Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina (TIBiH) welcomed the adoption of the new Law on Prevention of Conflicts of Interest in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as an important mechanism for the prevention of corruption.

The adoption of this law as well as other anti-corruption reforms have been obstructed by the ruling structure for years, and during that time Bosnia became the second worst-ranked country in Europe in terms of the state of corruption, TIBiH said.

According to TIBiH, the law will provide numerous quality improvements, such as the establishment of an independent commission that will replace the current political way of making decisions on conflicts of interest, as well as the establishment of a public register of assets of state officials.

TIBiH, at the same time, has warned that important provisions of this law were changed at the last minute, which explicitly stipulated the obligation of all institutions in Bosnia to submit property data to the commission for deciding on conflicts of interest, which is necessary to control the accuracy of the information that officials provide in property records.

“Instead, the adopted version tentatively emphasises that the institutions will cooperate, which again leaves room for possible obstructions of this mechanism for controlling the assets of public officials,” TIBiH stressed.

They further reminded that the Council of Ministers recently weakened the amendments to the Law on the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council in the same way, which is why the representatives of relevant international organisations, including the European Union, reacted.

“Also, the method of decision-making in the commission on the dismissal of officials, which foresees the consensus of all members, i.e. a two-thirds majority, in practice can lead to the fact that sanctions that foresee dismissal or resignation are not pronounced at all,” TIBiH said.

It pointed out that this is not equivalent to the way in which decisions are made by other institutions at the state level.

“The law mostly maintains the existing restrictions regarding the performance of multiple duties and the financing of private companies run by public officials and their family members,” it said.

TIBiH considers it completely unacceptable that laws, especially those of great importance for the prevention of corruption, but also for the further progress of Bosnia in the process of EU integration, are passed in complete contradiction to the regulations that regulate the adoption of laws.

“It should be pointed out that the whole process went beyond basic international standards such as conducting consultations, making an assessment of the impact of regulations and basic transparency of the process through extra-institutional arrangements, which is inherent in authoritarian regimes, and certainly not in a country that needs to start negotiations on joining the European Union,” it added.