Council of Ministers of BIH Holds Its 57th Session

The Council of Ministers of BIH defined unanimously and will send to an urgent Parliamentarian procedure a Proposal Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Law on Single Registration Number of Citizens, so that the problem of issuance of single registration numbers would be solved in a systematic fashion. 

Under the Proposal Law the registration areas will be adjusted to the territorial organisation of BIH, subject to the BIH Constitution and Election Law, which practically means that it has nine registration areas within Entity lines and the Brčko District, three in Republika Srpska, one  in the Brčko District and five in the Federation of BIH.

The Proposal Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Law on Single Registration Number of Citizens provides for single registration numbers issued under the previously valid regulations not being subject to change.

Under the package of legislation defined today, the Council of Ministers of BIH unanimously defined and will send to urgent Parliamentarian procedure a Proposal Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Law on Citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Proposal Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Law on Domicile and Residence of Citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Proposal Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Law on Travel Documents of BIH.

The Proposal Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Law on Citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina was established in order to implement a decision of the Constitutional Court of BIH and which, in certain cases, facilitates the acquisition of BIH citizenship in line with the European Convention on Citizenship.

The Supplements to the Law specify that a child born abroad, and whose one parent was BIH citizen at the time of its birth, may acquire the BIH citizenship based on the origin principle, under condition that it has checked with a BIH competent body by the time it turns 23 years of age.

Under the Amendments of the Law, a stay in BIH as a condition for acquisition of BIH citizenship based on the naturalisation principle is being decreased from current 13 to eight years.

Simultaneously, persons whose citizenship has been abolished based on renunciation, remission or by operation of law are enabled to acquire BIH citizenship if they have been approved a temporary residence in the BIH territory at least for a year before they apply for citizenship or permanent residence. This Amendment is important especially for a fact that BIH, due to a rejection by other states, has never concluded dual citizenship contracts with a number of states hosting a large number of our citizens. Also, it deletes Article 18 from the basic law on a loss of citizenship by operation of law by acquiring citizenship of the other state, so that it removes a risk for BIH citizens who acquired or are in the process of acquiring citizenship of other state.

In order to prevent granting BIH citizenship to criminals, war criminals or terrorists, the Supplement to the Law sets forth that a foreigner in order to apply for citizenship needs to present proves of no criminal procedure initiated against him, except in cases when such a prove cannot be reasonably requested (e.g. stateless persons), that he does not represent a threat to BIH security, he has a sure source of revenues for his own subsistence, he made-up all his tax and other financial liabilities, he represents that he accepts the constitutional order of BIH and he holds a valid guarantee on acquisition of the citizenship.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs of BIH will provide the Proposal Law to the Parliamentarian Assembly of BIH for consideration under urgent procedure.

The Council of Ministers defined a Proposal Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Law on Domicile and Residence of Citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Proposal Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Law on Travel Documents of BIH.

The Amendments of the Law on Domicile and Residence of Citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina advances the basic law and introduces operative regulations concerning the electronic signature, in addition to specifying conditions for check in and check out of domicile to improve security of personal documents.

According to the Amendments of the Law, BIH citizens may check in, i.e. check out their domicile or residence and address electronically with a competent body and using secure electronic signature verified by an eligible certification.

The Proposal Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Law on Travel Documents provides for a new, 10-year validity for passports, and introduces a possibility to apply for a travel document at a mobile station for persons whose mobility is limited due to age or health condition.

The new law improves personal data protection and defines the looks of passports for refugees and stateless persons, and enables the issuance of travel documents to displaced persons in their place of residence.

The Council of Ministers of BIH took a decision on temporary suspension and temporary decrease of customs rates at import of certain goods until Dec. 31, 2013, as proposed by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations for the purpose of protection of domestic production and maintenance of the existing and generation of new jobs.

The decision takes into consideration demands by the Association of textile, leather and footwear industries of BIH, especially the footwear branch, including the business entities in electronic industry, and the implementation of it is expected to provide for facilities for at least 20,000 workers.

The decision provides for a temporary decrease of customs rates at the level of EU rates and suspension of the customs rates for total 28 tariff codes, which might be considered as row materials because they are used by BIH producers for final production.

