TI BiH: The Ministry of Justice is hiding the Draft Law on the Court of BiH

Sarajevo, April 4th, 2024: The Ministry of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina refused to publish the Draft Law on the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and thus continued to hide from the public one of the most important reform laws in the EU integration process. Transparency International in BiH requested submission of the Draft, which was removed from the agenda of the Council of Ministers of BiH several times, but the relevant Ministry refused the request, referring to one of a number of restrictions from the new Law on Freedom of Access to Information. This law was presented as one of the great successes that BiH made on the European path, although numerous civil society organizations warned that it would enable the authorities to additionally hide information of public importance, which was shown in this example.

In this case, the Ministry of Justice referred to a provision of the new Law that allows institutions to limit access to information if its publication “could seriously disrupt the process of its creation”. The Ministry, however, did not explain why the publication of the content could damage the process of passing such an important law, for which there is great public interest.

TI BiH believes that the Ministry should, after determining the draft, publish this law and invite the interested public to submit written proposals and comments. Namely, the original draft of the Law on the Courts of BiH was published on the e-consultation platform in 2022, but after that it was revised as part of the working group and coalition agreements, and it was changed, placed and removed from the agenda of the Council of Ministers on several occasions, and in the meantime, the name and scope of the law being adopted have been changed. At the same time, there are numerous controversies regarding its content and provisions that are subject of public scrutiny and interest.

Instead of involving the public in the consultation process and enabling a public debate on such an important issue, the Draft Law is hidden from the citizens, without adequate explanation and a public interest test, while key decisions are made at closed meetings of political coalition members. TI BiH previously warned against the harmful practice of the Council of Ministers of BiH to hide the content of the most important laws, only to fundamentally change it at the session itself, enabling the public insight only when these laws are already referred to the parliamentary procedure.

Ultimately the public is deprived of any information related to the legislation process itself, as well as the content of this important regulation, which not only indicates a lack of transparency, but also affects the quality of the solutions that are adopted as well as public trust.

TI BiH previously urged all governments and parliaments in BiH to publish session materials, including draft laws, in order to enable the constructive participation of civil society and other interested actors in the adoption of policies.