Draft Law on Equalization of Pensions Earned Under the Law on Service in the BiH Armed Forces Determined

(Patria) - The Government of the Federation of BiH at today's session in Sarajevo, at the proposal of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, determined the Draft Law on Equalization of Pensions Earned Under the Law on Service in the BiH Armed Forces and sent it to the Parliament of the Federation of BiH for consideration and adoption under an urgent procedure.

This law regulates the issue of equalizing pensions earned by professional military personnel in service in the BiH Armed Forces based on Chapter V of the Law on Service in the BiH Armed Forces, and whose rights are realized through the Federal Pension and Disability Insurance Institute and who have been granted special service from Article 36, Paragraph (1) of the Pension and Disability Insurance Law, and who are entitled to a pension starting from March 1, 2018.

Due to the existence of a certain number of beneficiaries who already exercise their rights from pension and disability insurance, as well as those who will exercise these rights in the future, the equalization of rights is prescribed in two paragraphs.

The first relates to those who retire after this law comes into force, and their legal pension amount will be increased by 29 percent and will be further adjusted according to the Pension and Disability Insurance Law.

The second method of pension calculation applies to beneficiaries who have earned pension rights from March 1, 2018, to the date this law comes into force.

To their legal pension amount, increased by 29 percent, the amount of pension increase resulting from pension adjustments in the aforementioned period will be added, and they will continue to be adjusted according to the Pension and Disability Insurance Law.

The payment of pensions calculated under this law will commence from January 1, 2024, and the funds for their financing are secured from the budget of the Federation of BiH.

The law also stipulates that the provisions of the Pension and Disability Insurance Law shall apply to all matters not regulated by this law and the Law on Service in the BiH Armed Forces.

Among other reasons for adopting this law, the Ministry states that the Draft Law on Equalization of Pensions Earned Under the Law on Service in the BiH Armed Forces aims to eliminate inequalities that arose from the introduction of differentiated payment coefficients for the same category of military insured persons who acquired the right to a pension in the period up to 2018, under the same Law on Service in the BiH Armed Forces, which led to the derogation of the principle of equality before the law and which is contrary to Article II.A.2.(1) c) of the Constitution of the Federation of BiH, and the provisions of Articles 2 and 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The proposer also clarifies that an intervention in Article 140 of the Pension and Disability Insurance Law, which legalized the payment coefficient and the payment of pensions at the achieved level of the last paid pension, would jeopardize the achieved payments for over 430,000 pensioners. While striving to respect the constitutional obligation of equality before the law for military insured persons, the proposed solution does not jeopardize the pension system reform in the Federation of BiH by adopting this lex specialis law, the Government of the Federation of BiH announced.