EU Experts and Members of the BiH Judiciary Discuss Competences Related to Criminal Jurisdiction in BiH

A seminar on the extended criminal jurisdiction of the state level judiciary starts today in the premises of the EU Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The extended criminal competences provide to the state level judiciary the possibility to assert jurisdiction for crimes provided in the Entities and Brčko District criminal legislation under certain conditions.   The opening meeting is co-chaired by the BiH Minister of Justice, Mr Bariša Čolak, and Western Balkans Director at the European Commission, Mr Jean-Eric Paquet. A three-day TAIEX-sponsored legislation review exercise has been gathered in the framework of the “EU-BiH Structured Dialogue on Justice and additional Rule of Law matters” as yet another opportunity for all relevant actors to engage openly on the draft package reform of the state level judiciary, particularly in the field of criminal jurisdiction. Relevant members of the BiH Parliament are also attending.   A team of four senior experts from EU member works with the relevant practitioners and representatives from the line ministries at all levels, discussing the issue of the state level judiciary extended criminal jurisdiction. The EU has selected relevant experts from member states (Germany, Belgium, Italy) of particular relevance for the distribution of criminal jurisdiction across various levels of authority and different instances. The team of experts includes: Mr Eric Bisschop, Deputy Chief Federal Prosecutor of Belgium, also Head of the Organized Crime Unit at the Federal Prosecutor’s Office and National contact point for anti-corruption; Mr Ferdinando Buatier De Mongeot, judge for preliminary investigations in Italy, who has also served as international judge in EULEX Kosovo, where he adjudicated war crimes and other serious crime; Mr Theo Jacobs, Director of the Central Office for Seizure and Confiscation of Belgium, previously Head of the Rule of Law section at the EU-mission in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, justice expert in the EU Planning team for Kosovo, as well as Chief EULEX Prosecutor; Mr Florian Schlosser, currently serving at the Office of the Prosecutor General in Munich as expert for Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, Extradition cases and as Contact Point for the European Judicial Network (EJN)/National Correspondent for Eurojust.   Tomorrow, the team of EU member states experts will engage in a round of technical bilateral meetings. On Friday morning a final seminar session will take place again in the EU House in Sarajevo. In conclusion to the exercise, the European Commission services will deliver a set of official conclusions and operational indications to the competent authorities; these are expected to facilitate finalisation of the State level judiciary reform, which still remains amongst the core priorities of the EU-BiH Structured Dialogue on Justice and additional Rule of Law matters.   Since the Structured Dialogue was launched, several tools were used to assist the BiH Ministry of Justice in its efforts to find an appropriate compromise on the reform of the extended criminal competences of the state level judiciary. A first TAIEX Seminar on the natural judge and legal certainty was gathered last year and targeted recommendations already issued on that occasion.   When the draft reform package advanced, the draft legislation was also assessed by the Venice Commission, which issued an opinion in June 2013. This was followed by a thematic plenary of the Structured Dialogue in Brussels, also at the presence of the Venice Commission Secretary. Pursuant to the Structured Dialogue recommendations issued at the latest plenary session (May 2014), an analytical opinion on this matter was adopted by the HJPC on the jurisprudence Art. 7.2 (July 2014).     ST