The online service Žalba.eu, a project of the DigiAdria agency, has recently been available on the Croatian market, intended for citizens who need help in filing complaints about traffic and parking fines. It is a free document generator that allows users to create a ready-made complaint against a misdemeanor order, daily parking ticket or other types of traffic fines in just two minutes. The system is designed for ease of use, to eliminate the need for time-consuming writing of legal briefs or contacting lawyers for these simpler tasks.
Appeal in two minutes
The process of making a complaint takes place in three simple steps. The user first uploads a photo or a PDF document of the fine, after which the system automatically extracts key information from it, such as the date, amount of the fine and order number. In the second step, the user selects the reason for the appeal, for example challenging driving, invisible traffic signals or statute of limitations. Ultimately, the service generates a ready text of the complaint that the user can download, print and sign.
One of the advantages of this platform is the protection of user privacy. The text recognition system (OCR) and the process of generating the complaint takes place exclusively within the user’s web browser. This ensures that documents, personal data such as OIB or photos of fines, do not leave the device or are stored on third-party servers. The whole process works without registration and payment, and the financing of the service is ensured only through the display of ads.
On the service page, they emphasize that the Žalba.eu service provides a document template, not legal advice. After receiving the document, citizens are required to sign it by hand and deliver it to the competent authority by registered mail with return receipt within the legal deadline – which for misdemeanor warrants is eight days from receipt. The success of the appeal, as they state, depends on the factual circumstances and the attached evidence of the individual case and in no case do they guarantee success.
A conversation with the author
Žalba.eu was created with a simple idea: everyone should be able to exercise their right to complain, without a lawyer and at no cost. For a little more information, we asked the “main and responsible” – he is Marko Kristoa professional in the fields of digital marketing, web projects and AI automation. He revealed to us that the idea for this service arose as a logical continuation of his previous legal technology project LexPilot.eu, a SaaS solution and AI legal assistant intended for Croatian lawyers and lawyers. This project was developed in cooperation with six law firms and is based on real legal documents, such as lawsuits, counterclaims and different types of submissions.
“Through my work on LexPilot, I noticed that part of the legal structure, logic and automation can be adapted to citizens who want to simply draw up an objection to a sentence, but don’t know how to properly format it. That’s how the zalba.eu platform was born. The adaptation and launch of the platform itself took several weeks, because I had already developed part of the architecture, logic and experience through LexPilot.”Kristo tells us.
As we learn further, he developed the project independently, from the idea, UX planning and design, to technical implementation, application logic and marketing positioning. There was no separate team of developers, designers or outside agencies. It is a project developed with the use of modern AI and development tools as support in the work process. It is important to emphasize that the legal part was not done “by heart”. “Templates, logical steps and legal foundations were further shaped through experience and cooperation with law firms on the LexPilot project, so that the final document was formally meaningful and applicable in practice”continues the author of the Žalba.eu service.
Although the system was created to some extent with the help of AI tools, no real-time generative AI model is used to generate complaints, Marko explains. “The reason is simple: with legal documents, I don’t want to risk AI hallucinations, misquoting laws or unpredictable wording. Instead, the system uses deterministic JavaScript logic and predefined legal templates. Such an approach has two important advantages: the document is predictable and consistent, and the operating costs of the platform remain minimal.”
