HJPC Harmonises Amendments to the Law on HJPC with the Ministry of Justice of BiH

(Patria) - President of the HJPC Sanin Bogunić stated on the first day of the HJPC session that the Ministry of Justice of BiH sent a letter to the Council last Friday and that a meeting was held with Minister Davor Bunoz.

“They want to show good will, that they are flexible and, of course, we supported that. We will defend our amendments in the way that, from a professional aspect, is most appropriate. That working group should, first and foremost, deal with the attempt to incorporate our 40 amendments into the version of the law that we hope will go to parliament,” Bogunić told the media.

According to his words, this process should be done quickly if the parties harmonise their positions.

“But we will not go below a certain line that is not appropriate for the profession,” said Bogunić.

The Council adopted the rulebooks on internal operations, organisation and systematisation of workplaces in the prosecutor's offices of the Bosnian-Podrinje Canton, the Federal Prosecutor's Office and the Prosecutor's Office of Canton 10.

A Proposal for a Memorandum of Cooperation in the area of data retrieval from the Automated Case Management System in courts and prosecutor's offices (CMS/TCMS) was also adopted, which will enable the Intelligence-Security Agency (OSA) of BiH to retrieve data from prosecutor's offices more quickly and efficiently.

From the Department for Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), it was stated that in April 2024, the signing of the Memorandum of Cooperation with OSA regarding data retrieval from the CMS was approved.

“OSA retrieves information from records in the CMS about whether a certain person is undergoing checks at a court and later contacts only that court. They now want the same solution to be extended to checks in the TCMS,” said the ICT Department.

The launch of a pilot project for the implementation of electronic signatures in the judiciary of BiH was also adopted. At the session, it was stated that this is a project concerning the use of electronic signatures in the procedure for issuing certificates of no pending criminal proceedings.

With the aim of improving and increasing the efficiency of the quality of services that judicial institutions provide to the citizens of BiH, the HJPC and the Agency for Identification Documents, Registers and Data Exchange (IDEEA) have initiated the procedure for the use of electronic signatures in the judicial sector.

“Currently, certificates are issued physically, whereby the requester fills out a physical form, submits it to the competent court, along with proof of payment of the fee at courts where fee payment is mandatory. The court, through a special part of the CMS, performs checks on the absence of criminal proceedings, and after that, when it is determined that no proceedings are being conducted against the person, it issues a certificate,” said the ICT Department.

The proposal for the new solution is to introduce the use of electronic signatures in this part, i.e., an electronic method of communication between the court and the applicant.

They stated that it is necessary to adopt amendments to the Rulebook on Internal Court Operations that would provide for electronic submission of requests. The HJPC selected the municipal courts in Sarajevo, Bihać and Mostar for the implementation of this pilot project.

The Council considered the Proposal for the Law on the Special Register of Persons Finally Convicted of Criminal Offences of Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children in the Brčko District of BiH, and it was stated that the HJPC's Standing Committee on Legislation confirmed that maintaining such a register is in accordance with the Criminal Code of the Brčko District.

“The proposed law, which is quite concise, prescribes special measures for persons convicted of these criminal offences. These are measures to report to the police, report travel outside their place of residence, report changes in personal data, and refrain from visiting places where children stay,” stated the Standing Committee on Legislation, explaining that these measures apply for 20 years after the execution of the prison sentence.

The Council gave a positive opinion on the text proposed by the Standing Committee on Legislation.