REPUBLIC OF CROATIA

STATE GEODETIC ADMINISTRATION MINISTRY OF JUSTICE

LAND REGISTRATION SYSTEM REFORM

The Project is funded by the Government of the Republic of Croatia, the World Bank and the European Union

Zagreb, February 2006

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TABLE OF CONTENTS: INTRODUCTION 3 LAND REGISTRY ACT – EXISTING SITUATION 4 DEVELOPMENT OF THE REAL PROPERTY REGISTRATION SYSTEM 6 DIGITALIZATION – TRANSCRIPTION OF LAND REGISTERS INTO ELECTRONIC FORM 8 INTERNET – E-LAND REGISTER 11

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INTRODUCTION The Republic of Croatia and the International Bank for Development and Reconstruction entered into the Loan Agreement between the Republic of Croatia and the International Bank for Development and Reconstruction for the purpose of the Real Property Registration and Cadastre Project. On 23 January 2003, the Croatian Parliament enacted the Law on Ratification of the Loan Agreement between the Republic of Croatia and the International Bank for Development and Reconstruction for the purpose of the Real Property Registration and Cadastre Project. The Agreement on the Real Property Registration and Cadastre Project defines the general objective of the Project, and that is the establishment of an effective land administration system in order to enhance the real estate market functioning by improving the real property and cadastre registration system. In order to develop the real property registration system, the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Croatia has undertaken a number of activities in order to establish an effective system of the real property registration and harmonize land registry data with cadastral data.

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THE LAND REGISTRY ACT – EXISTING SITUATION The reform of the real property rights system began with the adoption of the Law on Ownership and Other Real Property Rights (NN 91/96, 68/98, 137/99, 22/00, 73/00, 114/01), Law on the Purchase of Apartments Subject to Tenancy Rights (NN 25/93,48/93, 1/94, 44/94, 47/94, 58/95, 11/96, 68/98, 96/99) and the Law on the Restitution of Property Seized during the Yugoslav Communist Regime (NN 92/96, 92/99, 80/02, 81/02) as well as other laws. The adoption of the Law on Ownership and Other Real Property Rights has inaugurated a new legal system based on private property. The new regulations have met with a lack of real property and cadastral data harmonization and partially destroyed land registers in need of renewal. Picture 1

Status of this land register shows the importance of the reform and digitalization.

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.Picture 2

ExampleExample of LR file of LR file fromfrom thethe handhand--keptkept landland registerregister thatthat willwill enterenter thethe archivesarchives afterafter beingbeingdigitizeddigitized

Land registration file entered in 1892 at MC Čakovec

Property record with first record entry of 1892

First servitudes entered in 1892

The adoption of the Land Registry Act (NN 91/96, 68/98, 137/99, 114/01, 100/04), the Law on State Survey and Real Estate Cadastre ( NN 128/99) and the decrees related to the Rules on Internal Structure, Land Registry Administration and Performance of other Operations within the Land Registries at Courts (Land Registry Rules of Procedure- NN 81/97, 109/02, 13/02, 153/02 i 14/05) as well as Rules on Land Cadastre (NN 28/00) has created prerequisites for the launch of the land registration and real estate cadastre reform.

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DEVELOPMENT OF THE REAL PROPERTY REGISTRATION SYSTEM As part of the Real Property Registration and Cadastre Project a number of activities have been launched in order to regulate the real property registration system and harmonize land registry data with the real property cadastral data. One of the essential prerequisites for the success of the land administration legal reform is the harmonization of the land registry and cadastral data, and the establishment and renewal of land registers is, therefore, an important activity. As part of the land registration reform, one of the activities is the establishment of a new land registration and cadastre system which implies a new mode of operation for all employees. The Law on Amendments to the Land Registry Act (NN 100/04) stipulates that certified LR clerks shall perform operations related to the land registration procedure independently. The transfer of authority over land registration procedures as well as the land registration decision-making process to certified land registration clerks have greatly unburdened land registry judges and increased the effectiveness of operations within land registries of municipal courts. Since the day of enactment of the Law on Amendments to Land Registry Act, the Ministry of Justice has conducted intensive legal training of certified land registration clerks. At the outset of the land registration reform, the number of pending land registration cases at the end of 2003 was 314,243 while their number at the end of 2005 amounted to 214,528. Due to organizational changes in the operation of land registries of municipal courts, and the transfer of authority to certified land registration clerks to independently pass decisions related to the land registration procedure, the processing of court cases has accelerated and the number of pending cases has declined. .

