FBiH Parliament: House of Peoples Adopts Set of Laws, Prerequisite for BiH Accession to SEPA

(Patria) - The House of Peoples of the FBiH Parliament, at today's extraordinary session, accepted four laws proposed by the FBiH Government under urgent procedure, with almost no discussion.

The Government explained that these are acts from the reform set of six umbrella laws, a prerequisite for Bosnia and Herzegovina's accession to the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA).

It was stated that the Bill on Payment Services is focused on protecting users of payment services and opens up the payment transactions market in a way that participants can be payment institutions whose minimum share capital will depend on the type of payment service.

This legal solution entirely replaces the current Law on Payment Transactions, which is over 20 years old, the Government stated.

The second act adopted at today's session was the Bill on Amendments to the Law on Microcredit Organizations, harmonized with the previous one, as well as with the legislation on electronic money, and the third was the Bill on Payment Accounts, which replaces the current act on domestic payment transactions.

The Bill on Amendments to the Law on Protection of Financial Services Users is the last act adopted at the afternoon extraordinary session of the House of Peoples and largely relates to harmonizing provisions with the legislation on payment services, although it also introduces some novelties.

The only item proposed for the agenda of this session of the House of Peoples, whose proposer was not the Federal Government, was the Draft Law on Proportional Representation of Constituent Peoples and Others in the Federation of BiH. Its proposer, the Club of Delegates of the Bosniak People, withdrew it from today's procedure.