Verbal hearings in administrative judicial procedure

The subject of this paper is verbal hearings in administrative judicial procedure as suggested in the Administrative Dispute Act bill which the government of the Republic of Croatia set in motion in June this year. The author believes that the proposed solutions for implementing administrative judicial procedure, and in particular, solutions linked to implementing verbal public hearings have completely harmonised administrative judicial procedure in the Republic of Croatia with the acquis communautaire of the European Union and Conventional Law. From the suggested provisions, it is clear that the Administrative Court has the right and duty to independently bring forth and evaluate evidence. In other words, it can independently both establish the facts and resolve matters. Similarly, there is provision for the Administrative Court to have the right and duty to hold verbal and contradictory public hearings. Furthermore, the holding of verbal hearings is mandatory except in four cases which are precisely specified by law