New attempt: Amendments to the OSA Law under urgent procedure before parliamentarians on June 20

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina will consider on June 20, under urgent procedure, the Proposal for amendments to the Law on the Intelligence-Security Agency (OSA) of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The proposed law implements a decision of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and prescribes the content of a written request related to secret data collection requiring judicial authorization, and introduces a limit on the total duration of this measure.

According to the amendments, an order may be approved for a period of up to 60 days, and if an extension of the measures is necessary, upon a written reasoned proposal from the General Director, a judge may extend the validity of the order for additional periods of 30 days each, provided that the approved measures may last a total of no more than 48 months.

Earlier, the urgent procedure for amendments to this law was rejected, with 17 representatives voting against urgency. Deputy Chairperson of the House of Representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina Borjana Krišto (HDZ BiH), whose appeal was accepted last year by the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which declared three provisions of the OSA Law unconstitutional, as well as her party colleague Predrag Kožul, emphasized that the urgent procedure is not a good solution, regardless of the urgency of amending the OSA Law.
 
Also, SBB deputies were against the urgency of the procedure, stressing that it is necessary to request the parliamentary Commission for Supervision of the Work of OSA to hold a session.

The Constitutional Court previously set a six-month deadline for the mentioned amendments. The Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina did not act within that time.

The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, at its last session, did not invalidate the disputed provisions, which, experts believe, sufficiently indicates the seriousness of the situation, i.e., how important it is to amend the OSA Law in a way that meets European practice.