See all the decisions made today by the Constitutional Court of BiH

The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina held its 99th plenary session today, and after the session, a press release was issued, reports Patria.

- The Constitutional Court considered the request of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska for a review of the Constitutional Court's Decision in case number U 3/13, which relates to the constitutionality of certain provisions of the Law on Holidays of Republika Srpska. Regarding the aforementioned request, the Constitutional Court emphasizes that, according to Article 68, Paragraph 1 of the Rules of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the condition for accepting a request for review of a Constitutional Court decision is the existence or discovery of a fact that, by its nature, could decisively influence the outcome of the dispute and which, when the decision was made, was not known to the Constitutional Court, and which could not reasonably have been known to the party.

Deciding on the request for review, the Constitutional Court determined that in the contested Decision number U 3/13, it provided reasoning for all circumstances to which the National Assembly of Republika Srpska is again referring in the request for review. Given that the National Assembly of Republika Srpska has not presented any new facts in its request for review within the meaning of Article 68, Paragraph 1 of the Rules of the Constitutional Court, which could influence a different decision by the Constitutional Court in the case, the Constitutional Court concluded that there are no justified reasons for accepting the request for review of Constitutional Court Decision number U 3/13 of November 26, 2015, and therefore rejected it.

As part of today's agenda, the Constitutional Court also considered requests for provisional measures submitted by Bakir Izetbegović, member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Šefik Džaferović, first Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Safet Softić, Speaker of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, four delegates of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 25 members of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 35 representatives of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and 16 delegates of the House of Peoples of the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In these requests, the applicants asked the Constitutional Court to suspend the application of the Decision on calling a republican referendum number 02/1-021-894/16 of July 15, 2016.

By Decision number U 10/16, the Constitutional Court stated that at this stage of the proceedings, there are sufficient grounds indicating that the implementation of the referendum, before the Constitutional Court decides on the submitted requests in this specific case, would have serious and irreparable harmful consequences, primarily for the execution of the Decision of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina number U 3/13. Bearing in mind that the applicants emphasize, and the National Assembly of Republika Srpska does not dispute in its response, that activities related to the organization and implementation of the referendum are underway, the Constitutional Court believes that all of the above can have very negative consequences for the execution of its Decision number U 3/13 and for the smooth and efficient functioning of the Constitutional Court in this specific case, as well as for the constitutional order in general.

The Constitutional Court is convinced that, within the meaning of Article 64, Paragraph (1) of the Rules of the Constitutional Court, it is in the interest of all parties in this procedure to protect the constitutional order and stability of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the smooth functioning of the Constitutional Court in this specific case. The Constitutional Court is convinced that the temporary suspension of the application of the Decision on the referendum – until a final decision is made on the submitted requests – is not contrary to these interests, but directly contributes to them. The Constitutional Court has therefore adopted a provisional measure temporarily suspending the Decision on calling a republican referendum.