The dispute between IDEEA and the Agency for the Protection of Personal Data of Bosnia and Herzegovina continued, due to the Decision adopted by the Agency, which prohibits IDEEA from processing personal data for the purpose of issuing qualification electronic certificates for electronic signing. This is an attempt to take away jurisdiction and disobey the decisions of the Constitutional Court, because of which the whole dispute could culminate in court, IDEEA said. The State Minister of Communications and Transport stated that his ministry is the only one competent to decide who can process personal data. Everything comes on the eve of elections and new technologies.
Data protection or an attempt to destabilize the unique national digital identity system? The Law on Electronic Signatures from 2006, then the Law on IDEEA from 2008, and the Law on Identity Cards of BiH from 2012 – all of the above confirm that the Ministry of Communications and Transport is responsible for determining the certifier for issuing qualified electronic certificates, and it designated IDEEA, which was entered in the Register of Certifiers in 2022.
“Absolutely nothing is forbidden to us through this solution, we continue to work as we have done until now, citizens do not need to worry about that, however, we will definitely go to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, initiate an administrative dispute, we will request a temporary measure from the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The same will be done by the ITA, because the ITA system is particularly damaged by this. Businessmen practically can no longer pay VAT electronically as they used to do, one billion was paid annually, no one knows how it will be paid to the BiH budget”, said Almir Badnjević, director of IDEEA.
Issuance of documents is not threatened, but it is an obvious blow to the state budget. And not only that, but also the institutions and the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to Minister Forto. It is important to remember that this is not an isolated case. During the year 2024, also immediately before the election process and during the pilot implementation of election technologies, a decision was made prohibiting the issuing of electronic identity to the citizens of BiH. Now, at the moment of full implementation of election technologies, including biometric voter identification, electronic counting, and electronic transmission of results, we are witnessing almost identical moves again.
“There is no option in which we will allow from the Ministry of Communications and Transport that our Office for Accreditation and Supervision of Certifiers, which is the only office that can decide who can issue electronic signatures, we will not allow it to satisfy those who have been asking for it to be assigned to the entities for years, and now for 20 years, cannot”, Edin Forto, Minister of Communications and Transport of BiH (NS) pointed out.
It is important to note that all citizens’ data, including electronic signatures, can be misused in several ways, especially in the upcoming elections. It is no secret that in the RS they have been trying to establish an independent data system for a long time. Regardless of the decision of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which clearly established that this is the exclusive jurisdiction of the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Now, through SNSD’s director of the Agency for the Protection of Personal Data, Dragoljub Reljić, whose term of office has expired, efforts are being made to take away the jurisdiction of the state and at the same time demonstrate its dysfunctionality. This time with an explanation:
“The Agency acted in accordance with the competences and authorizations given to it by the Personal Data Protection Act. Article 103, which prescribes the Agency’s authority to permanently or temporarily limit or prohibit processing.)”.
What they omitted to say is that the Agency has a corrective role, but in the event that a violation of the Law on the Protection of Personal Data of Bosnia and Herzegovina has been established. Arguments and legal foundations, in this particular case, it seems, were not the guiding principle but something else. The introduction of new technologies into the electoral process could not be stopped, so now through access to citizens’ personal data, they are trying to establish control over the elections.
