The RS National Assembly is set to consider a draft legislation that attempts to erase the obligation to publish acts of the High Representative in the RS Official Gazette.
This draft legislation cannot and will not accomplish this misguided goal. Parties to Annex 10 of the Dayton Peace Agreement, including the RS, have an obligation to fully cooperate with the High Representative. No political rhetoric or amendment to law can relieve institutions and those who work in them of this obligation.
Furthermore, laws enacted by the High Representative have the same status as laws enacted by domestic parliaments and carry the same constitutional necessity for publication, regardless of any subordinate law or regulation.
Non-publication and disrespect of the High Representative’s decisions place Republika Srpska, its institutions, and those who work in them in violation of their obligations under the General Framework Agreement for Peace. Officials who, through action or inaction, disregard their legal duties, as well as these obligations, bear personal responsibility for their decisions and the consequences of such decisions.
“They should be aware that they will be sailing in heavy waters”, said the High Representative.
