State unwilling to issue "Health" certificate to Bosnian companies exporting to Gulf countries

Companies exporting food products from Bosnia and Herzegovina to the markets of Dubai and Abu Dhabi have been facing enormous problems for months due to slow and complicated Bosnian bureaucracy, the Bosnian news agency Patria (NAP) has learned.

A few months ago, products from Vispak, Oaza, Klas Sarajevo, Akova, Voćar Brčko, Hepok Mostar, and several other Bosnian food products were found on the shelves of one of the most famous retail chains in the Gulf countries, "Ibn Battuta Mall".  

Adis Hodžić, representative of the company Balkan Trading, through which Bosnian products are marketed in the Gulf countries, says that their company has to pay a fine for the second time upon arrival in the Emirates because Bosnian institutions cannot issue them the so-called "Health" certificate.

- Along with the goods going to the markets of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, a "Health" certificate must be attached, among other things. It is nothing more than a certificate that guarantees that the goods we have offered to that market are also sold in the market in BiH. Unfortunately, no one in BiH can issue us this certificate – Hodžić told Patria.

- Our company is sending its second consignment of Bosnian products to the markets of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and the third will follow soon, and each time we have to pay a fine due to the slowness of Bosnian bureaucracy – Hodžić added.

He says that Bosnian institutions do not have a clear stance on who should issue this certificate. The Food Safety Agency of BiH passes the buck to the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, while the Ministry claims that this problem falls under the jurisdiction of the Agency, writes NAP.