House of Representatives suspends procedure for Mehmedović's amendments to the Election Law

(Patria) - The House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament today adopted, in the first reading and by shortened procedure, the Bill amending the Law on Salaries and Other Benefits in Judicial and Prosecutorial Institutions at the BiH level, proposed by the Council of Ministers of BiH.

The House did not accept the negative opinion of the Constitutional-Legal Committee on the Bill amending the Election Law of BiH in the first reading, proposed by MPs from the SDA Club Amor Mašović, Safet Kešo, Denijal Tulumović, Šemsudin Dedić, Edin Ramić, Nermin Mandra, Midhat Čaušević, and Šerif Špago.

In accordance with the Rules of Procedure of the House, the Constitutional-Legal Committee is tasked with preparing a new opinion on this Bill.

The proposal to consider the Bill amending the Criminal Code of BiH, proposed by MP Nihad Omerović, by shortened procedure was not adopted, and this Bill will be considered in the regular legislative procedure.

Following the second negative opinion of the Constitutional-Legal Committee, the House of Representatives stated that the legislative procedure regarding the Bill amending the Election Law of BiH, proposed by MP Šemsudin Mehmedović, has been suspended.

The House of Representatives adopted the Report on the public hearing of representatives of the Ministry of Communications and Transport of BiH, submitted by the Committee for Combating Corruption of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament.

Along with this Report, the House adopted the following conclusions:

• The House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament considers it unacceptable that the Ministry of Communications and Transport of BiH does not have functional administrative oversight over professional administrative organizations, nor accurate and precise data on the revenues of professional organizations for performing administrative tasks and technical inspections charged in accordance with the Price List of Services for the Implementation of Homologation;

• The House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament requests the Council of Ministers of BiH to submit amendments to the Law on the Fundamentals of Road Traffic Safety in BiH to the parliamentary procedure within 90 days, in order to better elaborate the conditions and criteria that professional organizations should meet for performing entrusted public tasks in the field of homologation in Article 205 of the Law;

• In relation to the conclusions of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament from the 16th session held on February 28, 2024, adopted upon the discussion of the Report of the BiH Institutions Audit Office on the performance audit conducted on the topic: "Entrusted Public Tasks within the Competence of BiH Institutions - Case Study: Ministry of Communications and Transport of BiH", the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament forwards to the BiH Prosecutor's Office the Report of the Committee for Combating Corruption of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament on the implementation of the public hearing of representatives of the Ministry of Communications and Transport of BiH, in relation to the vehicle homologation process with all relevant financial indicators, as well as the unauthorized transcript of the public hearing.

The House also adopted the Report on the implementation of the public hearing of representatives of the Institute of Metrology of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Council for Metrology of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in relation to the adoption of new bylaws, submitted by the Committee for Combating Corruption of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament.

Along with this Report, the following conclusions were adopted:

• The House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament considers metrology to be a serious field in which there is too much autonomy in decision-making by the heads of the Institute of Metrology of BiH, and that the institutions defined by law, especially the Council for Metrology of BiH, are not sufficiently involved, and that greater institutional control, transparency, and participation of the professional public are needed;

• The House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament requests the Council of Ministers of BiH to submit amendments to the Law on Metrology of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the parliamentary procedure within 90 days, in order to more precisely define the role of the Council for Metrology of BiH, consider the legal possibility of aligning with best practices in the region and European Union standards regarding audience measurement, and to give greater importance to parliamentary oversight;

• The House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament forwards to the relevant judicial institutions the Report on the implementation of the public hearing of representatives of the Institute of Metrology of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Council for Metrology of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in relation to the adoption of new bylaws.

The initiative of MP Denis Zvizdić was adopted, by which the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament initiates that the Ministry of Civil Affairs of BiH initiate the procedure for concluding an Agreement on Dual Citizenship between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Federal Republic of Germany.

The House did not adopt the initiative of MP Sabina Ćudić, which obliges the Ministry of Defense of BiH to, within 30 days of the adoption of that initiative, adopt amendments to Article 5 of the Rulebook on Uniforms of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina ("Official Gazette of BiH", No. 44/17) and thus allow members of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina to wear the hijab as a religious symbol.

The House of Representatives adopted the following reports of BiH institutions:

• Report on the Protection of Personal Data in Bosnia and Herzegovina for 2023, submitted by the Personal Data Protection Agency of BiH;

• Special Report on the situation in detention facilities in certain police administrations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, submitted by the Institution of the Ombudsmen for Human Rights of BiH;

• First periodic report on the introduction of new technologies in the electoral process in Bosnia and Herzegovina, submitted by the Central Election Commission of BiH.

The Report on the work of the BiH Appeals Review Office for 2023 was also adopted.

Along with this Report, the following conclusions were adopted:

• The Committee on Finance and Budget of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament suggests to the Ministry of Finance and Treasury of BiH to approve the budget request of the BiH Appeals Review Office for 2025 in order to fill vacant positions and ensure the Office operates at full capacity, in accordance with the Rulebook on Internal Organization of the Appeals Review Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina;

• The Committee on Finance and Budget of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament requests the BiH Appeals Review Office to further improve cooperation with the Public Procurement Agency of BiH and the Committee on Finance and Budget of the House of Representatives, all with the aim of quality resolution of certain issues in the field of public procurement through amendments to the current Law on Public Procurement.

The Report on the implementation of laws within the competence of the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2023, submitted by the Central Election Commission of BiH, was sent to the Collegium of the House for harmonization due to the lack of an entity majority.

Due to the lack of an entity majority, the Report on the financial operations of BHRT for 2023, submitted by the BHRT Management Board, was also sent to the Collegium of the House for harmonization.

The following materials from the BHRT Management Board were taken note of:

• BHRT Program Report for 2023;

• BHRT Program Plan and Financial Plan for 2024.

Along with these materials from the BHRT Management Board, a proposed conclusion by MP Šemsudin Mehmedović was sent to the Collegium of the House for harmonization, due to the lack of an entity majority, which reads:

"The House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament proposes to the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to urgently amend Article 29, paragraph 2 of the Law on Enforcement Procedure of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in such a way that an invoice for RTV fees or an excerpt from business books for the price of RTV fees also has the status of a credible document, which would enable an increase in the collection rate of RTV fees in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina."

The House of Representatives did not adopt the Report on the reviewed financial operations of political parties in 2021, submitted by the Central Election Commission of BiH.

The House of Representatives gave consent for the ratification of:

• Agreement between the Republic of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina for the IPA III Cross-border Cooperation Program "Serbia - Bosnia and Herzegovina" for the period 2021 - 2027;

• Financing Agreement for the Interreg VI-B IPA program for the Danube Region for the period 2021 - 2027 between the European Union, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Hungary;

• International Agreement between the European Union, on the one hand, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, on the other hand, on the participation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Union's Digital Europe program (2021 - 2027).