The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted information of the Directorate for European Integrations on a meeting held between representatives of the BIH Veterinary Office and European Commission on securing conditions for export of sterilised milk and mature cheese from BIH to the EU, under an agreement from Brussels of May 25, 2013. 

At the meeting, the EC representatives emphasised a need for an urgent adoption and implementation of new legislation on food and Law on Veterinary Service in BIH, as a basis for systematic fulfilment of conditions for export and transit of products of animal and herbal origin from BIH to the EU.

As a provisional solution, a model of vertical chain of command will be applied in the official controls system of food and animal food in BIH, which implies signing of a protocol between the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BIH and Entity Ministries of Agriculture, based on which the BIH Veterinary Office will be authorised to control municipal and cantonal inspectors and secure the position of a central competent body. The protocol will be signed today.

The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted a Report from the XI round of negotiations on the accession of BIH to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which indicates that a further progress has been made in the WTO accession negotiations, and that planned negotiations-acceleration activities were carried out, as defined under the January-May 2013 Road Map.

The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Report also indicates that a successful completion of the 2013 Road Map for the first six months is possible, so that Bosnia and Herzegovina may finalise its accession negotiations before the WTO Ministerial Conference scheduled for December 2013.

The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted information on public campaign on implications of the Republic of Croatia’s entry to the European Union, and tasked the Directorate for European Integrations to cooperate with competent institutions which designated their representatives for organising thematic forums according to proposed schedule and agenda and to inform the Council of Ministers of BIH on the exercise.

After delegating their representatives, the institutions are obliged to report to the Directorate for European Integrations on the identification of effects to Bosnia and Herzegovina of the Republic of Croatia’s accession to the EU, and the Directorate will formulate public messages and provide them the Council of Ministers together with the relevant communication plan.

The Council of Ministers of BIH received a Report of the Directorate for European Integrations on the BIH Neum Corridor Prefeasibility Study.

BIH representatives in the Advisory Board are to continue to advocate an adequate solution, taking into account BIH interests, as well as those of the local community.

The Advisory Board members from BIH are expected to propose a supervision of the prefeasibility study to be carried out by the European Commission, according to its well- established practice.

Upon a proposal of the BIH State Aid Council, the Council of Ministers of BIH adopted an Annual Report on State Aid in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2012, which says that total registered state aid of BIH was KM 551,598,119 or EUR 282.1 million, which is KM 146 per capita.

The horizontal state aid participated with 43.9 per cent in total state aid in 2012, and it amounted to KM 242,028.507. This is the aid for small and medium business entities, for rehabilitation and restructuring of troubled business entities, job generation, environmental protection, research and development and innovations, professional education, including the state aid in form of venture capital and state aid for culture and preservation of cultural heritage.

The vertical state aid participated with 26.6 per cent in total state aid in 2012 amounting to KM 146,600,000, and it aided steel production, mining, transport (road, railway and air), tourism, postal services, mass media, health care, forestry and other sectors.

The state aid for agriculture and fishery amounted to KM 160,800.000 or 29.1 per cent in total state aid in 2012 .

The major part in the state aid structure is for subsidies/ incentives, with KM 279,600,000 or 50.7 per cent, and for grants in amount of KM174,700,000 or 31.7 per cent.

Last year’s inventoried state aid as a share of 2012 GDP amounted to 2.1 per cent. The EU member states had 0.9 per cent of their GDP for the state aid in 2010, excluding aid to railway transport.

The State Aid Council drafted the Report based on a State Aid Programme inputs by the Governments of the Federation of BIH, Republika Srpska and Brčko District.

The Council of Ministers of BIH defined Proposal Basics for negotiations for conclusion of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina and NATO Support Organisation (NSPO) on Cooperation in Logistic Support, which is aimed to improve collaboration and cooperation of BIH as a member of the Partnership for Peace on its way to the NATO membership.

The Ministry of Defence will forward the Proposal Basics to the BIH Presidency for further procedure, while Minister Zekerijah Osmić is proposed as tis signatory.

