Croatia End-of-Term Report 2014-2016

In early 2017, the Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM)The Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) is OGP’s accountability arm and the main means of tracking progress in participating countries. The IRM provides independent, evidence-based, and objective ... published the progress report for Croatia’s second action planAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen.... The report covers the development and first year of implementation of the action plan 1 July 2014 through 30 July 2016.

In Croatia, findings from IRM researcher, Ivona Mendes are summarized below:

“The Croatian OGP action plan featured a host of commitments aimed at improving access to information, civic participation, and public accountabilityAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, public accountability occurs when ”rules, regulations, and mechanisms in place call upon government actors to justify their actions, act upon criticisms ... More. The focus areas included the development of Right to Access Information legislationCreating and passing legislation is one of the most effective ways of ensuring open government reforms have long-lasting effects on government practices. Technical specifications: Act of creating or r..., deepening transparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More in election and referendum cycles, and improving transparency in the public sector as well as in the Parliament. A change in government and two parliamentary election cycles negatively affected the second year of Croatia’s OGP action plan implementation.”

And in Croatian:

“Hrvatska je u akcijskom planu POV-a istaknula niz obveza s ciljem unaprjeđenja pristupa informacijama, sudjelovanja građana i građanki i javne odgovornosti. Područja fokusa uključuju razvoj zakonskog okvira prava na pristup informacijama, unaprjeđenje transparentnosti izbora i referenduma te transparentnosti u javnom sektoru, kao i u Saboru. Promjena vlasti i dva parlamentarna izborna ciklusa negativno su utjecala na drugu godinu provedbe hrvatskog akcijskog plana POV-a.”

The final report is available in English and Croatian below. The two-week public comment period closed on Tuesday 24 January 2017.