GOVERNMENT
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 finance, 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 Authority (ITA) that is responsible for the implementation of a state-wide value-added tax (VAT), revenues from which fund the governments of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as the two Entities. Customs, which had been collected by agencies of the two Entities, also is now collected by a new single state customs service.
Presidency.
The Presidency in Bosnia and Herzegovina rotates among three 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/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 which 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, denouncing, 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, 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 Foreign Trade, and others as appropriate. The Council
is responsible for carrying out the policies and decisions in the fields of
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 constitutes a quorum, provided that at least three delegates from each 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 comprised 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. The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the supreme, final arbiter of legal matters. It 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. The Constitutional Court's original jurisdiction lies in deciding any constitutional dispute that arises between the Entities or between Bosnia and Herzegovina and an Entity or Entities. The Court also has appellate jurisdiction within the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Both the Federation and the Republika Srpska government have established lower court systems for their territories.
Principal
Government Officials
State Level
Tri-Presidency--Zeljko Komsic (Bosnian Croat and current Chairman), Nebojsa Radmanovic (Bosnian Serb), Haris Silajdzic (Bosniak),
Chairman of the Council of Ministers--Nikola Spiric
Bosnia
and Herzegovina maintains an embassy
in the United States at 2109 E Street NW, Washington, DC 20037
(tel.: 202-337-1500; fax: 202-337-1502).
Type: Parliamentary democracy.
Constitution: The Dayton Agreement, signed December 14, 1995, included a new constitution now in force.
Independence: April 1992 (from Yugoslavia).
Branches: Executive--Chairman of the Presidency and two other members of three-member rotating presidency (chief of state), Chairman of the Council of Ministers (head of government), Council of Ministers (cabinet). Legislative--bicameral parliamentary assembly, consisting of national House of Representatives and House of Peoples (parliament). Judicial--Supreme Court, Constitutional Court, both supervised by the Ministry of Justice.
Subdivisions: Two Entities: Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (divided into 10 cantons) and Republika Srpska. In accordance with Annex 2, Article V, of the Dayton Peace Agreement that left the unresolved status of Brcko subject to binding international arbitration, an Arbitration Tribunal was formed in mid-1996. On March 5, 1999, the Tribunal issued its Final Award. The Final Award established a special District for the entire pre-war Brcko Opstina, under the exclusive sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The territory of the District belongs simultaneously to both Entities, the Republika Srpska and the Federation, in condominium. Therefore, the territories of the two Entities overlap in the Brcko District. In accordance with the Final Award, the District is self-governing and has a single, unitary, multiethnic, democratic Government; a unified and multiethnic police force operating under a single command structure and an independent judiciary. The District Government exercises, throughout the pre-war Brcko Opstina, those powers previously exercised by the two Entities and the former three municipal governments. The Brcko district is demilitarized.
Political parties: Party of Democratic Action (SDA); Croatian Democratic Union of BiH (HDZ-BiH); Serb Democratic Party (SDS); Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina (SBiH); Croatian Democratic Union-1990 (HDZ-1990); Bosnian Party (BOSS); Social Democratic Union (SDU); Croatian Party of Rights (HSP); Civic Democratic Party (GDS); Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD); Social Democratic Party (SDP); Socialist Party of Republika Srpska (SPRS); Party for Democratic Progress (PDP); National Democratic Union (DNZ); Democratic Peoples' Alliance (DNS); Bosnian Patriotic Party (BPS); Work for Progress (RzB); Serb Radical Party (SRS).
Suffrage: Universal at age 18.
