No decision on the start date of the state prison, the regulation on police uniforms also removed

SARAJevo, (Patria) - The Council of Ministers of BiH today did not make a decision on the start date of the state prison in Istočno Sarajevo and the cessation of the Prison Construction Project Implementation Unit, as some details need to be defined.

We have some technical problems regarding how the start of the prison operation will proceed. We also have some additional construction works in the prison. We need to see who will do all of this, where the archive that was with the Implementation Unit will be transferred, who will pay the phone bill – said Josip Grubeša, Minister of Justice of BiH after the session.

Otherwise, this will be the only prison at the BiH level that will meet European standards for the accommodation of convicts, which is particularly significant considering the fact that entity correctional facilities are characterized by the problem of overcrowding and inadequate capacity.

Convicts and detainees of the BiH Court will be accommodated in the BiH Institute for Execution of Criminal Sanctions, Detention and Other Measures.

The Proposal for amendment of the conclusion from the 127th session of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina held on 28.12.2017, proposed by the Ministry of Security of BiH, was also removed from the agenda.

Behind this seemingly "benign" item was the Regulation on Police Uniforms, which has been the subject of dispute between BiH manufacturers and the Council of Ministers for a long time.

This Regulation, adopted at the 127th session, due to a number of disputed provisions, would put BiH companies in a discriminatory position in the public procurement procedure for uniforms, given that the prescribed solutions exclusively favored a certain protected type of uniform of an import-trading company.