Inter-sectorial working group violated the Uniform Rules for Legislative Drafting

Transparency International of Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) referred to the Constitutional Commission of the House of People Parliamentary Assembly a reaction on the occasion of amendments to the Law on conflict of Interest in the BiH Institutions and the Law on Financing of Political Parties of BiH, which was compiled by the Interdepartmental Working Group.

In drafting of amendments to the aforementioned laws, members of the Inter-sectorial working group did not abide by the Uniform Rules of Legislative Drafting in BiH Institutions, which dictate that amendments to legislation must not exceed half the contents of the act. Namely, in the case of the Law on conflict of Interest and the Law on Financing of Political Parties of BiH these rules were not respected-in the Law on Conflict of Interest 16 out of 22 articles have been changed, which in general represent a change of 73 percent of the Law, and in the Law on Financing of Political Parties of BiH 16 out of currently existing 29 articles have been changed, representing 60 percent of the content of the Act.

By referring to the parliamentary procedure of the new legislative drafts under the auspice of the amendments, although it presents a change of nearly 80 percent of the applicable law provision, the Uniform Rules of Legislative Drafting are not only violated, also the members of the Interdepartmental Working Group acted contrary to the mandate entrusted to them by the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH.

Since the adoption of such proposed amendments to the law presents a violation of basic law drafting procedures, TI BiH invited the Chairman and the members of the Legal Constitutional Committee of the House of People of Parliamentary Assembly of BiH to abandon the established laws and to put the whole process back to the legitimate and legal framework of the Uniform Rules of Legislative Drafting.