At the extraordinary plenary session held today (by electronic means), the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina passed a Ruling on Non-Enforcement of the Decision on Interim Measure of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, no. U-8/25 of 7 March 2025. Immediately upon its adoption, the Ruling on Non-Enforcement of Decision no. U-8/25 was delivered to the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Namely, the Decision on Interim Measure no. U-8/25 entered into force and produced legal effect as of the date of entry into force of the Law on HJPCRS (6 March 2025). In this regard, it is necessary to point out that, under general legal principles, an act that has adopted without a legal ground or in contravention of a binding court decision is considered to be null and void from the outset (ex tunc). Consequently, implementing regulations adopted on the basis of a law that does not have a legal effect cannot be legally valid. As the Constitutional Court’s Decision no. U-8/25 suspended the Law on HJPCRS and prohibited any action based on the disputed Law on HJPCRS, the disputed Rulebook is null and void regardless of the fact that it has been published in the Official Gazette of the Republika Srpska.

In light of the explicit and clear provision of Article VI(5) of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina stipulating that decisions of the Constitutional Court (including the Constitutional Court’s Decision on Interim Measure no. U-8/25) are final and binding, and given the provisions of Article 72(2) and (6) of the Rules of the Constitutional Court, the Constitutional Court concluded that in this case it was necessary to pass a Ruling on Non-Enforcement of the Decision on Interim Measure no. U-8/25. Therefore, the Constitutional Court concluded that Mr. Miloš Bukejlović, Minister of Justice of the Republika Srpska, by his actions-adoption of the disputed Rulebook, disregarded the final and binding Decision of the Constitutional Court no. U-8/25 and acted in contravention of the prohibition under paragraph 5 of the enacting clause of the aforementioned decision, thereby not complying with a final and binding decision of the Constitutional Court.

The Constitutional Court reiterates that Decision no. U-8/25 shall remain in effect and shall be binding on all public authorities, and that the Law on HJPCRS shall have no legal effect until the Constitutional Court has decided the applicant’s request by a decision on merits in case no. U-8/25. Accordingly, all public authorities and public office holders are prohibited from undertaking any actions based on the aforementioned Law. Therefore, during the duration of the interim measure, the Minister of Justice, as a responsible person, had no authority or competence to pass the Rulebook or any other act, nor to undertake any other measures based on the provisions of the Law on HJPCRS, the application of which has been temporarily suspended by Decision no. U-8/25. At the same time, this means that the Minister of Justice was obliged to suspend all actions based on the suspended law, including actions aimed at publishing the adopted Rulebook in the Official Gazette of the Republika Srpska. In contrast, the adoption and publication of the Rulebook, despite the valid Decision of the Constitutional Court no. U-8/25, has called into question legal certainty because two opposing legal situations existed at the same time - one prohibited by the decision of the Constitutional Court as the highest court in the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was established by the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the other produced by the actions of the bodies of the entity Republika Srpska, namely the Minister of Justice of the RS, which amounts to a violation of Article VI(5) of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Actually, it was precisely the occurrence of such a situation that was sought to be prevented by decision on interim measure no. U-8/25 of 7 March 2025 (op.cit. U-8/25, paragraph 19).

Finally, the Constitutional Court notes that under the applicable legislation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, actions taken in contravention of Article VI(5) of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina reflected in non-enforcement of decisions of the Constitutional Court may entail criminal liability of responsible persons, which further upholds the mandatory enforcement of decisions of the Constitutional Court. In this connection, the Constitutional Court recalls that paragraph 1 of Article 239 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina provides the following: An official person in an institution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republika Srpska, the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina, or in a canton, a city or a municipality or a local community or any form of local government and self-government, or a responsible person, who does not apply, implement, enforce or otherwise comply with the final and binding decision of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina including a decision on interim measure, the final and binding decision or a provisional measure of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Human Rights Chamber of Bosnia and Herzegovina or the European Court of Human Rights, or who prevents or otherwise obstructs application, implementation or enforcement of such a decision, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term between six months and five years.