B. Responsibilities of the State outside the scope of Article III.1 of the BiH Constitution

Outside the scope of Article III, certain responsibilities are given as an obligation to Bosnia and Herzegovina and/or the Entities or are assigned to the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina by the BiH Constitution.

Pursuant to Article I.7 of the BiH Constitution, there is citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is regulated by the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and there is citizenship of each Entity, regulated by each Entity. The Entities may issue passports of Bosnia and Herzegovina to their citizens as regulated by the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Article I.7(e) of the BiH Constitution).

In its Decision No. U 25/00, the subject matter for review by the BiH Constitutional Court was the constitutionality of the Law on Travel Documents of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The BiH Constitutional Court declared that the Law was constitutional. In the decision, the BiH Constitutional Court underlines that there is a clear linguistic and essential distinction in the BiH Constitution between designing passports and issuing passports.²⁵⁸² This is another example demonstrating that there are responsibilities assigned to Bosnia and Herzegovina that are outside the scope of Article III of the BiH Constitution. The Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, therefore, has the sole authority over the design of BiH passports, and the Entities, based on the State law, are responsible for issuing passports. Neither Article I.7(a) or (b) of the BiH Constitution, nor any other provision of the BiH Constitution impose an obligation on the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina to ensure that BiH passports may serve as proof of citizenship of an Entity. Consequently, the deletion of the names of the Entities is not in violation of the BiH Constitution.²⁵⁸³

Pursuant to Articles IV.2 and V.1 of the BiH Constitution, the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina shall adopt an election law. Articles IV.4(e) and V.3(i) of the BiH Constitution obligate the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina to regulate the matters assigned to these institutions by mutual agreement of the Entities. Pursuant to Article VI of the BiH Constitution, the State shall have the responsibility for the constitutional judiciary of the State. Pursuant to Article V.5(a) of the BiH Constitution, first sentence, each member of the Presidency shall, by virtue of the office, have civilian command authority over armed forces. Besides, the members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina shall have competence to select a Standing Committee on Military Matters (Article V.5(b) of the BiH Constitution).

Pursuant to Article VI.1(d) of the BiH Constitution, the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina has a mandate, which has not been used to date, after the initial five year appointment, to provide by law for a different method of selection of the three judges selected by the President of the European Court of Human Rights. Pursuant to Article VII.1 of the BiH Constitution, the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina establishes the responsibilities of the Central Bank. The Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, after the six-year period from the date on which the BiH Constitution entered into force, may assign the responsibilities that were explicitly ruled out from the scope of responsibilities of this institution. Based on the mentioned provision, the BiH Constitutional Court has concluded that the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina is vested with the exclusive responsibility for issuing currency and monetary policy throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina and, therefore, there is no residual responsibility under Article III.3 of the BiH Constitution left in this respect for the Entities.²⁵⁸⁴

Under the BiH Constitution, Article 98 of the RS Constitution establishing a National Bank of the Republika Srpska and stipulating legal grounds for the status, organisation, management and operations thereof was challenged as it failed to pay due regard to the limitations stemming from Article VII of the BiH Constitution.²⁵⁸⁵ In addition, the BiH Constitutional Court declared that Article 76, paragraph 2 of the RS Constitution was unconstitutional and, consequently, it rendered it ineffective, as the mentioned Article stipulated that the National Bank should have responsibility to propose laws, other regulations and general enactments relating to the monetary, foreign exchange and credit system: pursuant to Article VII of the BiH Constitution it may be clearly concluded that the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the sole authority for monetary policy throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina and the notion “policy” in this context must be considered to include legislative proposals in the respective field.²⁵⁸⁶

Besides these responsibilities of the State, which are not explicitly mentioned in Article III.1 of the BiH Constitution, the BiH Constitution contains a number of provisions which institutionally regulate the issue of responsibilities of the State. Thus, Article VIII.1 of the BiH Constitution is a reflection of Article III.1(e), as the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, on the proposal of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, adopts a budget covering the expenditures required to carry out the responsibilities of institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the international obligations of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Pursuant to Article VIII.3 of the BiH Constitution, the Federation of BiH shall provide two-thirds, and the Republika Srpska one-third, of the revenues required by the budget (of Bosnia and Herzegovina), except insofar as revenues are raised as specified by the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In the request for review of the constitutionality in Case No. U 25/00, the applicant sought the review of the constitutionality of the provisions of Article 28 of the Law on Travel Documents of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which stipulates that the Ministry of Civil Affairs and Communications of Bosnia and Herzegovina, inter alia, shall be responsible for deciding on the price of travel documents and for the collection and distribution of revenue related to passport fees. Namely, the applicant claimed that Bosnia and Herzegovina should not transfer this amount into the budget of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Providing reasons that such a transfer is, nevertheless, encompassed by the BiH Constitution, the BiH Constitutional Court referred to the provisions of Articles IV.4(b) and VIII.3 of the BiH Constitution, which expressis verbis stipulate that the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina shall be responsible for deciding upon the sources and amounts of revenues.

The institutional assignment of responsibilities under Article III.1(a) and (e) of the BiH Constitution may be found in Articles IV.4 and V.3 of the BiH Constitution, which stipulate that the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina shall have responsibility for deciding upon the sources and amounts of revenues for the operations of the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the international obligations of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Article IV.4(b) of the BiH Constitution); approving a budget for the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Article IV.4(c) of the BiH Constitution); and deciding whether to consent to the ratification of treaties (Article IV.4(d) of the BiH Constitution). On the other hand, the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, pursuant to Article V.3(a) – (d) of the BiH Constitution, shall have responsibility for conducting the foreign policy of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Under Article V.3(f) of the BiH Constitution, the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina shall have responsibility for proposing an annual budget.