OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina helps improve legal certainty and equality of citizens before the law

The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) organized a roundtable discussion on the harmonization of case law and judicial practice for senior judges in BiH, on 6 December 2021 in Sarajevo. The event was aimed at improving legal certainty and equality of citizens before the law. It was organized in co-operation with the BiH High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC) and the Council of Europe.

“The lack of harmonization of court practice and how laws are interpreted by different courts endangers the constitutional principles of legal certainty and equality of citizens before the law, and undermines public trust in the work of the judiciary,” said Michael Schuetz, Head of the OSCE Mission’s Rule of Law Section.

“We are glad that judges throughout the country recognize this issue and are committed to improving harmonization of case law and judicial practice.”

Following recommendations in the Venice Commission Opinion of 2012, in 2014 the HJPC established three harmonization panels, one for each of criminal, civil and administrative law areas. They consist of judges from the respective departments of the Court of BiH, the Supreme Court of the Federation of BiH, the Supreme Court of Republika Srpska, and the Appellate Court of Brčko District of BiH.

The Mission, under the auspices of the HJPC, has previously supported the work of the criminal law panel. Conclusions and recommendations from the roundtable discussion will help drive the future work of the panels in addition to contributing to other initiatives to improve the harmonization of case law and judicial practice in BiH.