Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) has won a lawsuit against the Government of Republika Srpska for refusing to release records of sessions where the draft law on the special registry and public operations of non-profit organizations in RS was established.

Due to the controversial and non-transparent process behind drafting this law, which had significant public interest as it deeply affects fundamental human rights, TI BiH requested the minutes of the sessions in which the draft law on the special registry and public operations of non-profit organizations was approved. The General Secretariat of the Republika Srpska Government denied this request, arguing that the release of such information was not of public interest.

TI BiH subsequently took the case to court, which ruled that withholding this information was unlawful and that the government had improperly applied the provisions of the Law on Freedom of Access to Information. The ruling from the District Court in Banja Luka specifically highlighted the denial of the constitutionally guaranteed right to appeal and the failure to conduct a public interest test when making the decision.

It is worth noting that the Republika Srpska Government approved the draft law on the special registry and public operations of non-profit organizations in complete secrecy and forwarded it to the National Assembly for adoption. The decision on when and how the draft was approved was not made publicly available. It was only after media inquiries that the government disclosed the proposal had been adopted in a session on March 21, 2024, just before the deadline, even though it was not mentioned in the announced agenda or in the information released after the session.

This ruling is just the latest example of the unsatisfactory level of transparency demonstrated by authorities in Republika Srpska. TI BiH's research has shown that only five governments in Bosnia and Herzegovina regularly publish their decisions, while none of the 14 governments in the country publish materials from their sessions, leading to growing public distrust in institutions and increasing the potential for abuse of procedures and decisions not made in the public interest.