The Council of Ministers of BIH defined Proposal Basics for negotiations for conclusion of a Cooperation Agreement between the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Government of Montenegro in the EU accession context.

This way, a political dialogue through Foreign Ministers’ annual meetings is to be intensified, also to boost the cooperation within the EU Stabilisation and Accession Process, EU joint foreign and security policy, fight against terrorism and organised crime, fostering of regional cooperation, regional and European energy security policy, and other issues of a common interest.

The Agreement will also affect improvement of dialogue and cooperation between respective European integrations institutions.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will forward the Proposal Basics to the BIH Presidency for further procedure, and Minister dr. Zlatko Lagumdžija is proposed for its signatory.

The Council of Ministers of BIH received a Report from the Directorate for European Integrations on preparation status of an IPA II Strategic Document (2014-2020) for Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is a basis for provision of IPA II financial support to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The first Draft IPA II Strategic Document for BIH, based on inputs received at informal consultations and the European Commission assessments of needs relating the BIH accession process to the EU, defines key sectors and priorities for IPA II support for BIH for 2013-20120 timespan, in addition to sector-related conditions for its disbursement.

The sectors included into the first Draft Strategic Document are: administration and public sector governance; rule of law; transport; environment and climate change; integrated local development; education and human resources development; employment and social policy; and agriculture and rural development.

The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted a Report on Assessment of Effects of Regulations to the Foreign Direct Investment Policy Law in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and tasked the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations to start preparations of amendments and supplements to the Foreign Direct Investments Policy Law in Bosnia and Herzegovina, aiming to contribute to an increased legal certainty for foreign investors and improve general investment climate in BIH.

The Council adopted a Report “Inventory of Incentives to Bosnia and Herzegovina”, and tasked the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations and the BIH Foreign Investment Promotion Agency to post a list of available investor incentives at their web sites, in addition to assigning sector Ministries to provide data on amendments and supplements relating to allocation of incentives, by September 30 this year, in order to up-date the Report and prepare a detailed review and analysis  of harmonisation level of the existing incentives with the World Trade Organisation principles and criteria.

The Indirect Taxation Administration is tasked to report to the Council of Ministers of BIH, within a 30 day deadline, on establishment of customs check point in the Brčko Port, in compliance with a Decision on Defining Border-Crossings.

Upon a proposal of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, the Council of Ministers of BIH took a decision on repetition of quantities of tariff quotas in 2013, which relate to the import of raw sugar from sugar cane for further refining.

Under the decision, the quantity of tariff quotas in 2013 is being repeated, i.e. 50,000 tonnes are to be used in BIH facilities by December 31, 2013.

Upon a proposal of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, The Council of Ministers of BIH appointed Biljana Čamur as the Serb member of the CIP (Centre for Information and Recognition of Qualifications in Higher Education) Steering Board, as the most successful candidate from the list of candidates following the completed public job competition.

The Council of Ministers of BIH took a decision to appoint Damir Ljubić, Minister for Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the BIH National Coordinator for Roma Issues.

Upon a proposal of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Council of Ministers of BIH appointed Slavko Matić for Manager of the BIH Anti-Doping Control Agency, as the most successful candidate from the list of candidates following the completed public job competition.

Upon a proposal of the Ministry of Security, the Council of Ministers of BIH made a conclusion under which Manager of the Agency for Education and Professional Training  Branko Vukoja, whose mandate expired on July 16, 2013, will continue to serve the office until the completion of the selection procedure for new Manager, but for no longer  than 80 days.

Upon a proposal of the Ministry of Security, the Council of Ministers of BIH appointed Jasmin Pilica or Manger of the Police Support Agency and Ljiljana Trišić for Manager of the Forensic Investigation Agency, and Boris Ivanović for Deputy Manager of the Agency for Education and Professional Training, as the most successful candidates from the list of candidates following the completed public job competition.

Upon a proposal of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Council of Ministers of BIH took separate decisions on admission to citizenship of BIH of a citizen of the Republic of Croatia Ante Madunić, honourable member of the BIH Association of Weightlifters and BIH Association of Thai Boxing, and  citizen of Montenegro Boris Brajović, university professor.

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