Why is the Official Gazette important?
The Constitution of Republic of Srpska stipulates that laws, other regulations and general acts enter into force no earlier than the eighth day from the day of publication, unless due to particularly justified reasons it is not prescribed to enter into force earlier. Before entering into force, laws, other regulations and general acts of state authorities are published in the corresponding official gazette.
The Act on the Publication of Laws and Other Regulations of the Republic of Srpska stipulates that the official newsletter of the Republic of Srpska is the “Official Gazette of the Republic of Srpska”. This gazette, i.e. the official gazette of Srpska, is issued by the Public Institution Official Gazette of the Republic of Srpska, established by the Government of the Republic of Srpska, with headquarters in Banja Luka.
The Decision on the Establishment of the Official Gazette stipulates that it is established for the purpose of publishing laws, other regulations and general acts adopted by the authorities and organizations of the Republic of Srpska within their jurisdiction.
Therefore, official, relevant and accurate data and regulations can be found in the “Official Gazette of the Republic of Srpska”, in which laws, other regulations and general acts of state authorities are published according to the Constitution, Law and Decision.
What is published in the Official Gazette?
The “Official Gazette of Republic of Srpska” publishes regulations and other acts which, within the scope of their jurisdiction, adopt:
- President of the Republic of Srpska,
- National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska,
- House of Peoples of the Republic of Srpska,
- Government of the Republic of Srpska and
- Constitutional Court of the Republic of Srpska.
Also, the “Official Gazette of the Republic of Srpska” publishes regulations and other acts adopted by ministries, republican administrations and republican administrative organizations, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and other authorities and institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Srpska, if publication of their regulations is prescribed by law.
Where is the problem?
Access to the “Official Gazette of the Republic of Srpska” is not free of charge for citizens and must be paid for. So, for example, the price of the annual subscription to the electronic edition of the “Official Gazette” is 292.50 BAM with VAT, and the price of the annual subscription license to the Electronic Register of Regulations of the Republic of Srpska is 409.50 BAM with VAT, while the other prices can be viewed here.
The activity of the Official Gazette of the Republic of Srpska is legally determined as an activity of general interest. The general interest is exercised by ensuring that all physical and legal entities, i.e. all citizens of the Republic of Srpska, become familiar with the laws, other regulations and general acts.
However, the general interest is not exercised in a complete way, as the content is available only to persons who have concluded a contract with the Public Institution Official Gazette of the Republic of Srpska and who pay a certain amount of money in order to have access to the “Official Gazette”.
In order for citizens to be able to comply with the regulations that apply to them, they need to be familiar with their content. Unfortunately, at the moment, citizens of the Republic of Srpska who do not have the money to pay for access to the Gazette cannot familiarize themselves with the content of the regulations published in the “Official Gazette of the Republic of Srpska”, as it is only available to persons who have subscribed to the editions of the Official Gazette.
What should be done?
In accordance with respect for regulations, general interest, full respect for human rights and the opportunity for citizens to familiarize themselves with the regulations in time, as well as to know what regulations exist, respecting the principle of ignorantia iuris nocet (ignorance of the law harms) in connection with the constitutional principle that everyone is obliged to comply with the Constitution and the law, and the principle according to which the state is obliged to enable everyone to familiarize themselves with the rights they possess and the law that is applied, it is necessary to
- all editions of the “Official Gazette of the Republic of Srpska” issued by the Public Institution Official Gazette of the Republic of Srpska, in which the regulations and other acts that I mentioned above are published, are made available free and free of charge to all citizens of the Republic of Srpska, via the Internet, without registration and entering any personal data of citizens, in its electronic version, so that citizens could also act in accordance with them.
Free access should be provided for all editions of the “Official Gazette” that have already been published, as well as for those that should be published in the future.
Currently, certain government authorities and institutions publish regulations from their jurisdiction on their websites. However, this is not the case with all regulations, and it is often very difficult to navigate the huge number of acts that are passed and scattered in a large number of different places, and confusion often arises as to which regulation is in force and valid. Because of this, citizens cannot fully familiarize themselves with the relevant positive regulations.
In addition, the officially valid regulations and other acts are those published in the official gazette of the Republic of Srpska, and they should therefore be available free of charge to the public in their full extent, so that there are no possible discrepancies in the application of the law, due to the possibility of publishing different versions on the websites of authorities and institutions, from those published in the “Official Gazette”.
Since a huge number of citizens do not have the money to pay for the subscription to the electronic edition of the “Official Gazette of the Republic of Srpska”, it is necessary to make the archive of the “Official Gazette” and all future editions of the “Official Gazette” in the part where regulations and other legal acts are published make available free and free of charge to all citizens in its electronic version. By providing free access to regulations through an electronic service, citizens could familiarize themselves with the regulations, and act accordingly in their daily work and life.
This way of conduct and the provision of free access to the “Official Gazette” by citizens is in accordance with the Recommendation of the Institution of Human Rights Ombudsman of Bosnia and Herzegovina P-176/20, which was adopted on September 16, 2020. In this recommendation, the ombudsmen emphasized that they believe it would be expedient to find technical possibilities to make electronic editions of official gazettes available on websites.
Initiatives for free access to the “Official Gazette” have already been launched by the Banja Luka Center for Environment, the Banjaluka Centre for Human Rights, lawyer Dario Sandić, as well as other persons and organizations. However, to date, free access to the “Official Gazette” has not been enabled for all citizens.
Sources; For more information see:
Constitution of Republic of Srpska, [Official Gazette of the Republic of Srpska, numbers 21/1992, 28/1994, 8/1996, 13/1996, 15/1996, 16/1996, 21/1996, 21/2002, 31/2002, 31/2003, 98/2003 and 115/2005]
Act on the Publication of Laws and Other Regulations of the Republic of Srpska, [Official Gazette of the Republic of Srpska, numbers 67/2005, 110/2008 and 60/2023]
Recommendation of the Institution of Human Rights Ombudsman of Bosnia and Herzegovina, [number П-176/20]
Prices of Printed and Electronic Editions of the “Official Gazette of the Republic of Srpska” for All Printed and Electronic Editions for 2024
Decision on the Establishment of a Public Institution Official Gazette of the Republic of Srpska, [Official Gazette of the Republic of Srpska, number 97/2005]
The text was created thanks to the support of the European Endowment for Democracy.
Cover photo: Lawyers Looking at Divorce Paper, [Author: Karolina Grabowska, photo downloaded from: Pexels]
The text was downloaded from the website of Dejan Lučka on the following address: https://dejanlucka.com/kako-tece-postupak-za-donosenje-zakona-u-bih-i-entitetima/
