Formation of Local Community Colleges Proposed

(Patria) - The Government of the Federation of BiH, at today's session in Sarajevo, adopted and sent to parliamentary procedure the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Principles of Local Self-Government in the Federation of BiH.

One of the reasons for the amendments is that the existing Law provides for mutual possibility of the body of the local self-government unit directed towards the request for review of a decision or act which is considered
unconstitutional or illegal. In case of failure to reach an identical stance at the level of the local self-government unit, a review procedure before a body not precisely defined by law is foreseen. This creates a legal vacuum that causes difficulties in the application of the Law so far.

The new solutions fill this legal vacuum and create conditions for eliminating potential blockades in the work of the local self-government unit bodies. According to the new provision, the competent body for reviewing the decision of the council, or the mayor, is the body competent for supervising the application of the law that has been violated. If the law that has been violated does not specify a body for supervising the application of the law, the competent body is the cantonal, or federal ministry competent for the area of local self-government, depending on whether a cantonal or federal law has been violated.

The novelties also apply to local communities, and the goal is to achieve the necessary minimum of uniformity at the FBiH level, and to more precisely define the bodies of the local community, the tasks they perform,
the authorized initiators for the establishment of a local community, the content of acts related to the work of the local community, as well as the sources of financial resources.

Due to the need to introduce greater connectivity of local communities with the local self-government unit, the formation of Local Community Colleges has been proposed.