institutions and other bodies of the European Union (EU) and the Council of Europe (CoE)
  • analyses of proposals for EU’s and CoE’s legal acts within its scope, analyses and proposals for the harmonisation of legislation from its scope with EU and CoE law
Directorate for European Affairs, International and Judicial Cooperation
Responsibilities:
  • tasks within the competence of the Ministry relating to international and judicial cooperation and functioning within the EU
  • tasks relating to participation of representatives from the Ministry in the work of EU institutions and bodies
  • coordination and monitoring of alignment with the EU acquis
  • multilateral and bilateral cooperation in the areas of justice and public administration
  • coordination of the Ministry’s activities at the international level
  • cooperation with the International Court of Justice, the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, the International Criminal Court and other international courts
  • representation of the Republic of Croatia before the International Court of Justice and other international courts
  • international legal aid in criminal and civil matters
  • tasks relating to extradition
  • preparation, development and implementation of international agreements on the issues of international legal aid
  • judicial cooperation and coordination of the application of judicial cooperation instruments in criminal and civil matters with EU Member States
  • coordination, establishment and promotion of cooperation between bodies responsible for implementing anti-corruption measures,  coordination of the development and implementation of national strategic and implementing documents in the area of prevention of corruption, participation in coordinating, designing and implementing various measures for combating corruption
  • drafting proposals of laws and other regulations, and professional opinions on issues relating to whistle-blower protection, conflict-of-interest prevention and lobbying
Directorate for the Prison System and Probation
Responsibilities:
  • tasks relating to the execution of prison sentences pronounced in criminal, misdemeanour and other court proceedings, juvenile prison sentences, pecuniary penalties replaced by prison sentences in criminal and misdemeanour proceedings, detention on remand, correctional measure of referral to a reformatory
  • supervision of legality and regularity of the work and proceedings of organisational units within: penitentiaries, prisons, reformatories, the Zagreb Diagnostics Centre (penal institutions) and the Training Centre
  • professional training of prison officers on the performance of tasks relating to execution of criminal sanctions and measures within the scope of the Directorate
  • administrative and professional tasks relating to probation when deciding on criminal prosecution, selection of a type of criminal sanction and execution of criminal sanctions to be served outside of prison
  • professional training of probation officers
  • supervision of the regularity, timeliness and legality of the work of probation offices
  • maintenance of records
Directorate for Political System and General Administration
Responsibilities:
  • implementation of government policy and other administrative and professional tasks relating to the political system 
  • electoral law and electoral system 
  • status issues of government officials 
  • system and organisation of state administration 
  • general legislative regulation of institutions 
  • administrative supervision relating to the system and organisation of state administration, and direct enforcement of legislation governing the use of the word »Hrvatska« (Croatia) and other official signage in the names of companies and other legal persons
  • design, implementation and evaluation of the decentralisation policy 
  • system and organisation of local and regional self-government; administrative supervision in the area of local and regional self-government system and organisation; supervision of the legality of general legal acts, and of the legality and functioning of local and regional self-government units; drafting proposals of laws and other regulations governing local and regional self-government system and organisation, and providing professional opinions and explanations regarding their enforcement
  • civil registries; life partnership register; electoral register; personal name changes
  • supervision over proper application of legislation and timely execution of commitments vis-à-vis diplomatic missions and consular offices of the Republic of Croatia abroad 
  • proposing measures for the improvement of the manner of establishment and maintenance of electronic civil status records and digitalisation of service provision 
  • steering and supervision of data entry, updates and interconnection in civil status records 
  • improvement of applicative solutions for maintenance of the records 
  • delivery of professional consultations on the enforcement of relevant legislation
  • drafting regulatory proposals and providing professional opinions and explanations on the enforcement of regulations within its scope, and other tasks within its scope
  • registration of political parties and religious communities 
  • resolution of administrative matters in second instance proceedings relating to associations and foundations, domestic and foreign  
  • administrative supervision over the enforcement of laws governing the status issues of political parties, associations, foundations and religious communities 
  • drafting proposals of relevant regulations and supervising their enforcement 
  • provision of professional opinions and explanations on the enforcement of relevant regulations, and maintenance of relevant official records
Directorate for the Civil Service System
Responsibilities:
  • legal issues of the civil service system and the system of salaries of civil servants and governmental employees at central, local and regional level 
  • cooperation with the trade unions of state civil servants and governmental employees 
