The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina temporarily invalidated the Law on Medicines and Medical Devices of the Republic of Srpska and the Law on Amendments to the Law on Republic Administration.
Today, the Constitutional Court considered the request of the Chairman of the BiH Presidency, Šefik Džaferović, for the evaluation of the constitutionality of these laws and adopted this temporary measure, which has not been officially announced. According to some media, when voting on this decision, seven members of the Constitutional Court voted “for”, while two members of the Constitutional Court from Republika Srpska, Miodrag Simović and Zlatko Knežević, voted against.
The Office of the High Representative in BiH and the EU Delegation pointed out that the entry into force of the Law on Medicines and Medical Devices of Republika Srpska represents a violation of the Constitution and a backward step in harmonizing BiH legislation with the EU acquis. The High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Christian Schmidt, said two days ago that he would react to these laws of Republika Srpska, but that he would first wait for the decision of the Constitutional Court.
In May, the Constitutional Court of BiH abolished the provisions of the Declaration on Constitutional Principles of the National Assembly of the Republika Srpska regarding the return of jurisdiction from BiH to the Republika Srpska.