Laws and regulations

Officially in BiH two sets of technical regulations are in effect: legislation of ex-Yugoslavia combined with JUS standards with mandatory application and three framework laws combined with BAS standards taking over European Voluntary Standards. The legislation of ex-Yugoslavia, combined with JUS standards with mandatory application of conformity assessment procedure based on those standards (mandatory attesting), are valid for those products for whom the technical regulations of the EU are not taken over to date.

The other set of technical legislation in BiH consists of three framework laws combined with BAS standards taking over European and international voluntary standards. These laws are fully adjusted to European model. These are:

• Law on Technical Requirements for Products and Conformity Assessment (“Official Gazette of BiH”, 45/04);
• Law on General Product Safety (“Official Gazette of BiH”, 102/09);
• Law on Market Surveillance (“Official Gazette of BiH” 45/04, 44/07 and 102/09).

In order for these laws to be fully implemented for all products’ groups, it is required to adopt, as their regulatory acts for implementation, technical regulations taking over EU regulations (directives).

Technical requirements standard


The law on technical requirements for products and conformity assessment provides legal grounds for takeover into legal system of BiH New Approach Directives of EU as well as other bylaws. It further establishes the framework for the procedures of harmonization assessment, authorization of the body for conformity assessment and prescribing the requirements to be fulfilled by those bodies, recognition of foreign certificates, as well as the framework for supervision of implementation.

The list and text (in local language) of vertical regulations transposing EU New Approach directives, as well as the corresponding lists of harmonized standards may be found on the web site of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH (www.mvteo.gov.ba).


Also, in 2010 the Council of Ministers BiH adopted a Decision on conditions and manner of accepting the conformity assessment documents and marks issued abroad („Official Gazette BiH“, No. 107/10).

The Law on General Product Safety regulates safety aspects of all products in general and overall manner and it serves as a primary source of legislation for products that are not regulated by special normative acts. The safety of products regulated by this law is most simply proven through the application of the international (ISO and EN) technical standards that pertain to those products. Based on the BiH Law on Standardization (“Official Gazette of BiH”, 19/01), the Institute for Standardization of BiH is the only body authorized to issue national standards and take over international standards into the Bosnian and Herzegovinian BAS standards.

Based on the Law on General Safety of the Products, the Market Surveillance Agency of BiH issued the following decisions (the text of these decisions may be found at the web site of the Agency – www.annt.gov.ba):

• Decision on Limitation of Placement on the Market of Toys and Products for Children containing Phthalates;
• Decision on Prohibition of Placement on the Market of Products containing Dimethyl fumarate;
• Decision on Content of Warning that the Toys with Magnetic Parts must be marked.

The procedures description

The system of conformity assessment in accordance with WTO TBT agreement requirements is in the initial stage of development. The process of accreditation of the bodies for conformity assessment is implemented by the Institute for Accreditation of BiH (BATA) based on the Law on Accreditation (“Official Gazette of BiH”, 19/2001), which is harmonized with international requirements contained in ISO standard 17011 (prescribing requirements of accreditation bodies). The list of accredited bodies can be found at BATA web site – www.bata.gov.ba. Besides this list, various competent ministries at entity level also named authorized laboratories and other bodies for specific activities related to the implementation of still existing regulations of ex-Yugoslavia and information on those bodies can be found at those ministries.

Authorities monitoring and control

By the BiH Law on Market Surveillance a control system of products placed on the market is introduced, in accordance with the EU model i.e. all products including those on domestic markets and those that are imported and exported from BiH. This law also establishes the state Agency for Market Surveillance, supervising and coordinating the implementation of the regulations, as well as their uniform interpretation throughout the country, in cooperation with previously existing entity inspection bodies. The control of the products in BiH based on current status of the system of supervision over the market is based on inspection supervision. The inspection system is regulated by entity laws on inspection and is implemented by 13 inspection bodies (2 at entity level, 1 at Brcko District level and 10 at cantonal level in FBiH) making it very fragmented. These inspectorates also perform check of the products based on still valid regulations of ex-Yugoslavia.

The quality infrastructure in BiH is completed with the BiH Institute of Metrology, Law on Metrology and Law on Measuring Units (“Official Gazette of BiH”, 19/2001). Based on the Law on Metrology (Article 4) the Institute of Metrology is within the scope of legal metrology authorized for calibration and type testing of all measuring instruments prior to their placement in use on the territory of BiH.

Documents

See links throughout the text above.

Contact

Ministry of foreign trade and economic relations BiH
Musala 9, 71000 Sarajevo
Dragan Milović – Assistant Minister for economic development and entrepreneurship
Tel: +387 33 552 540,
Fax: +387 33 552 541
E- mail: dragan.milovic@mvteo.gov.ba