Amendments to the Law on Conflict of Interest
More resultsIntroduction
In 2013, amendments to the Law on Conflict of Interest changed the body supervising the law’s implementation from the Central Electoral Commission to the Special Parliamentary Commission for Deciding on Conflict of Interest.
- Country
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Sector
- Public institutions
Description of the law
In 2013, amendments to the Law on Conflict of Interest changed the body supervising the law’s implementation from the Central Electoral Commission to the Special Parliamentary Commission for Deciding on Conflict of Interest.
Under the amendments, the new parliamentary commission consists of nine members: three members from the House of Representatives, three members from the House of Peoples (a minimum of one member must come from the opposition), and three members from the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption and Coordination of the Fight Against Corruption.
The commission decides by a qualified majority of six votes that must include at least two members from all three constituent peoples. This means that a decision requires both a majority and a national consensus, which makes decisions on conflict of interest a political issue rather than an impartial process. Because the commission is made up of members of parliament, the commission’s term in office is tied to the tenure of the sitting parliament.
The amendments do not define the experience or qualifications that commission members should have. As a result, the commission might have no members with a legal background able to decide whether the law has been breached.
Finally, the amendments contain provisions stipulating that both houses of parliament of BiH should approve the commission’s rules of procedure and other regulations. This puts the commission’s work and decision-making under the direct control and influence of political parties in the Parliament of BiH, according to Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina (see here). It also enables commission members to block the identification of a conflict of interest in cases involving fellow party colleagues and it brings into question the members’ impartiality (see here).
Full Law Name
Type of law
Act of Parliament (Amendments to the law)
Scope of application
Substantive: decision-making on conflict of interest in public institutions
Personal: public officials
Territorial: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Temporal: until abrogated
Affected sector
Public institutions
Time of adoption and entering to force
Amendments entered into force on 19 November 2013 (see here)
Who drafted it
Council of Ministers of BiH
Who submitted it to Parliament or to another collective body, such local council
Council of Ministers of BiH
Relevant developments in the process of adoption that show signs it is tailor-made
TI Bosnia and Herzegovina made a public statement calling on the Council of Ministers to reject the proposed amendments (see here), arguing that they decrease the neutrality of the decision-making body, especially when it comes to commission members deciding on suspicions or claims of conflict of interest raised against colleagues in the same political party. Also, the creation of a new commission gives rise to additional staff and office costs to be covered by the state budget (see here).
Who adopted it
The Parliament of BiH
Enforcement (is it enforced? Since when?)
The law is enforced by the commission that decides on conflicts of interest.
Initiatives to challenge it and their outcomes
Certain Members of Parliament and TI Bosnia and Herzegovina, in cooperation with the EU Delegation and OSCE, proposed a draft of the new law that would provide a better solution for sanctioning conflicts of interest (see here).
Direct beneficiaries and related networks
The direct beneficiaries of the amendments are politicians and those holding public office. For example, Dragan Čović, a former member of the Presidency of BiH and President of the Croatian Democratic Party (HDZ), was accused of a conflict of interest. However, a Croat representative on the commission, who was a fellow member of HDZ, did not attend the session in February 2018, so the commission did not have a minimum number of members necessary to conduct business and therefore could not decide whether there was a conflict of interest.
Direct victims
The direct victims are all the citizens of BiH, because public funds may be misused.
Every effort has been made to verify the accuracy of the information contained in this database. All information is believed to be correct as of December 2020. Nevertheless, Transparency International cannot accept responsibility for the consequences of its use for other purposes or in other contexts.