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Picture 3

Status of Status of pendingpending LR LR casescases at at thethe MunicipalMunicipal CourtCourt in in ZagrebZagreb

(From 2002 to 2005)

80.718

125.640129.718

123.377

40.000

50.000

60.000

70.000

80.000

90.000

100.000

110.000

120.000

130.000

140.000

31.12.2002. 31.12.2003. 31.12.2004. 31.12.2005.

Picture 4

Status of Status of pendingpending LR LR casescases at at municipalmunicipal courtscourts of of thethe RepublicRepublic of of CroatiaCroatia

••

314.243

339.412318.650

214.528

150.000

170.000

190.000

210.000

230.000

250.000

270.000

290.000

310.000

330.000

350.000

31.12.2002 31.12.2003. 31.12.2004. 31.12.2005.

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DIGITALIZATION – TRANSCRIPTION OF LAND REGISTERS INTO ELECTRONIC FORM In order to create a new system of land registration law and cadastre and a new organization of work itself, the Ministry of Justice pays special attention to the education of employees for the purpose of developing management skills, and to IT training. As part of the implementation of land registration reform, the Ministry of Justice has equipped land registries of municipal courts with IT equipment and initiated IT education of the employed land registry clerks. In the present phase of the real property registration project implementation, all land registries of municipal courts have been IT equipped and the process of digitalization of land registers has been launched. The Rules on Amendments to the Rules of Internal Structure, Land Register Administration and Performance of other Operations within Land Registries at Courts (Land Registration Rules of Procedure) have created legal prerequisites for the implementation of the data transcription process of hand-kept land registers into their electronic form, and the closure of hand-kept land registers. The total number of land registry files in the Republic of Croatia amounts to 4,245,507, i.e. 14,664,043 land plots that need to be transcribed from hand-kept land registers into their electronic form. Land registries of municipal courts have so far transcribed data from hand-kept land registers into electronic form in the amount of 2,337,449 land registry files. The number of transcribed land registry files, although representing 55.06% of the total number of land registry files that need to be transcribed, is satisfactory since it was necessary, before the beginning of transcribing them into electronic form, to IT equip land registries, implement IT training and employ additional staff so that the transcribing procedure can be enforced.

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When all technical and security prerequisites for electronic data processing have been fulfilled, the Madam Minister of Justice passes the decision about the closure of hand-kept land registers. At the moment, 41 municipal courts are in the process of closing hand-kept land registers and the total of 10.48 % of land registry files have been transcribed from hand-kept registers into their electronic form.

OverviewOverview of of enteredentered and and verifiedverified LR LR filesfiles in in municipalmunicipalcourtscourts in in thethe RepublicRepublic of Croatiaof Croatia

ENTERED AND VERIFIED LR FILES

46%

VERIFIED LR FILES9%

LR FILES TO BE ENTERED45%

9,42%9,42%400.050400.050VerifiedVerified LR LR filesfiles

55,06%55,06%2.337.4492.337.449DigitalizedDigitalized LR LR filesfiles ((togethertogetherwithwith vierifiedvierified LR LR filesfiles))

100,00%100,00%4.245.5074.245.507Total Total numbernumber of LR of LR filesfiles

PercentagePercentageNumberNumber LR LR filesfilesTHE REPUBLIC OF CROATIATHE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA

