Food Safety Agency warns draft law could undermine traditional products and EU integration in Bosnia

According to the Agency, the draft law would change the procedures and institutional framework for registering designations of origin, geographical indications, and traditional specialties for food products.

The Agency said adopting the law in its current form could jeopardize the protection system established for 24 traditional food products from Bosnia and Herzegovina, including one product whose geographical indication has already been registered at the European Union level and three others currently undergoing EU registration.

It noted that the draft legislation does not take into account existing regulations governing the protection of designations of origin, geographical indications, and traditional specialties in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Agency warned that the proposed provisions conflict with the Food Law and the Rulebook on Quality Schemes for Food Products, arguing that adoption of the legislation could create legal uncertainty and negatively affect producers of traditional food products.

It also stressed that, despite carrying an "EU compliance" designation, the proposed law would actually move Bosnia and Herzegovina further away from EU legal practice regarding the registration of food product indications. The Agency therefore called on lawmakers to carefully consider the potential consequences before voting on the bill.

Under EU Regulation 2024/1143, only groups or associations of producers may apply to register a geographical indication. Producer groups also play a central role in managing and protecting registered geographical indications.

By contrast, Article 24 of the proposed law would allow applications to be submitted not only by producer groups but also by chambers of commerce, consumer associations, and municipal, cantonal, entity, and state institutions.

The Agency further noted that, while EU member states assign responsibility for registering food product indications to agricultural authorities, the proposed law would transfer that responsibility in Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Institute for Intellectual Property.

It said it had repeatedly warned institutions involved in drafting the legislation about its potential consequences and, on May 15, 2026, submitted detailed comments on the draft law to the heads of all parliamentary caucuses in the House of Representatives.

The current registration system for designations of origin, geographical indications, and traditional specialties is the result of years of work and investment by producer associations, domestic institutions, and international partners, including the European Commission and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

As a result of that system, Bosnia and Herzegovina has registered geographical indications or other protected designations for 24 food products.

Among them is Livanjski cheese, the first and so far the only product from a non-EU Western Balkan country to be entered into the EU geographical indications register. Three additional products, Herzegovina extra virgin olive oil, Gacko skin-ripened kajmak, and Travnik cheese, are currently undergoing the EU registration process after the European Commission accepted the applications submitted by the Food Safety Agency.

The Agency also noted that the Food and Agriculture Organization selected Bosnia and Herzegovina as a positive example among 80 countries in Europe and Central Asia for establishing and operating a geographical indication system for food products.

To preserve the progress achieved so far, the Food Safety Agency has submitted proposed amendments to parliamentary caucuses, calling for food products to be excluded from the scope of the proposed Law on the Protection of Geographical Indications.