Significant ruling in favor of TI BiH – FBiH Banking Agency is a public body and has not proven why the salaries of its employees should not be published

TI BiH requested information from the Agency on employees’ salaries and related benefits. The agency refused to submit them, claiming that there was no public interest, and that they, as a self-financing body, were not obliged to apply the Freedom of Access to Information Act.

Banja Luka, 20. November 2020 – Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) has won an administrative dispute against the FBiH Banking Agency (the Agency) for refusing to provide information on the salaries of its employees. More than three years ago, TI BIH requested from the Agency a list of all employees with the amounts of their salaries and related benefits. The media at the time wrote that the Agency is the most desirable place to hire relatives of politicians, that the average salary of employees in 2016. year was 3,170 KM, and that the highest salary was slightly less than nine thousand marks. For comparison, in the same year, the average net salary in the FBiH was 838 KM. The auditors then warned that the salaries in the Agency were inappropriately high compared to other federal institutions, that employment was done without competition and that unjustifiably high incentives were given to workers.

The Agency refused to provide information on the salaries of its employees to both citizens and the media, emphasizing that they do not represent the public interest, and that it is a blow to the Agency’s independence. In response to the complaint of TI BiH, the Agency pointed out that it is a self-financing and non-profit institution, and that they are not financed from public funds. In addition to calling for the protection of personal data, they pointed out that their employees are not civil servants, so there is no public interest in knowing their names or the amount of their income, and that they are not obliged to apply the Freedom of Information Act.

The Cantonal Court in Sarajevo concluded in the verdict that the Banking Agency is a public body in the sense of the Law on Freedom of Access to Information. The Court recalls that all information held by public authorities is a public good and that if access to the requested information is denied, a public interest test must be conducted, and any harm or benefit arising from the disclosure of the information must be weighed. In this particular case, the court considers that the Agency did not provide any reason why information on salaries should not be published, thus not proving the absence of public interest. It is not enough just to state that the exception applies to the protection of personal data, but all circumstances must be weighed and the reasons for the exception given. For all these reasons, the court remanded the case for retrial.

TI BiH reminds that the auditors warned three years ago that the FBiH Banking Agency must ensure greater transparency in its work, that the public has doubts about party employment, as well as audit findings on inappropriately high salaries and fees. All this together justifies the public interest in greater transparency of the body that regulates the banking sector. TI BiH calls on the FBiH Banking Agency to publish information on employees, their salaries and related benefits, and to make a step towards proactive transparency by publishing all information on its website. The administrative dispute won by TI BiH is significant because the court unequivocally confirmed that regulatory bodies financed from their own sources are public bodies that must apply the Law on Freedom of Access to Information and be accountable to the public, if given public authority.

Press rls-20.11.20

Judgment_BiH Bank Agency