As part of the IRZ programme for Bosnia and Herzegovina, two events on consumer protection took place between 8 and 12 June 2020.
Online seminar: The practical effects of European law on national law, using consumer law as an example
This online seminar for judges took place on Friday 12 June 2020, in partnership with the Judicial and Prosecutorial Training Centre of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. IRZ expert Prof. Dr. Zlatan Meskic (see below) presented practical cases from consumer legislation in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the event. Using these cases as examples, the speaker introduced European directives as the basis for national legislation. Professor Meskic pointed out that some of these national directives had been inadequately or inappropriately implemented and that the subject of general terms and conditions of business was also regulated by various legal provisions. In this context, the processing and solving of the cases he presented brought up some highly complex legal issues, which he discussed in detail with the judges, who were taking part in the event from their offices in Bihac, Mostar, Zenica and Sarajevo.
Online seminar: The case method in German legal training based on consumer law
The previous two-day online seminar held on 8 and 10 June with postgraduate students from the Law Faculty at the University of Zenica took a somewhat different approach. Since this postgraduate course has a good reputation in the region, a participant from Croatia also took part in the event. During the online seminar, IRZ expert Prof. Dr. Zlatan Meskic presented the case method in German legal training based on cases from consumer law. Consumer legislation is particularly suitable here in that, in addition to traditional interpretation methods, the technique for interpretation in compliance with directives is also possible. This is a new development for those countries, which are still trying to join the EU but have already harmonised some of their legislation.
Professor Meskic was the main speaker, supported by Dr Stefan Pürner, who is the IRZ Head of Section for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Dr. Pürner speaks the local language and spent time studying abroad to complete nostrification of his qualifications in 1989 to become a certified lawyer in what was then Yugoslavia. Both speakers were therefore able to work as a team, with no need for interpreters, to discuss in detail the national law of the participants in this area that is shaped by European law. This is a particular advantage for online events, which can lead to delays and loss of information even without interpreting.
About the speaker
Prof. Dr. Zlatan Meskic is currently teaching at the Prince Sultan University in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. He studied and completed his court training in Vienna, where he also obtained a doctorate in “European consumer protection”.
During the lecture by Harriet Krüger (on the left, at the lectern): Borislav Čvoro, investigator at the SIPA; Rita Linderoth, IRZ; President of the Bar Association Branislav Rakić (from left to right) Bosnia and Herzegovina
On 28 October 2019, the IRZ and the Bar Association of the Republic of Srpska organised a joint seminar on “Preventing money laundering – the application of legal regulations governing the practice of lawyers in the Republic of Srpska and their duties with regard to preventing money laundering in Germany”. The seminar was the first joint event held by the IRZ and the Bar Association of the smaller of the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The President of the Bar Association of the Republic of Srpska, Branislav Rakić, and Rita Linderoth, Senior Project Manager at the IRZ, opened the seminar. The opening presentation was given by Borislav Čvoro, an investigator at the investigation authority for combating organised crime, SIPA (State Investigation and Protection Agency). He spoke about the relevant legal provisions in Bosnia and Herzegovina and about the resulting duties of lawyers. Afterwards, Harriet Krüger, a lawyer based in Cologne specialising in criminal law, presented the situation in Germany with the help of numerous practical cases. The German legal provisions are similar to those in the Republic of Srpska but there has not yet been any practical application in the Republic of Srpska and so Harriet Krüger’s lecture also covered the application of the law.
The lectures were followed by intense discussions. The participants talked above all about the difficulties for lawyers in maintaining a balance between confidentiality and their duty to report any issues with regards to the prevention of money laundering.
Mirsad Čeman, Vice-President of the Constitutional Court of BiH; Dr. Stefan Pürner, IRZ; Zlatko M. Knežević, President of the Constitutional Court of BiH; Mato Tadić, Vice-President of the Constitutional Court of BiH (at the moderators’ table, from left to right) Bosnia and Herzegovina
From 16 to 18 October 2019, a regional conference on “Religious freedom in constitutional court practices” was held in Teslić in the Republika Srpska, one of the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The event was supported by the German Foreign Office and organised by the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina along with the IRZ.
The participants came from six constitutional courts in South-East European countries: as well as judges and employees of the constitutional court in the host country, presidents and judges from the constitutional courts of Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Slovenia and Serbia also took part in the event.
The event was divided into several panels, which were moderated by the Vice-Presidents of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mato Tadić and Mirsad Čeman, and by the responsible head of section of the IRZ, Dr. Stefan Pürner.
The following speakers presented the case law of their own courts:
Zlatko M. Knežević, President of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Dr. Rajko Knez, President of the Constitutional Court of Slovenia,
Vesna Ilić Prelić, President of the Constitutional Court of Serbia,
Hamdija Šarkinović, a judge at the Constitutional Court of Montenegro,
Dr. sc. Mato Arlović, a judge at the Constitutional Court of Croatia, and
Dr. Darko Kostadinovski, a judge at the Constitutional Court of North Macedonia.
Prof. Dr. Udo Steiner, a former judge at the German Federal Constitutional Court, was present as IRZ expert to introduce the case law of the German Federal Constitutional Court governing questions of religious freedom.
As is the norm at this kind of regional conference, the lectures provided the starting point for extensive discussions, which were made easier due to the fact that the majority of the lectures, as well as summaries of the cited court decisions of the European Court of Human Rights and the German Federal Constitutional Court, were available in writing.
The sustainability of the event is ensured by a conference transcript bringing together all the materials discussed at the conference and published jointly by the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the IRZ.
A report from the President of the Constitutional Court of Slovenia was included in the programme at short notice. A few days before the conference, the Constitutional Court of Slovenia had overturned parts of Slovenian asylum law, in which the individual assessment of refugees could be restricted. This decision and its reasoning are also of interest to the participants from other states, since they are all situated on actual or potential “Balkan routes”.
