An entrepreneur from Banja Luka Zoran Jankovic gave up doing business on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) entity of the Federation of BiH (FBiH) after he was forced to pay a fine for working without a proper permit.
His company provides services in the field of occupational safety and has a license from the entity of Republika Srpska(RS), where the company is headquartered. But, this permit was not valid in the town of Drvar on the territory of the FBiH.
“There are a lot of sawmills and other companies in Drvar, and at that time the use permits were made by a company from Zagreb and they charged heavily. My company did it ten times cheaper. But the inspection reported me immediately,” Jankovic told Radio Free Europe ( RSE).
Jankovic was fined because he did not have a license issued in Canton 10, one of the ten cantons in the FBiH, as previously required by cantonal law.
In the spring of 2021, a new rulebook was adopted within the Law on Occupational Safety and Health, valid at the level of the entity of the FBiH, which further complicates business.
BiH does not have state regulations in the field of occupational safety, but it is under the jurisdiction of two BiH entities and the Brcko District.
After the adoption of the Law, in March 2021, the Ordinance on the conditions that must be met by organizations for the performance of safety at work was adopted.
This Ordinance’s entry into force did not encourage Jankovic to decide to do business in the FBiH again, because, as he told, itonly tightened the restrictions and raised them to the entity level.
