House of Representatives of BiH to consider Draft Law on State Property, will pro-Bosnian parties adhere to the Declaration!

(Patria) - The Draft Law on State Property of BiH, one of the most important systemic laws that the country has been waiting for for over two decades, will be on the agenda of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Thursday. The draft law regulates issues of ownership, management, and disposal of state property owned by Bosnia and Herzegovina. It prescribes the method of registering ownership rights in land registry and cadastral records, principles and rules for the use of state property, record-keeping, and the establishment of a Unified Register of State Property.

The law also covers the disposal, use, and transfer of property, planning its use, and the establishment of a Directorate for the Management and Record-keeping of State Property. It also regulates the valuation of property, its protection, and the legal representation of the state in property matters.

It is particularly important that the law defines the right of ownership and the right of use over assets owned by the state, including property located abroad. Property of companies that have undergone legal privatization is excluded from the application of the law, except for property recorded in passive off-balance sheet items and located outside the borders of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The reasons for adopting the law are predominantly planning and practical. Without a clearly defined legal framework, serious spatial planning is not possible, nor can large investments requiring legal certainty be attracted. According to estimates, around 700 billion euros in potential investments from various sectors are blocked due to the absence of this law.

Challenging the law leads to legal uncertainty and creates space for the usurpation of state resources by individuals and lower levels of government, which has already happened in numerous cases of illegal allocation and use of state property.

The adoption of the law is considered key to removing obstacles to the country's economic development, protecting national resources, and establishing order in property management.

An important segment of this law is also the issue of denationalization - a process that Bosnia and Herzegovina, unlike all other former SFRY countries, has not yet resolved. This law represents one of the first steps towards the final regulation of property-legal relations in the country.

We also remind that all pro-Bosnian parties have previously signed the Declaration on State Property, so it remains to be seen whether all their representatives will support the law submitted to the parliamentary procedure by Jasmin Emrić, Šemsudin Mehmedović, Aida Baručija, and Elvis Hodžić, with a request for urgent consideration.