Today, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has held, by electronic means, 120th Plenary session at which it considered the requests for the review of constitutionality/compatibility.

Of decisions it adopted today at the Plenary session, the Constitutional Court has singled out the following:

In the Case no. U-5/16 (Second Partial Decision on Admissibility and Merits), in deciding the request filed by Borjana Kristo, Second Deputy Chair of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the time of filing the request, for the review of constitutionality of the provisions of Article 109 (1) and (2) the Criminal Procedure Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette of BiH, 3/03, 32/03, 36/03, 26/04, 63/04, 13/05, 48/05, 46/06, 76/06, 29/07, 32/07, 53/07, 76/07, 15/08, 12/09, 16/09, 93/09 and 72/13), the Constitutional Court established that the second sentence of paragraph 1 and paragraph 2 of Article 109 of the challenged Code are inconsistent with the provisions of Article II (3) (f) of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Article 8 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (the European Convention). The Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina is hereby ordered to harmonize, within six months following the delivery of this Decision, the second sentence of paragraph 1 and paragraph 2 of Article 109 of the challenged Code with the provisions of Article II (3) (f) of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Article 8 of the European Convention, as well as to inform the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, within the same time limit, of the measures taken with a view to enforcing this Decision. Next, it was established that the first sentence of paragraph 1 of Article 109 of the challenged Code is consistent with the provisions of Article II (3) (b) of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Article 3 of the European Convention and the provisions of Article II (3) (f) of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Article 8 of the European Convention. As to paragraph 1 second sentence and paragraph 2 of Article 109 of the challenged Code (in relation to other persons) the Constitutional Court indicated that by making prescriptions in this way the legislator failed to regulate the prerequisites for interference with the bodily integrity of “other persons” in a sufficiently clear manner, and failed to satisfy in this part the condition “in conformity with the law” referred to in Article 8 of the European Convention, i.e. it failed to ensure that the interference with the right referred to in Article 8 of the European Convention would take place solely to such an extent to which it is strictly necessary to preserve the democratic institutions.

In the Case no. U-4/20, in deciding on the request lodged by seven delegates of the Council of Peoples of the Republika Srpska for the review of the constitutionality of the provisions of Articles 324, 325, 325a, 326 and 329 of the Law on Real Rights of the Republika Srpska (Official Gazette of the Republika Srpska, 124/08, 3/09 – corrigendum, 58/09, 95/11, 60/15, 18/06 – Decisions of the Constitutional Court and 107/19), the Constitutional Court established that the challenged provisions of the cited Law are in conformity with Article I (1), Article III (3) (b) and Article IV (4) (e) of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the opinion of the Constitutional Court, the challenged provisions of the Law on Real Rights of the RS regulate the issues of transformation of socially or state-owned property which is not under the disposal ban and that they, in that sense, are not in contravention of the provisions of Article I (1), Article III (3) (b) and Article IV (4) (e) of the Constitution of BiH, referred to by the applicants and according to which BiH has the exclusive competence to regulate the issues of state property under disposal ban, i.e. the issues of property which, based on the Agreement on Succession Issues, became property of the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and property which the former SR BiH had the right to dispose and manage, pending the adoption of appropriate regulations on the final distribution, and that the Republika Srpska has the competence to regulate the transformation of socially or state-owned property that is not covered by the Law on the Prohibition of Disposal of the State Property of Bosnia and Herzegovina in accordance with the transitional provisions of the RS Law on Real Rights.

All decisions adopted at today’s session will be delivered to the applicants within one month and published as soon as possible on the website of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.