As part of the project Implementation and Enforcement Challenges of European Law on Selected Institutes in the Croatian Legal System – IPIE (581-UNIOS-88), on Thursday, 21 May 2026, at 5:30 p.m., in Lecture Hall No. 2 at the Rectorate of Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, a workshop intended for students of the Faculty of Law Osijek was held by Ana Đanić Čeko, PhD, Associate Professor, project leader and head of Work Package 1: Research Implementation, and Blanka Sajter, Master of Law, Judge of the Administrative Court in Osijek.
As part of the workshop, the students were provided with an overview of the selected special administrative procedure concerning environmental impact assessment, during which procedural specificities and procedural aspects were presented and highlighted. Particular emphasis was placed on the national regulatory framework through the presentation of the competent authorities, the manner of initiating this special administrative procedure, the extensive required documentation (studies), the conduct of the procedure, applicable deadlines, types of decisions, and legal protection. It was emphasised that environmental impact assessment represents an instrument/mechanism of prevention and precaution, namely a means of identifying and preventing negative environmental impacts (both direct and indirect) and risks through the application of the prescribed factors and criteria in relation to each individual proposed project. In addition, the students were presented with concrete examples of documentation used in environmental impact assessment procedures available on the official websites of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Green Transition.
Furthermore, attention was drawn to the manner in which EU environmental policies and EU legal sources are implemented through national legal mechanisms in administrative procedures and administrative disputes in this field. These include, inter alia, Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora and Council Directive 79/409/EEC / Directive 2009/147/EC on the Conservation of Wild Birds in relation to the procedure for assessing the acceptability of projects for the ecological network; Directive 2011/92/EU on the Assessment of the Effects of Certain Public and Private Projects on the Environment and Directive 2014/52/EU amending Directive 2011/92/EU concerning environmental impact assessment procedures for certain public and private projects; as well as Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC in projects concerning navigation and the maintenance of inland waterways which simultaneously constitute areas of the ecological network (NATURA 2000 sites), in connection with environmental impact assessment procedures.
Subsequently, on the basis of a specific case before the Administrative Court in Osijek in the aforementioned field, an overview was provided of the decision-making process in complex environmental cases. Likewise, the students were given a detailed insight into the analysed judgment of the Administrative Court in Osijek and the case file relating to the selected complex environmental matter.
