State land on Mount Jahorina near Sarajevo, which the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) annulled on July 11, has been registered in the name of the buyer, the private company "Drvo-Export" from Teslić, despite the annulment decision.

This was confirmed to Radio Free Europe (RSE) by the Ministry of Trade and Tourism of the Republika Srpska (RS) entity.

In January of this year, the RS government sold 56.4 square kilometers of land on Jahorina for about 21 million euros. The Constitutional Court of BiH ordered the RS government to annul all activities related to the sale of this land.

However, RSE found through the e-cadastre of the RS Geodetic and Property Rights Administration that ownership of the state land was transferred to “Drvo-Export.”

The Ministry of Trade and Tourism emphasized that the notarial sales contract signing, the payment of money, and the registration of the land to the new owner were all completed before the Constitutional Court's decision.

“It is clear that all activities related to the transaction and registration of ownership of the real estate in question were conducted before the Constitutional Court's decision. The Ministry of Trade and Tourism emphasizes that all activities related to this case were carried out in accordance with the Constitution and laws of RS and the competencies given by the Dayton Peace Agreement. We will not allow anyone to deny these competencies and impose certain decisions, and we will take action against those who do so before the competent authorities of RS,” the Ministry stated in response to RSE.

The RS Geodetic Administration did not respond to RSE's inquiry about the registration of state land on Jahorina to the Teslić-based company.

The Constitutional Court of BiH, alongside annulling the land sale in RS, also annulled the decision of the Federation of BiH Government from 2023, which reallocated 72 square kilometers of forest land near Vareš and gave it for “temporary use” to the British company Adriatic Metals.

The Constitutional Court of BiH emphasized that both cases involved state property under a disposal ban and that the entities do not have the jurisdiction “to dispose of that property in any way.”

“The governments of FBiH and RS were not competent to dispose of the mentioned state property by their decisions,” stated the Constitutional Court of BiH in its announcement after the July 11 session.

The BiH Law on the Temporary Prohibition of Disposal of State Property, imposed by the Office of the High Representative (OHR) in BiH in 2005, stipulates that this ban remains in force until a law on state property at the state level comes into effect.

Such a law, which would be adopted by the BiH Parliamentary Assembly, should regulate the ownership and management rights of state property, the Constitutional Court of BiH stated, without specifying how the issue of state property should be regulated.

The BiH Parliamentary Assembly has not passed such a law, and the Constitutional Court of BiH stated that this cannot justify the entity governments unauthorized disposing of state property.

The RS authorities have attempted to pass several laws on state property, including laws on forests, rivers, and agricultural land, which would make the entity the owner of public goods in its territory, but these laws were annulled by either the High Representatives of the international community or the Constitutional Court of BiH.

The Office of the High Representative (OHR) in BiH previously told RSE that “any sale or other form of disposal of state property” is explicitly prohibited and that all acts of disposing of that property are null and void.

The OHR added that they had previously “warned potential investors and buyers of state property about the negative legal consequences” and that a “sustainable solution” to the issue of state property should be found and a law adopted in the BiH Parliamentary Assembly.