  • monitoring the state of the civil service system and proposing measures for its improvement 
  • drafting proposals of laws and other regulations in the area of civil service employment relations, and providing professional opinions and explanations regarding their enforcement 
  • provision of professional opinions, within its scope, to submitted draft proposals of laws and other regulations and acts  
  • granting prior approval for the ordinances on internal order of state administration bodies and the offices and administrative and professional services of the Government of Croatia 
  • administrative supervision over the application of regulations governing civil service employment relations, and supervision of the legality of general legal acts adopted by local and regional self-government units in the area of civil service employment relations 
  • in cooperation with other internal organisational units of the Ministry, development of proposals for strategic documents and national programmes relating to the reform of the civil service system and the salary system for civil servants at central, local and regional level 
  • professional and administrative tasks relating to human resources management in the civil service and proposals for improving the functionalities of the Public Sector Staff Register
  • reporting for the purposes of analysing the impact of collective agreements, development of strategic and planning documents and regulations governing the salaries and material rights of civil servants 
  • cooperation with domestic and international institutions in the area of the civil service system 
  • professional and administrative tasks for the Civil Service Tribunal, the High Civil Service Tribunal and the Joint Commission for Interpretation of Provisions and Monitoring of the Application of the Collective Agreement for Civil Servants and Governmental Employees; professional and administrative tasks relating to the development of the State Examination, quality assurance in its development and delivery, granting approvals for taking the exam and organising exam delivery 
  • professional and administrative tasks relating to the organisation and delivery of in-service training and professional development of civil servants
  • drafting proposals of laws and other regulations in the area of HRM, and providing professional opinions and explanations on their implementation 
  • provision of professional opinions, within its scope, to submitted draft proposals of laws and other regulations and acts  
  • participation in the delivery of activities organised by the State School of Public Administration and other domestic and international institutions delivering civil service training 
  • administrative and professional tasks relating to HR development in the civil service, analyses and assessments of training needs in the civil service and participation in preparing the civil service training plan 
  • tasks relating to granting approvals to civil servants for study leave programmes, drafting strategic documents on HR development, and participation in their implementation 
  • cooperation with domestic and international institutions dealing with policy design, training delivery or the strengthening of cooperation in the area of HR development 
  • tasks relating to the implementation of HR planning and management measures, legislation governing (civil service) employment relations and collective agreements; administrative and professional tasks relating to the employment law issues concerning the civil servants and governmental employees of the Ministry, judicial bodies, penal institutions and the Training Centre, and status issues concerning civil servants, governmental employees and government officials; coordination of personnel selection tasks under public competition and internal notice procedures; participation in development, adoption and implementation of HR development and management programmes and professional development programmes 
  • tasks relating to individual assignments to posts, promotions, appointments to positions, pay-raises and transfers of civil servants and governmental employees, termination of civil service employment, development of proposals for responding to petitions, complaints and appeals in cases relating to the rights of civil servants and governmental employees 
  • professional tasks relating to the functioning of the public sector centralised payroll system and its further improvement
  • monitoring and analysis of data from the centralised payroll system for the entire public sector, development of proposals for competent bodies to adopt/amend specific decisions with a view to harmonising and standardising the payroll, and support to the HRM process 
  • proposing changes to the applicative solution and introduction of new functionalities required for a greater degree of payroll standardisation, assessments of the fiscal impact of specific changes, and improvements of the reporting system as an instrument in the collective bargaining process between social partners 
  • proposing solutions to competent bodies for eliminating perceived irregularities in the calculation of salaries and benefits 
  • analysis and monitoring of regulations relating to the centralised payroll, and initiation of amendments necessary to achieve the above objectives
  • cooperation with the Financial Agency, the Centralised Payroll Management Board, state administration bodies and other stakeholders 
  • coordination of activities related to the functioning and improvement of the centralised payroll systemcooperation with other administrative organisations within the Ministry, and other tasks from its scope
Directorate for Human Rights, National Minorities and Ethics
Responsibilities:
  • implementation of government policy and other administrative and professional tasks relating to the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms from the area of justice and public administration, including personal data protection and freedom of information 
