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Revised Law Speeds Justice for Thousands
Project helps to streamline the determination of administrative disputes

Recently, a 68-year old retiree residing in Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Federation entity (FBiH) saw her application for pension benefits rejected by the Pension Bureau.  Normally, her case would proceed to the Federation Supreme Court where it would languish for more than five years before receiving judicial action. However, because of recent revisions to the Law on Administrative Disputes, her legal challenge to the Bureau’s decision was filed in Cantonal Court where it will be heard before the end of the year.  Prior to the revisions, it was not uncommon for cases to outlive the persons who filed them!

Supreme Court President Amir Jaganjac is thankful his Court’s backlog has been reduced from 12,000 to 3,000 cases.

USAID’s innovative ALPS (Administrative Law and Procedural Systems) Project in Bosnia and Herzegovina has helped to change the laws in the country so that administrative disputes are more efficiently resolved. As in all countries, administrative disputes in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina – everything from tax appeals to appeals of medical insurance coverage– affect huge segments of the population and dwarf in volume both criminal and private civil claims combined.  It is in the area of administrative determinations that ordinary citizens principally experience the state’s commitment (or not) to the rule of law. 

 USAID’s ALPS team contributed provisions to the Federation’s Law on Administrative Disputes.  These will reduce the interval during which parties await the determination of their suits and reduce the massive backlog of cases currently on the shelves of its Supreme Court, where such disputes have been lodged.  Work on revising the law started in 2002, both to bring appellate procedure closer into alignment with modern European practices and to address a judicial backlog that exceeded 10,000 such cases.

ALPS joined a working group in 2003 and proposed several revisions to the draft that will improve case disposition going forward.   One innovation is to use a single judge rather than a panel of three as the standard unit for deciding these cases (a practice widely embraced in Western Europe and a move away from socialist-era traditions).  Another will allocate costs to the losing party to deter the filing of spurious cases and improve the quality of administrative decision-making in the ministries.  A third is to use an administrative body to screen out cases that do not inherently require judicial review. ALPS also contributed significantly to developing the draft law, ensuring transparency and ownership by the key actors.  The ALPS team organized two roundtables where other parties (including the FBiH Ombudsman’s office) could provide their input on the draft.  They distributed advance copies to the cantonal courts that were to receive transferred jurisdiction under the draft law.  The team organized training on the proposed law and the associated requirements contained in the European Convention on Human Rights (2003 and 2004).  Finally, they assisted the FBiH Supreme Court in developing a lobbying strategy when adoption of the law stalled in 2004.

The FBiH Parliament adopted the law in January 2005 with the ALPS-proposed provisions intact. The enactment came into force on 24 February 2005, and took full effect on 27 March 2005.  Bosnia’s other entity, the Republika Srpska, is in the process of adopting a revised Law on Administrative Disputes that is modeled on the law that ALPS assisted with in the Federation of BiH.

Revidirani zakon ubrzava pravdu za hiljade ljudi
Projekat pomaze da se pojednostavi rjesavanje upravnih sporova

Zavod za penziono osiguranje nedavno je odbio zahtjev jedne 68-godišnje penzionerke iz Federacije BiH (FBiH) da joj se odobre penzione beneficije.  Normalno bi bilo da njen slučaj ode na Vrhovni sud Federacije BiH, gdje bi čekao više od pet godina da se pokrene sudska procedura.  No, zbog izmjena Zakona o upravnim sporovima, njena žalba na odluku zavoda podnesena je kantonalnom sudu, gdje će biti u proceduri prije kraja ove godine.  Prije revizije zakona, nije bila rijetkost da sudski slučajevi nadžive one koji su ih pokrenuli na sudu!

USAID-ov inovativni Projekat reformi upravnog prava i prceduralnih sistema (ALPS), koji je pokrenut u Bosni i Hercegovini, pomogao je da se izvrše ove promjene zakona kako bi se upravni slučajevi efikasnije rješavali.  Kao i u svim ostalim zemljama, upravni sporovi u Federaciji BiH – od žalbi na visinu razreza poreza do odluka o pokricu troskova zdravstvenog osiguranja – tiču se velikog broja građana, a njihov broj je mnogo veci od ukupnog broja krivičnih i građanskih parnica.  Upravna rjesenja su ta koja obični građani osjete na vlastitoj koži i na osnovu kojih mogu ocijeniti da li je država posvećena vladavini prava.

USAID-ov ALPS tim radio je na odredbama Zakona o upravnim sporovima FBiH.  Tako ce se skratiti vrijeme rješavanja spora, te doprinijeti smanjenju velikog broja zaostalih predmeta koji trenutno čekaju na Vrhovnom sudu, gdje su upućeni.  Rad na reviziji ovog zakona poceo je 2002. godine, s ciljem da se apelaciona procedura priblizi modernoj evropskoj praksi i da se u isto vrijeme obrade zaostali sudski predmeti ciji je broj prelazio 10.000. 

2003. godine, ALPS se pridruzio radnoj grupi i predlozio reviziju nacrta cime ce se unaprijediti pokretanje sudskih predmeta.  Jedna od inovacija je da se koristi jedan sudija umjesto sudskog vijeca sacinjenog od tri sudije, sto je bio standard pri donosenju presuda za ove predmete (a sto predstavlja siroko prihvacenu praksu u zapadnoj Evropi i napustanje stare socijalisticke tradicije).  Druga inovacija je da se prenesu troskovi na stranu koja gubi kako bi se omelo pokretanje nezakonitih predmeta i unaprijedio kvalitet donosenja upravnih odluka u ministarstvima.  Treca inovacija odnosi se na koristenje administrativnog tijela kako bi se skenirali slucajevi koji izricito ne zahtijevaju sudsku reviziju.  ALPS je takodjer znacajno pomogao kod nacrta zakona, osiguravajuci transparentnost i vlasnistvo kljucnim akterima.  ALPS-ov tim je organizirao dva okrugla stola gdje su druge strane (ukljucujuci i Ured ombudsmana FBiH) imale priliku da daju svoj stav u vezi sa nacrtom.  Kantonalnim sudovima, na koje je, po nacrtu zakona trebao da se izvrsi prenos ovlasti, blagovremeno su distribuirane kopjije nacrta.  ALPS-ov tim je organizirao obuku u vezi sa predlozenim zakonom i odgovarajucim  zahtjevima sadrzanim u Evropskoj konvenciji o ljudskim pravima (2003. i 2004.).  Na kraju su pomogli Vrhovnom sudu FBiH u kreiranju strategije lobiranja kada je, 2004. godine, obustavljeno usvajanje zakona .

Parlament FBiH je usvojio zakon u januaru 2005. sa odredbama koje je predlozio ALPS.  Zakon je objavljen u Sluzbenom listu 24. februara, 2005. godine, a postao je efektivan 27. marta, 2005. godine.  Drugi bh entitet, Republika Srpska, se nalazi u procesu usvajanja revidiranog Zakona o upravnim sporovima koji je kreiran prema zakonu oko kog je ALPS asistirao Federaciji BiH. 

Last updated  on: 08/23/2006