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Picture 6

Prikaz unesenih i verificiranih z. k. uloPrikaz unesenih i verificiranih z. k. uložžaka u Opaka u Opććinskom inskom sudu u Zagrebusudu u Zagrebu

VERIFIED L.R. FILES58%

ENTERED AND VERIFIED LR FILES42%

58,03%58,03%87.55187.551VerifiedVerified LR LR filesfiles

100,00%100,00%150.875150.875DigitalizedDigitalized LR LR filesfiles ((togethertogetherwithwith vierifiedvierified LR LR filesfiles))

100,00%100,00%150.875150.875Total Total numbernumber of LR of LR filesfiles

PercentagePercentageNumberNumber LR LR filesfilesMunicipalMunicipal CourtCourt in Zagrebin Zagreb

Picture 7

OverviewOverview of of enteredentered and and verifiedverified LR LR filesfiles in MC Splitin MC Split

ENTERED AND VERIFIED76%

VERIFIED5% LR FILES TO BE ENTERED

19%

4,97%4,97%1.5911.591VerifiedVerified LR LR filesfiles

81,25%81,25%26.00126.001DigitalizedDigitalized LR LR filesfiles ((togethertogether withwithvierifiedvierified LR LR filesfiles))

100,00%100,00%32.00232.002Total Total numbernumber of LR of LR filesfiles

PercentagePercentageNumberNumber LR LR filesfilesMunicipalMunicipal CourtCourt in Splitin Split

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INTERNET E- LAND REGISTER On 13 May 2005, the Ministry of Justice published land registry data on the internet pursuant to a decision by the Madam Minister of Justice, having in mind a great number of customers coming to land registries in order to establish their real property status. Now it is possible to view on the internet the data transcribed into electronic form for all courts. The data on the internet pages is searched in a manner requiring the customer to state the court name, name of the cadastre municipality where the real estate is located, and the number of land registration lot.

2424

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2525

Digitalne zemljišne knjige na web-stranici ministarstva pravosuđa svih općinskih sudova u RH

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The launching of the e-land register internet pages has shown that there is a great interest of citizens and legal entities in the Republic of Croatia for establishing land registration status. In a relatively short span of time since the date of the internet pages launch on 13 May 2005 and 31 December 2005, the number of recorded hits was 20,956,001.

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The Ministry of Justice undertakes a number of activities related to the land registration reform which serve as the basis for the real estate registration system implementation:

1. completing land registration procedures and passing decisions in cases that are evidenced as pending court cases

2. shortening the process of the real property data record entry into the land registers for the real property that is evidenced in cadastral records

3. registration of private property on objects previously recorded in land registers as common property.

4. providing IT equipment for land registries at municipal courts 5. digitalization (conversion) of manual land registers into electronic form 6. legal and IT training of land registration clerk 7. establishment of a new system of real property registration and the real property

registration database. The Ministry of Justice is aware of all the challenges and changes that need to be implemented in order to establish a land registry database and puts in a lot of effort to prepare a joint real property registration system.

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ePravosuđe

eZemljieZemljiššne knjigene knjigeeSudski registareSudski registar

Integrated Court Case Integrated Court Case Management SystemManagement System

ePortalePortal

ECDLECDLProject Project ManagementManagement

eSocietyeSociety

eEurope eEurope 2005 Action Plan2005 Action Plan

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Publisher: The Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Croatia Editor: Boris Koketi, L.L.B. Editor-in-charge: Boris Koketi, L.L.B.. Contributors: Ljiljana Antonić, L.L.B. Nikola Raguz, L.L.B. Zoran Avramović, L.L.B. Graphic editor: Jasminka Kušan, designer Print: SAND d.o.o. Edition of 1,200 CIP- Catalogue entry and publication National University Library – Zagreb

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Printing of the publication funded by the Republic of Croatia and the European Union

Republic of Croatia Ministry of Justice

The Real Property Registration and Cadastre Project, 2006