Constitutional Court of FBiH Decision on Controversial Decree Never Published, FBiH Government Continues to Act on Its Own!

The Constitutional Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina ruled on January 19 that the Decree transferring the right to appoint management structures in public companies from federal ministries to the FBiH Government is not in compliance with the Constitution of FBiH, writes the Patria news agency.

The Vice President of the Federation of BiH, Milan Dunović, sent a request to the Constitutional Court of FBiH on June 9 to determine the constitutionality of the decree. The Democratic Front argued that the FBiH Government cannot align a higher legal act, i.e., a law, with a lower legal act, which is a decree in this case, stating that such actions demonstrate disrespect for the legal system in FBiH.

On the other hand, ministers from SDA and HDZ BiH in the FBiH Government argued that the controversial decree is in accordance with the laws and the Constitution of FBiH. However, this decision of the Constitutional Court of FBiH has not yet been published in the Official Gazette of BiH, so it cannot be applied, and during all this time, the FBiH Government has been making appointments according to the decree. Our source from the FBiH Government says that it is certainly too late for anything to be applied, and the ruling structure is using the fact that the decision's publication is taking so long to continue making appointments.

The Constitutional Court of FBiH told Patria that there is a certain procedure and that it is necessary for a certain period to pass for the decision to be published in the Official Gazette.

Verification is required, followed by proofreading in three official languages, and only then publication in the Official Gazette. I am not sure, but I think it will be published in the Official Gazette next week – say representatives from the Constitutional Court of FBiH.

Furthermore, the Constitutional Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina also determined that the Labor Law of FBiH was passed contrary to the Rules of Procedure of the House of Peoples of the Parliament of FBiH and the Constitution of FBiH, and it is being returned to the stage of proposing that law in the House of Peoples, with the stipulation that "the provisions on the procedure for adopting laws prescribed by the Rules of Procedure of the House of Peoples of the Parliament of FBiH must be literally respected.".

However, this decision has also not yet been published in the Official Gazette of FBiH.