29 September 2026 - The President of the Constitutional Court, Professor Frane Staničić, participated in the 8th Annual Conference of Information Officers, held at the National and University Library in Zagreb from 28 to 29 September 2026. In his opening speech on the distinction between the right of access to case files and the exercise of the right of access to information, President Staničić initially emphasised that these are two fundamentally different legal institutes. The right of access to a case-file is established as a right of a party in a specific legal procedure, whereas the right of access to information serves to ensure the general transparency of the work of public authorities. Referring to the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court of Croatia, the President addressed the key distinguishing elements used to determine, in a particular case, whether the exercise of a procedural right of access to case files is at issue or whether the right of access to information is being exercised. In the panel on archives, Marijana Majnarić, Senior Constitutional Court Advisor, delivered a presentation entitled "Archives and Archival Records Act in the Areas Falling within the Jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia and the European Court of Human Rights".
For eight years now, this traditional conference of information officers has brought together experts and information officers, serving as a forum for exchanging experience and expert discussions on the application of separate institutes of the Right of Access to Information Act, and for providing expert support to information officers in public bodies.