Bosnia and Herzegovina - annual report 2017

Details

Published: June 1, 2018

Legal Policy Situation

Bosnia and Herzegovina, whose Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU entered into force on 1 June 2015, and which applied for accession to the EU in 2016, was late in starting with the transformation of its legal system as a result of the war. Thus, the implementation of the rule-of-law standards of a constitutional state is particularly urgent here. As the law in Bosnia and Herzegovina is traditionally orientated towards the Continental European model, consultation provided by Germany is particularly meaningful and sustainable. Difficulties arise in the project work in Bosnia and Herzegovina due to the distinctly federal system. The entities of that only work together to a limited extent, which also leads to a fragmentation of the law. In addition, domestic political conflicts also result in a standstill of the reforms. In the light of this situation, the IRZ is currently focussing its activities in Bosnia and Herzegovina in particular on the basic and further training of lawyers.

Overall Concept

The IRZ supports basic and further training in the field of civil and commercial law at faculties of law and at both training centres for judges and public prosecutors. Furthermore, the foundation is involved in the field of constitutional law. Finally, the IRZ has issued a number of legal publications in the local language in recent years, which also target readers in other countries of the region. The partners in the country include, in particular, the Constitutional Court on the state level, the Centres for judicial and prosecutorial training of both entities and the faculties of law at the universities of Mostar, Sarajevo and Zenica, as well as the legal aid organisation Vaša Prava. In the course of its activities, the IRZ also creates opportunities deliberately for members of different population groups to meet one another, in order to counteract ethnic tensions.

Foci of Activity 2017

Constitutional Law/Human Rights and their Enforceability

• Regional Constitutional Court Conference in Jahorina entitled “Theory and practice of the independence of constitutional courts”
• Publication of a separate conference volume published comprising the presentations of the above-mentioned conference jointly by the IRZ and the Constitutional Court
• Participation by the President of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and another judge in the regional conference in Budva, Montenegro, entitled “Equality before the law in Constitutional Court Practice” organised together with the Montenegrin Constitutional Court
• Participation by judges of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the regional conference entitled “Constitutional Court protection in criminal law” organised in cooperation with the Serbian Constitutional Court in Zlatibor, Serbia
• Publication of the collection of case-law of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2016

Civil and Commercial Law

• Hosting the regional conference on the topic of “The impact of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights on national family laws” organised in conjunction with the Law Faculty of the Džemal Bijedić University in Mostar
• Seminars within the training programme of the Judicial Training Centreof the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo on the subjects:
  
  • “Factoring”
  • “Training the Trainer in European law” and
  • “Influence of European law on national law”
• Seminar within the training programme of the Judicial Training Centre of the Republika Srpska in Banja Luka on the topic “Influence of European law on national law”
• Preparation of an introductory volume on the Limited Liability Companies Act (GmbH), Sarajevo

Public Law

• Conference “Right to asylum and the European influence on national legislation” with the legal aid organisation Vaša Prava in Sarajevo

Administration of Justice

• Continuation of the publication of the “Nova pravna revija – časopis za domaće, njemačko i evropsko pravo”, abbreviated as NPR (New Legal Review – a journal of regional, German and European law)
• Developing an own website for the above-mentioned journal (http:// nova-pravna-revija.info), including a comprehensive download section
• Publication of a translation of the German Act on Senior Judicial Officers with an introductory commentary as part of the IRZ book series with translated and reviewed German laws
• Participation by a scholar from Bosnia and Herzegovina in the interdisciplinary symposium “Legal transformation in South-East Europe using former Yugoslavia as an example: prerequisites, parties involved, failures and successes” organised jointly by the IRZ and the South-East Europe association in Berlin
• Participation by a legal scholar from Bosnia and Herzegovina in the regional workshop “Methods of coming to terms with the past” in collaboration with the Munich Institute for Eastern European Law held in Munich, Nuremberg and Regensburg

Basic and Further Training

• Continuation of the supplementary studies on German law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Sarajevo with regular lectures held in German by local lecturers, as well as block lectures by German speakers
• Further expansion of the supporting German language law library and graduation of the first generation of successful graduates of this supplementary studies on German law
• Seminar “Introduction on legal methodology” with regional involvement in Zenica
• Regional block seminar “Introduction to German law” at the Faculty of Law of Zenica
• Legal terminology course entitled “German for lawyers” at the Faculty of Law of the University of Sarajevo

Outlook

The IRZ will be continuing and intensifying its project work in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2018 in close cooperation with its partners. The focus here will be on the continuation of the cooperation with the Constitutional Court at the state level and the two training centres for judges and Public Prosecutors.