The Logistika Consortium of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), which brings together transporters, is demanding from the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH (PABiH) urgent amendments to the law to allow them a refund of excise duties on diesel fuel used for international road transport, otherwise, as stated, they will organize protests, halt international transport, and inform the European Union (EU) about “discriminatory practices in BiH.”
In the explanation, it is stated that transporters from BiH currently do not have the right to a refund of excise duties, while competing companies from the EU and the region do have that right, which puts domestic transporters in an unequal position in the market and directly threatens the sustainability of a sector that employs tens of thousands of people.
The Consortium emphasized that exporters of road transport services are key generators of foreign currency inflow in BiH, and that excise refunds are standard practice in EU countries, and with simple digital records could be applicable in BiH as well.
“We call on all parliamentarians to support this initiative in the spirit of economic patriotism, justice, and the preservation of the transport sector,” stated the Consortium.
The Consortium also requested from the Minister of Communications and Transport in the Council of Ministers, Edin Forto, to urgently react to, as they said, obstructions by officials of this ministry, as well as to illegal and unconstitutional provisions of the Rulebook on the conditions for issuing licenses and driver qualification cards.
They pointed out that Forto signed a rulebook that prescribes stricter criteria than EU directives, ignores the CEMT quality charter, which does not recognize such additional criteria, and violates the constitutional principle of jurisdiction, as it prescribes educational standards that fall exclusively under the jurisdiction of the entities and the Brcko District.
“We believe you have the strength to recognize the irregularities and revoke the act or align it, because it is in conflict with the Constitution of BiH, the laws on international road transport, on inspections of BiH, and the legal acquis of the EU,” stated the Consortium.
They added that officials in the Ministry of Communications and Transport in the Council of Ministers are “bureaucrats who for 20 years, through non-transparent and unconstitutional mechanisms, have siphoned hundreds of millions of BAM from the pockets of transporters to selected legal entities – outside the budget, market rules, and public interest.”
The Consortium stated that in conversations with them, officials of this ministry, instead of concrete answers, replied with “working groups have been formed.”
The Consortium reminded Forto that 15 points were agreed with him, but they do not know what stage of implementation they are in, and that they are not asking for working groups, but for results.
“If we do not receive legally reasoned answers within the legal deadline, we will be forced to submit a request for constitutional review before the Constitutional Court of BiH, submit documentation to the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH due to suspected abuse of position and favoritism, and provide data to the committees in the PABiH,” the Consortium stated.
