Dunović: Rule of law in the Federation of BiH is seriously threatened

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The Constitutional Court of the Federation of BiH today publicly announced its Verdict, by which certain provisions of the Law on Registration of Business Entities in FBiH, the Law on Real Rights, the Law on Land Registers of FBiH, the Law on Inheritance in FBiH and the Family Law of FBiH were declared unconstitutional, said the President of the FBiH, Milan Dunović, on the occasion of the Verdict of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina in case U-22/16 regarding the Request for assessment of constitutionality filed by the Vice President of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which relates to certain provisions of six laws, adopted in accordance with the unconstitutional Article 73 of the Law on Notaries, and which provisions stipulate mandatory notarization of certain legal transactions, the Vice President of the FBiH.

"This Verdict was expected from me. After Article 73 of the Law on Notaries, which stipulated mandatory notarization of documents, was declared unconstitutional, this represents a logical sequence of events. By stipulating mandatory notarization of certain legal transactions, the legal capacity and autonomy of will of citizens were restricted, which is a fundamental principle of contracting.
By adopting this Verdict, citizens can freely decide whether to draft legal transactions, such as the founding act of a business company, registration in the land register, inheritance agreement, marriage contract, and others, themselves, entrust this task to a lawyer, attorney, or notary," explained Dunović, as stated in his office.

This solution, the statement added, is fully in line with generally accepted legal standards and principles of contracting.

"However, the fact that the Verdict of the Constitutional Court of FBiH in case U-15/10 of 02.12.2015, which relates to Article 73 of the Law on Notaries (stipulating mandatory notarized documents), has still not been executed, represents a gross violation of the reasonable period for the execution of verdicts of the Constitutional Court of FBiH, in the opinion of the Constitutional Court of FBiH itself, as well as my personal opinion, and I fully support this court's position that in the Federation of BiH, one cannot currently speak of constitutionality and legality as the basis for a society founded on the principles of the rule of law," said Dunović.