Council of Ministers Holds its 58th Session

The Council of Ministers of BIH took a Decision to assign the task of personalisation, technical processing and record keeping on cross-border passes to the Identification Documents, Evidence and Data Exchange Agency of BIH. 

The Decision sets forth assigning to the Border Police the task of processing and issuance of cross-border passes for citizens of the Republic of Croatia. Also, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs may receive and process applications through BIH Diplomatic-Consular Office in Zagreb.

The Council of Ministers of BIH considered a Proposal Regulation on level of cross-border pass charges, and assessed that there is a possibility to decrease the currently proposed level of cross-border charge of KM 60.00 for Croatian citizens or HRK 255 for BIH citizens.

The Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BIH and his Croatian counterpart are expected to discuss ways to decrease the cross-border charges, which the two states are to issue to citizens, based on the reciprocity principle.

 

Upon a proposal of the BIH Agency for Food Safety, the Council of Ministers of BIH took a Decision on special conditions for import of certain food from certain countries, due to aflatoxines contamination risk, in compliance with the EU legislation and for the purpose of citizens’ health promotion.

In line with the relevant regulations of the European Commission, the Decision defines requirements for import of food of non-animal origin - mostly peanuts and other nuts from Brazil, China, Iran, Egypt, Turkey and the USA - which might be contaminated with aflatoxines.

 

The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted a Report of the Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees on realisation of the electrifying project of buildings accommodating returnees. The Report states that the project covers 60 municipalities in BIH and that 1,729 housing units have been provided with electricity supply by the end of 2012.

The project is currently on-going in 11 municipalities (selection of developers or suppliers, construction or electro-installation works).

A sum of KM 13,957,422.00 was allocated for the electrification project in the time period between 2008 and 2010, out of which KM 9,699,300.00, under a Conclusion of the Council of Ministers of BIH, and KM 4,258,122.00 under Decisions of the Committee for Refugees and Displaced Persons of BIH.  Out of total funds, 92 per cent or KM 12, 9191,234.90 were utilised.

The Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees is in charge to continue monitoring the project implementation, with an emphasis on its acceleration, in order to enable submitting of a final report, subject to this year’s Council of Ministers’ Work Programme.

 

Upon a proposal of the Ministry of Security, the Council of Ministers of BIH adopted a Strategy for Small and Light Weapon Control in Bosnia and Herzegovina (SALW) in 2013-2016, accompanied by an Action Plan, which includes a set of measures for security improvement in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region.

 

The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted a Report of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations on implementation of the Second Annual Consumer Protection Programme in Bosnia and Herzegovina for 2012, which indicates that a progress has been achieved in the areas of relevant law promulgation, veterinary activities, phytosanitary protection, food, medicines, intellectual property and measurement.

Technical capacities of competent State and Entity institutions were improved, along with consumer protection information, as confirmed by the European Commission in its latest progress report on BIH.

The future priority of institutions will be to harmonise the existing consumer protection system with the relevant EU legislation.

The realisation of the State Annual Programme involves the following institutions: Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations; BIH Veterinary Office, BIH Plant Health Protection Administration; BIH Consumer Protection Council; BIH Consumer Protection Ombudsman; BIH Competition Council; BIH Agency for Food Safety; BIH Market Supervision Agency; BIH Agency for Drugs and Medical Products; BIH Communications Regulatory Agency; BIH Agency for Statistics; BIH Institute for Intellectual Property; BIH Institute for Measurement; BIH Institute for Standardisation; Federal Ministry of Trade; Ministry of Trade and Tourism of Republika Srpska; Government of Brčko District BIH; Entity and Brčko District Inspection Directorates, and consumer associations.

 

The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted a Report of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations on implementation of a Special Surveillance Programme (system control) of quarantine harmful organisms in potato in Bosnia and Herzegovina for 2012.The programme will continue in the future period until its full implementation, to include the prevention of entering and spreading of harmful organisms in BIH with simultaneous facilitation of potato export to the EU countries for BIH producers.

The BIH Administration for Plant Health Protection, which prepared the Report, pointed at a need for an intensified involvement of phytosanitary inspections both in potato sample taking at border crossings and in BIH production plantings in BIH.

In 2012, over 770 potato samples were analysed on various phytopathogenic organisms.

 

The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted a Report of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations on implementation of incentives to agriculture, food processing and rural development sectors in Bosnia and Herzegovina in year 2012.

According to the Report, all-level allocations for the agriculture sector were increased for about KM 15.8 million relative to previous year’s amounts.

So, total 2012 agriculture budget in BIH was KM 157,890,575, as increased for about 11.4 per cent in relation to 2011; however, BIH support to the agriculture and rural development sector remains below the regional average.

A direct support to agricultural production last year was more than KM 86 million, or 55 per cent of total realised funds in the sector.

The highest increase in overall funds distribution was for the rural development measures, receiving about KM 53.4 million, which KM 37 million more relative to the year before when only KM 15.6 was allocated. An increase in allocations for rural policy measures – investments, primarily - represents an important breakthrough for agriculture development in the long run.

 

Upon a proposal of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Council of Ministers of BIH took a decision to set-up a Committee for Implementation of International Health Regulations (2005) of the World Health Organisation.

The Committee will be an expert body – a national contact point at BIH level in charge for the implementation of health measures defined under international health regulations, monitoring of all-level organisations under the health system, reporting on diseases of potential international public relevance and involvement in the WHO-established global surveillance system.

The Committee members are Draženka Malićbegović and Dušan Kojić from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, while other members are Entity Health Ministries and Brčko District Health Department representatives.

 

Upon a proposal of the Ministry of Security, the Council of Ministers of BIH took a Decision to establish a Committee for Destruction of Narcotics, to be comprised of one representative from the Committee for Prevention of Drug Misuse and representatives from state Ministries of Security, Justice, and Finance and Treasury, and from the BIH Agency for Drugs and Medical Products. The Committee has a task to regulate this area in a systematic way, putting under the State control all actions required for a final destruction of narcotics, so as to prevent any misuses in this area.

 

The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted a Regulation on Amendments and Supplements to the Regulation on Obligations of Transporters and Organisers of Tourist and Similar Travel, as proposed by the Ministry of Security for the purpose of harmonisation of the existing Regulation with the Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Law on Foreigners Moving and Residence and Asylum and with the relevant EU legislation.

The Regulation deals with, among other things, transporters’ obligations in case a passenger is denied entry to BIH, as well as obligations of transporters of foreigners in transit.

 

The Council of Ministers of BIH received Information on setting-up municipal census committees and tasked the Central Census Office to undertake all measures provided for in the law towards the municipalities whose census activities are in delay, thus removing any risk to the schedule of the census operation.

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