Infinitely long queues are in front of BiH institutions as well as endless waiting. Sometimes it takes several hours to get just one paper, or you are missing just that one paper. We are lagging behind in the digitization process, and in the meantime we are classified as an ‘ignorant country’, announced N1 television.

If you want to complete administrative tasks in Bosnia and Herzegovina, arm yourself with patience. In most cases, you will wait several hours and you will miss “another paper”.

“One hour, and I’ll have to come back again, we can’t buy the toll here, but when we’re done we’ll go to collect the toll at a kiosk, then queue up here again,” the citizens told us.

“I’ve been waiting for an hour, I don’t even know what I came for,” another citizen told us.

In the legal context, we are falling behind

In order to make this situation a thing of the past, a citizen of Tuzla Enver Gluhić created a simple e-document application, suitable for everyone. In just a few minutes, at any time, citizens could access their documents.

“The application works according to the principle that every citizen would have their own access data, which is the identity number and password. Two to three clicks are enough to get your document in electronic form, so you can print it, and you can also use it in PDF format. Each document has its own verification code, so the authenticity of any issued document can be checked very easily using the same application,” said Enver Gluhić.

The authorities, however, turned a deaf ear to this proposal. A stumbling block on the way to digitization is the Law on Electronic Signatures at the state level. Adopted back in 2006, it was supposed to become functional in 2019, but it is outdated. The new draft law was adopted by the Council of Ministers, but not by the House of Representatives of the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“Firstly we are falling behind in the legal context, then we are falling behind with all other things. We are falling behind with the construction of infrastructure, we are falling behind with the establishment of e-services and e-registries”, said Adis Muhović, from the Center for Policies and Management.

On the way to the EU, digitization is essential

However, there are certain developments. An example is the Mia chatbot, an online assistant from which citizens of Bijeljina and Laktaši can request their documents, and they arrive at their home address. Digitization started with small steps, but the main problem is incompleteness.

“They do not meet one condition, which is the harmonized reform of public administration in the whole of BiH and the development of digitization in e-administration, as a process that is inevitable, but quite fragmented, and for these reasons they cannot meet the expected conditions. One of the limiting factors is the lack of a single, joint certification body for electronic signatures,” said Dragan Ćuzulan, from PARCO.

On the way to the European Union, digitization is essential. The advantages are also visible from the aspect of economy.

“Small countries, transitional countries, use digital transformation to create the conditions for a higher rate of economic growth, to accelerate economic development. Unfortunately, Bosnia and Herzegovina lags behind significantly in this matter. From a layman’s point of view, this is the easiest to see if we look at the numerous waiting lines across the country,” said economic analyst Admir Čavalić.

They will have to wait a long time, considering that the World Economic Forum classified Bosnia and Herzegovina in the category of ignorant countries. Close to countries without any perspective, and far from leader countries.