Commission for Deciding on Conflict of Interest in a legal vacuum

Rejection to determine the specific status of the Commission for Deciding on Conflict of Interest absolutely favours the public officials who have found themselves in potential conflict of interest and questions the purpose of the existence of the law

Sarajevo, 9th March 2016 – For years now the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina have been doing everything to destroy legal framework and completely prevent the implementation of the regulations on the conflict of interest. The most recent evidence showing that the existing legal and institutional framework governing the conflict of interest is unsustainable is the rejection to determine the specific status of the Commission for Deciding on Conflict of Interest established at BiH level and its deletion from the list of the Parliament’s administrative units. Although it consists of 6 representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH and 3 representatives of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption and Coordination of the Fight against Corruption, the Commission is not defined as an administrative unit within the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH or a part of the Agency, where the Commission’s Office is situated.
Transparency International BiH (TI BiH) has warned about the amendments to the Law on Conflict of Interest in BiH institutions adopted in 2013 and the catastrophic consequences they would have on already weak mechanisms for determining the conflict of interest of the public officials, which was proved by a two-year lack of implementing the law at BiH level and prevention of work of the BiH Commission for Deciding on Conflict of Interest, Due to the administrative barriers, which could easily be removed if there was willingness to do so, the Commission was prevented from doing its job, which means that now there is no one who could determine the conflict of interest at the level of FBiH or BiH.
Legislators use these non-existing barriers to play around with the institution which should be implementing one of the most important anti-corruption laws, while at the same time nothing is being done in order to define an institution that would implement the Law on Conflict of Interest of FBiH and thus eliminate the legal gap that has been enabling legal conflict of interest for more that two years now.
It is also devastating that the blockade of the Commission is taking place just in time of publishing the Fourth Round Evaluation Report of the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) which clearly indicates the obligation of BiH to strengthen the legal framework and supervision over the conflict of interest.
In 2015 TI BiH presented its initiative for the improvement of the legal framework on the conflict of interest, which would eliminate these deficiencies through:
• de-politicization of the law enforcement body – instead of the Commission consisting of the representatives of the Parliament, to allow extension of the powers and capacities of the Agency for Prevention of Corruption and Coordination of the Fight against Corruption;
• harmonization of the law at different levels – eliminating differences and expanding the scope of individuals to whom the law is applied and situations which are defined as the conflict of interest;
• enhancement of sanctions, in order to make the public officials obey the law.

Enabling the legal vacuum absolutely favours the public officials who have found themselves in potential conflict of interest and questions the purpose of the existence of the law. Therefore, TI BiH once again urges the legislators to eliminate these administrative and legal deficiencies, and in the near future it will submit its proposals for the amendments to the Law on Conflict of Interest to the legislators.

Press rls – 9 3 2016 eng doc