The Draft Law on Denationalization and the Draft Law on Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code of BiH under public consultation



6 July 2009 – The Bosnia and Herzegovina Ministry of Justice has prepared a new proposal for the Law on Denationalization. For the next 30 days the working version will be available to the public at www.mpr.gov.ba for comments on and suggestions about the proposed text. Through the public consultation process the BiH Ministry of Justice wants to attract the stakeholders to take part in legislative initiatives, ensuring better information provided to the public and better confidence of the citizens in policy designing.

As a reminder, the Draft Law on Denationalization provides for restitution of property to the original owners or, if it is not possible, replacement property or fair monetary compensation. The Draft Law offers new solutions of disputable issues that did not win the BiH Parliamentary Assembly’s support in the last vote.

The BiH Ministry of Justice has also prepared and posted the Draft Law on Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code for the public to provide comments and suggestions.

The proposed Amendments provide for, inter alia, keeping persons sentenced to five years’ imprisonment or more in detention. The Amendments ensure more effective war crimes cases management, i.e. their assignment between the state court and courts in the entities and Brčko District in accordance with the National War Crimes Prosecution Strategy.

The BiH Ministry of Justice invites all individuals and legal persons concerned to visit web site www.mpr.gov.ba and take part in the public consultation. The comments and suggestions will be considered and used in the preparation of the final drafts that will be adopted by the BiH Council of Ministers.