Bosnia and Herzegovina: Government

Principal Government Officials

Chief of State: Tripartite Precidency: Bakir Izetbegovic, Zeljko Komsic and Nebojsa Radmanovic
Head of Government: Chairman of the Council of Ministers Nikola Spiric

General Government Framework Information and Information Regarding the President and the Cabinet. Under the provisions of the Dayton Peace Accords, the Entities have competencies in areas such as taxation, except indirect taxation, business development, and general legislation. Entities and cantons control their own budgets, spending on infrastructure, health care, and education. Ongoing reforms have led to the creation of a single, multi-ethnic military under state-level command and control to replace the previous Entity-based institutions and a state-level Indirect Taxation Administration (ITA) that is responsible for the implementation of a nationwide value-added tax (VAT), revenues from which are collected in the "Single Account." The Single Account funds the governments of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the country's foreign debt, the two Entities, and Brcko District. Customs, which had been collected by agencies of the two Entities, also are now collected by a new single state customs service.

Presidency. The Chairmanship of the Presidency in Bosnia and Herzegovina rotates every 8 months among three Presidency members (Bosniak, Serb, Croat), each elected for a 4-year term. The three members of the Presidency are directly elected (the Federation votes for the Bosniak and Croat, and the Republika Srpska for the Serb).

The Presidency is responsible for:

•Conducting the foreign policy of Bosnia and Herzegovina;
•Appointing ambassadors and other international representatives, no more than two-thirds of whom may come from the Federation;
•Representing Bosnia and Herzegovina in European and international organizations and institutions and seeking membership in such organizations and institutions of which it is not a member;
•Negotiating and, with the consent of the Parliamentary Assembly, ratifying treaties of Bosnia and Herzegovina;
•Executing decisions of the Parliamentary Assembly;
•Proposing, upon the recommendation of the Council of Ministers, an annual budget to the Parliamentary Assembly;
•Reporting as requested, but no less than annually, to the Parliamentary Assembly on expenditures by the Presidency;
•Coordinating as necessary with international and non-governmental organizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina;
•Exercising command and control over the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina in peacetime, crises, and war, and;
•Performing such other functions as may be necessary to carry out its duties, as may be assigned to it by the Parliamentary Assembly, or as may be agreed by the Entities.
The Chair of the Council of Ministers is nominated by the Presidency and approved by the House of Representatives. He is then responsible for appointing a Foreign Minister, Minister of Defense, Minister of Foreign Trade, and others as appropriate. The Council is responsible for carrying out the policies and decisions in the fields of defense, intelligence, foreign policy; foreign trade policy; customs policy; monetary policy; finances of the institutions and for the international obligations of Bosnia and Herzegovina; immigration, refugee, and asylum policy and regulation; international and inter-Entity criminal law enforcement, including relations with Interpol; establishment and operation of common and international communications facilities; regulation of inter-Entity transportation; air traffic control; facilitation of inter-Entity coordination; and other matters as agreed by the Entities.

Legislature. The Parliamentary Assembly is the lawmaking body in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It consists of two houses: the House of Peoples and the House of Representatives.

The House of Peoples includes 15 delegates, two-thirds of whom come from the Federation (5 Croats and 5 Bosniaks) and one-third from the Republika Srpska (5 Serbs). Nine members of the House of Peoples constitute a quorum, provided that at least three delegates from each ethnic group are present. Federation representatives are selected by the House of Peoples of the Federation, and Republika Srpska representatives are selected by the Republika Srpska National Assembly.

The House of Representatives is composed of 42 members, two-thirds elected from the Federation and one-third elected from the Republika Srpska. Federation representatives are elected directly by the voters of the Federation, and Republika Srpska representatives are directly elected by Republika Srpska voters.

The Parliamentary Assembly is responsible for enacting legislation as necessary to implement decisions of the Presidency or to carry out the responsibilities of the Assembly under the constitution; deciding upon the sources and amounts of revenues for the operations of the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and international obligations of Bosnia and Herzegovina; approving a budget for the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina; and deciding whether to consent to the ratification of treaties.

Judiciary. Bosnia and Herzegovina has a multi-layered and decentralized judicial system consisting of 14 Justice Ministries and numerous courts. The FBiH has the Constitutional Court of FBiH, the Supreme Court of FBiH, 10 cantonal courts, and municipal courts, as well as minor offense courts. The RS has the Constitutional Court of Republika Srpska, the Supreme Court of Republika Srpska, district courts, and basic courts, as well as minor offense courts. Brcko District also has its own courts.

The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (State Court), established by December 8, 2000 legislation, has criminal, administrative, and appeals departments and jurisdiction only over specific types of crimes, such as war crimes, financial crimes (e.g., official corruption and human trafficking), and crimes against the State (e.g., treason and terrorism). Unlike the BiH Constitutional Court, which is the final authority on questions of constitutionality, the State Court operates alongside, not above, the Federation and RS Supreme Courts.

The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina was first established in 1964. It decides any constitutional dispute that arises between the Entities or between Bosnia and Herzegovina and an Entity or Entities. The BiH Constitutional Court also has appellate jurisdiction over issues related to the constitution arising out of a judgment from another court in the country, and jurisdiction over issues referred to it by another court concerning compatibility with the constitution, the European Convention for Human Rights and its associated protocols, laws of BiH, or international law pertinent to a court decision. The BiH Constitutional Court is composed of nine members: four are selected by the House of Representatives of the Federation, two by the Assembly of the Republika Srpska, and three by the President of the European Court of Human Rights after consultation with the Presidency.

FOREIGN RELATIONS
The implementation of the Dayton Accords of 1995 has focused the efforts of policymakers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the international community, on regional stabilization in the former Yugoslavia. However, donor resources for Bosnia and Herzegovina have diminished due to competing assistance priorities elsewhere in the region and globally. Bosnia and Herzegovina's relations with its neighbors Croatia, Montenegro, and Serbia have been fairly stable since the signing of Dayton in 1995. The U.S. role in the Dayton Accords and their implementation has been key to successes in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since the Dayton Accords were signed, over $15 billion in foreign aid has moved into Bosnia and Herzegovina, approximately $1.38 billion of it coming from Support for East European Democracy (SEED) funds. U.S. Government assistance, managed by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), as well as the Departments of State, Justice, Defense, Treasury, and Commerce, have been crucial to the redevelopment of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The U.S. Government currently has programming in the following areas: economic policy reform and restructuring; private sector development; fostering democratic reforms in local government, civic education, and civil society; rule of law, including support to law enforcement, judicial, and prosecutorial institutions; and security sector assistance.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a member of the United Nations (1992); International Monetary Fund (IMF) (1992), World Bank (1995), Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) (1992); and the Council of Europe (2002). It also participates in regional cooperation through the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC), Central-European Initiative (CEI), Southeast Europe Co-operation Initiative (SECI), Southeast Europe Co-operation Process (SEECP), Adriatic-Ionic Initiative (AII) and others.

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