About legislative procedure

The procedure of legislative role of the BiH PA is stipulated in the Rules of Procedures of the BiH PA House of Representatives and the Rules of Procedures of the House of Peoples.

The Rules of Procedures stipulate that the laws introduced to the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH could be considered in basic, summary and emergency procedures.

There are no procedural differences between the basic and summary procedures, except in summary procedure all the terms from the regular legislative procedure shall be reduced to a half. The emergency procedure may be employed when the draft law is given high emergency status, i.e. when the draft law is not so complex that it could be either adopted or rejected. When emergency procedure is employed, the proposed draft law shall not be considered by the Houses, and there shall be no options for amendments.

As a rule, the laws and acts introduced to the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, shall be firstly considered by the House of Representative. However, the laws and acts could be firstly considered by the House of Peoples, as proposed by the Collegium of the House of Peoples. The legislative procedure could be underway in both Houses at the same time.

 

OVERVIEW OF LEGISLATIVE PROCEDURE

 

DRAFT LAW INTRODUCTION

A proposed draft law may be introduced by any representative, or a delegate, committees of the House, joint committees of both Houses, the Houses, as well as by the BiH Presidency and the BiH Council of Ministers within the scope of their respective competencies.

 

THE HOUSE OF PEOPLES

The proposed draft law shall be introduced to the Speaker who shall submit it immediately to the Collegium of the House. The Collegium shall submit it to the Constitutional-Legal Committee and responsible committee, in order to get the opinions on proposed draft law.

If the case might be that the Collegium concludes that the responsible committee is the joint committee, the proposed draft law shall be submitted to the Joint Collegium to process it, in line with the Rules of Procedures of both Houses.

 

FIRST COMMITTEE STAGE

Each proposed draft law in the first stage shall be considered by the Constitutional – Legal Committee and responsible committee.

CONSTITUTIONAL – LEGAL COMMITTEE shall consider, in the first stage, whether the proposed draft law is harmonized with the BiH Constitution and the legal system. The opinion by the Constitutional – Legal Committee could be either positive or negative.

Positive opinion: The Constitutional – Legal Committee shall provide positive opinion if determines that proposed draft law is harmonized with the BiH Constitution and the legal system. A positive opinion by the Constitutional – Legal Committee shall be submitted to the House for further action, in line with the prescribed procedure.

Negative opinion: If the Constitutional – Legal Committee determines that proposed draft law is not harmonized with the BiH Constitution or the legal system of BiH, the opinion on proposed law shall be negative. The opinion shall be submitted to the House for further action, in line with the prescribed procedure.

The RESPONSIBLE COMMITTEE shall consider the principles on which the proposed draft law is grounded, in the first stage. The opinion by the Committee could be either positive or negative.

Positive opinion: If the Committee supports the principles on which the proposed draft law is grounded, the Committee shall provide positive opinion and submit it to the House, in line with the prescribed procedure

Negative opinion: If the Committee does not support the principles on which the proposed draft law is grounded, the Committee shall provide negative opinion including mandatory explanation, and submit it to the House for further action, in line with the procedure.

 

FIRST READING – HOUSE

After receiving the opinions by the Constitutional – Legal Committee and the responsible committee, the House shall vote on the proposed draft law in the first reading.

If the opinions by the Constitutional – Legal Committee and the responsible committee are positive, the House shall adopt proposed draft law in the first reading, while the further legislative procedure shall be pursued.

If the opinions by the Constitutional – Legal Committee and/or the responsible committee are negative, the House shall vote on submitted opinions. If the House adopts the negative opinions by the Constitutional – Legal Committee or the responsible committee, the proposed draft law shall be considered rejected.

If the House rejects negative opinions by the Constitutional – Legal Committee or the responsible committee, the proposed draft law shall be returned for reconsideration to the committee which provided negative opinion.

 

Public Hearing

Prior submitting of the proposed draft law into second committee phase, the responsible committees may decide to conduct public hearings on the draft law, which would involve all interested parties, professional institutions and individuals.

A public hearing shall last no longer than fifteen days.

Invited individuals and representatives of the bodies and institutions shall provide their opinions on issues related to the draft law, if so requested by the Committee.

The Committee shall include in its report the conclusions and the results of the public hearing, and attach in annex the papers and materials submitted in the course of hearing.

The transcript of the hearing, if any, shall be also attached.

 

SECOND COMMITTEE STAGE

The responsible committee shall consider the text of the proposed draft law and possible submitted amendments, in the second committee stage. Once the responsible committee has considered the text of the proposed draft law, the committee shall submit its report to the House, in line with the prescribed procedure. The report by the responsible committee could be either positive or negative.

Positive opinion: If the responsible committee adopts the text of the proposed draft law, the report shall be positive, and submitted to the House for further action, in line with the procedure.

Negative opinion: If the responsible committee rejects the text of the proposed draft law, a negative report by the committee, including the explanation, shall be submitted to the House for further action, in line with the procedure.

 

SECOND READING – HOUSE

After receiving a positive committee report on the text of the proposed draft law, the House shall consider the text of the proposed draft law and possible amendments.

If the report by the committee is negative, the House shall consider the committee report.

If the House adopts a negative report by the responsible committee, the proposed draft law shall be considered rejected.

If the House rejects a negative report by the responsible committee, the proposed draft law shall be returned to the responsible committee.

If the House adopts the text of the proposed draft law, the draft law shall be considered adopted, and the aforementioned procedure shall be pursued in other House.

 

The vital national interest

A decision proposal by the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH in the House of Peoples may be declared to be destructive to the vital national interest of the one of the three constitutive peoples, by a majority votes from the Bosniac, Croat or Serb delegates. Such a decision proposal has to be approved in the House of Peoples by a majority of Bosniac, Croat, and Serb delegates who are present and voting.

In case the majority of Bosniac, Croat or Serb delegates object to this decision, the Speaker of the House of Peoples will immediately convene a Joint Committee consisting of three delegates, each elected among the Bosniac, Croat, and Serb people caucuses, in order to resolve the issue. If the Joint Committee fails to resolve the issue within five days, the case will be transferred to the BiH Constitutional Court which will review the procedural accuracy of the matter, in emergency procedure.