Bosnia and Herzegovina Legal Profile Report

Bosnia and Herzegovina are home to courts of different jurisdictions and competencies.

Bosnia and Herzegovina:

1. Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina
2. Constitutional court of Bosnia and Herzegovina

It is worth noting that there is no Supreme Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina although Bosnia and Herzegovina are a member of the Council of Europe and its citizens may approach the European Court of Human Rights.

The judicial system in Bosnia and Herzegovina is relatively slow in responding to corruption cases.

The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina created a report, Trial Monitoring of Corruption Cases in BiH: A First Assessment. This is based on the observation of 67 completed corruption cases between January 2010 and September 2017. The problems identified in the report relay the insufficient management of criminal legislation, inadequate capacity of prosecutors in drafting indictments and gathering evidence as well inconsistencies in the interpretation of the law by courts.

On 19 April 2019 the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina presented its second assessment of the judicial system, Trial Monitoring of Corruption Cases in BiH: Second Assessment. This builds upon the first report issued in February 2018. The assessment presents 24 recommendations aimed at improving the judicial response to corruption, based on findings from the monitoring and assessment of 300 cases in courts at all levels of authority across Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2017 and 2018.

The report finds that the performance of the justice system with respect to the productivity of prosecutor’s offices and courts, the capacity of prosecutors and judges in the application of the law and their efficiency in processing cases is affected by serious problems.