TI BiH Calls on the Council of Ministers of BiH to reject the proposed Amendments to the Law on Conflict of Interest

Banja Luka, 15^th April 2013.- Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) calls on the Council of Ministers of BiH not to support the proposed Amendments to the Law on Conflict of Interest in the Governmental Institutions of BiH, which is set for today’s session of the Council of Ministers.

TI BIH has already warned that proposed Amendments to the Law on Conflict of Interest presents a setback in the regulation and prevention of the conflict of interest, mainly because the creation of the new Commission for the Conflict of Interest, consisting of majority of parliamentary members and representatives of political parties, has been proposed. Such Commission structure allows direct influence of the political parties on its decisions and would imply that members of the Commission would identify conflict of interest in the cases of their party colleagues, which certainly brings into question their impartiality in decision-making process and provides even greater political control over determining conflict of interest among public officials.

According to the proposed Amendments, it has been predicted the establishment of the Office of the Commission, whose structure will be specifically determined by the Office Rules and Regulations, whereby the Office employees will be treated as public officials. Notwithstanding the explanation of the proposed Amendments that additional funds would not be required, it is obvious that the formation of a new office, as well as the Commission, would imply allocation of additional funds from the budget, which has already been burdened with heavy state administration. This sets the question of justification of the formation of the new body for the implementation of the Law on Conflict of Interest, when there is the existing body on which formation significant resources have been invested.

Moreover, in spite of the warnings of international institutions that the existing penalties for conflict of interest are exceptionally low and that they do not motivate his compliance, fines have not been significantly increased. At the same time the possibility has been left to the elected official, executive officeholders and advisors to eliminate conflict of interest, whereby the Commission may end the proceedings. This certainly leaves the possibility for “negotiation” with lawbreakers and does not represent an adequate attitude towards lawbreakers.

Also, instead of hitherto ineligibility to stand for election, the form of sanction “proposal for dismissal,” has been introduced, which the commission should submit to the same competent authority who have appointed the official. However, the formulation of sanctions as a “proposal” does not oblige the authorities to implement it, suggesting that the bodies of these may refuse these suggestions. Thereby elected official, executive officeholder or advisor could freely continue with holding their functions which puts them in situation of conflict of interest.

Considering all the above mentioned, TI BiH believes that the proposed Amendments to the Law on Conflict of Interest in Governmental institutions of BiH do not improve any important issues regarding this area in comparison with existing situation, and they do not contribute to the prevention of corruption at all, instead, through the legalization of the influence of the political parties on the decision-making, they further encourage it.