  • implementation of government policy, direct enforcement of law and other administrative and professional tasks relating to the promotion, protection and improvement of the rights of national minorities, and other administrative and professional tasks relating to civil service ethics and strengthening of integrity in the civil service  as well as promotion and improvement of the civil service value system
  • drafting proposals of laws, other regulations and acts as well as strategic and planning documents within its scope; monitoring and insurance of the alignment of national legislation with international commitments in the area of protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms within its scope
Directorate for Judicial and Administrative Inspection
Responsibilities:
  • supervision of the administration of courts and state attorney's offices, including the examination of the merits of citizens’ complaints about proceedings before courts and the work of state attorney’s offices
  • supervision of the material and financial operations of judicial bodies, and inspection of the work of notaries public
  • supervision of the application of laws and other regulations governing the system, internal organisation and functioning of state administration bodies, other state bodies, bodies and administrative offices of local and regional self-government units 
  • supervision of the application of laws and other regulations governing civil service employment relations in said bodies 
  • supervision of the application of laws governing administrative procedure, regulations on document and records management, regulations governing the content of the names of bodies and the use of prescribed signs and symbols, and regulations on the use of stamps and seals bearing the Croatian coat of arms by supervised bodies and legal persons vested with public authority
  • addressing complaints submitted for the purpose of ensuring or protecting the rights of citizens and legal persons before inspected bodies and legal persons vested with public authority, which concern matters subject to inspection, and conducting inspection in cases stipulated by lex specialis

Matters from the scope of the Division for the Inspection of State Administration are handled by administrative inspectors at the seat of the Ministry.

Matters from the scope of the Division for the Inspection of Local and Regional Self-Government are handled by:
– administrative inspectors at the seat of the Ministry for the territories of Zagreb City and Zagreb County
– independent inspectors in Osijek for the territory of Osijek-Baranya County
– independent inspectors in Rijeka for the territory of Primorje-Gorski Kotar County
– independent inspectors in Split for the territory of Split-Dalmatia County
– independent inspector in Dubrovnik for the territory of Dubrovnik-Neretva County
– independent inspector in Zadar for the territory of Zadar County
– independent inspector in Pula for the territory of Istria County
– independent inspector in Gospić for the territory of Lika-Senj County
– independent inspector in Karlovac for the territory of Karlovac County
– independent inspector in Čakovec for the territory of Međimurje County
– independent inspector in Krapina for the territory of Krapina-Zagorje County
– independent inspector in Varaždin for the territory of Varaždin County
– independent inspector in Koprivnica for the territory of Koprivnica-Križevci County
– independent inspector in Bjelovar for the territory of Bjelovar-Bilogora County
– independent inspector in Virovitica for the territory of Virovitica-Podravina County
– independent inspector in Požega for the territory of Požega-Slavonia County
– independent inspector in Slavonski Brod for the territory of Brod-Posavina County
– independent inspector in Vukovar for the territory of Vukovar-Syrmia County
– independent inspector in Sisak for the territory of Sisak-Moslavina County
– independent inspector in Šibenik for the territory of Šibenik-Knin County.
Independent Sector for Strategic Development and Projects
Responsibilities:
  • tasks relating to strategic planning – development of strategic documents in the area of justice and public administration, and coordination of their implementation
  • drafting of strategic documents and continuous supervision of the implementation of measures and activities laid down in strategic documents
  • harmonisation of strategic documents in the area of justice and public administration with other national strategic documents and EU strategic documents in the area of justice and public administration
  • participation in monitoring the implementation of the National Reform Programme through the European Semester
  • cooperation with international and EU institutions
  • establishment and improvement of cooperation with the scientific and research community and civil society organisations
  • coordination of quality management processes and introduction of management standards in public administration bodies
  • tasks relating to the preparation, development, implementation, supervision and coordination of projects under the responsibility of the Ministry, financed from various sources
  • coordination of tasks relating to the Ministry’s provision of development aid to other countries
Independent Sector for Public Procurement
Responsibilities:
  • public procurement procedures for the Ministry and centralised procurement for the budget users within the competence of the Ministry
  • monitoring of the compliance of public procurement procedures with the procurement plan and the budget plan with regard to spending limitations and earmarks
  • preparation and development of public procurement contracts, and monitoring of their execution
  • receipt and distribution of equipment and material (office supplies issuing), maintenance of relevant records and documentation
  • organisation of procurement in accordance with the Ministry’s needs, at the proposal and with participation of organisational units within the Ministry, as well as for the needs of penal institutions when it is financed from the state budget
  • procurement of goods, works and services following the procedure prescribed in public procurement regulations, and procurements with values below the regulatory threshold
  • definition of procurement procedures, modes and objects in line with public procurement regulations, independently or in cooperation with relevant administrative and professional services and external associates, depending on the procurement object
  • preparation and development of procurement documentation, participation in tender evaluation
  • participation in developing the proposal for a financial plan of the Ministry within its scope, and making sure that procurement is in line with the spending limitations and earmarks laid down in the plan
  • preparation of the annual public procurement report through the Electronic Public Procurement Classifieds, and participation in developing and regularly updating the procurement plan published on the website of the Ministry
  • coordination of cooperation with the Central State Office for Central Public Procurement and preparation of statements about the Ministry’s needs in all central public procurement categories, maintenance of records and documentation, and development of reports on the execution of central public procurement contracts for the Central State Office for Central Public Procurement
  • conducting procedures under consolidated public procurement for budget users within the relevant budget heading
  • preparation of opinions in appeals of public procurement procedures, heard before the State Commission for Supervision of Public Procurement Procedures
Independent Sector for Internal Audit
Responsibilities:

internal auditing of:
  • the Ministry,
  • judicial bodies and
  • penal institutions
 
  • in its consultative role, provision of professional opinions aimed at adding value and improving business operations
  • evaluation of systems, processes and internal control systems based on risk assessment
  • internal auditing in accordance with professional best practices and internal auditing standards aligned with the International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing and a professional code of ethics for internal auditors
  • testing, analysis and assessment of all business functions within the scope of the Ministry
  • individual internal audits and provision of recommendations to the Minister for the purpose of greater efficiency and effectiveness of the system
  • development of strategic and operational auditing plans
  • special audits at the request of the Minister or when necessary
  • audits of the use of funds of the European Union and other international organisations and institutions
  • reporting to the Minister on conducted internal audits
  • monitoring of the implementation of recommendations from previous audit reports
  • development of periodical and annual reports on the work of the Department and their submission to institutions and persons in accordance with valid regulations
  • cooperation with the Directorate for Harmonisation of Internal Audit and Financial  Control of the Ministry of Finance, including the obligation to submit strategic and annual plans as well as the annual report to the Directorate
  • monitoring and proposing continuous education of internal auditors in accordance with the International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing
  • monitoring and assessment of the implementation of recommendations made by the State Audit Office
Independent Sector for Public Administration Development and EU Projects
Responsibilities:
  • professional and administrative tasks relating to the organisation and implementation of activities envisaged in strategic and implementing documents for the area of public administration development
  • participation in preparing and monitoring the implementation of the National Reform Programme through the European Semester
  • monitoring of the impacts of EU policies and of the implementation of sectoral public policies, strategic documents and regulations on the public administration system in Croatia
  • collection and processing of data on the implementation of public administration reform and other data from the field of public administration for the purposes of other organisational units of the Ministry
  • collection, consolidation and systematisation of official data on public administration in Croatia, public administration systems and reform initiatives, projects and innovations in the field of public administration in EU Member States and other countries
  • cooperation with international and EU institutions, establishment and improvement of cooperation with the scientific and research community, civil society associations and international organisations in Croatia dealing with public administration
  • coordination of quality management processes and introduction of management standards in public administration bodies
  • professional tasks relating to the preparation, development, implementation, monitoring and coordination of projects under the responsibility of the Ministry, financed from various sources, including EU programmes, international financial institutions and bilateral sources of finance where the Ministry is the beneficiary
  • provision of development aid to other countries by the Ministry,  including preparation and monitoring of the implementation of EU funded twinning projects
  • cooperation with other internal organisational units of the Ministry and other state administration bodies, and other tasks within its scope
Independent Sector for Digitalisation of Justice and Public Administration
Responsibilities:
  • tasks relating to the digital transformation of the judiciary (including judicial and penal institutions) and public administration
  • participation in initiatives and partnerships involved in the digital transformation of the judiciary and public administration
  • development of documentation and strategic documents for the use of EU funds
  • participation in planning financial resources in the budget of the Ministry for projects under the responsibility of the Sector
  • cooperation with other internal organisational units of the Ministry
  • provision of professional opinions, within its scope, to submitted draft proposals of laws and other regulations and acts