A smiling 40-year-old man walks into a male barber shop in Sarajevo and asks if he can get a haircut.
“I didn’t plan, but I finished the job at the land registry office in five minutes instead of the five hours I thought it would take,” he says with a smile. Everyone in the hairdresser’s is laughing.
“That’s nothing,” throws an elderly man from the hairdresser’s chair.
“I also completed the job of replacing my driver’s license the other day in a flash – all I needed was a receipt for payment. And there was no queue. I can’t believe it. By God, some things in this country are changing for the better,” he concludes happily.
And indeed – in the Sarajevo Land Registry Office, where people used to stand in lines for hours, it is now possible to obtain a certificate in five minutes. The same is true in land registry offices throughout BiH, and in municipal registry offices, replacing an ID card or driver’s license and other personal documents no longer requires a birth certificate not older than six months or a CIPS certificate – all of this is the result of the public administration reform.
So, what actually happened? The amendments to the Law on Administrative Procedures at the level of BiH and both entities have defined that, when going through administrative procedures, citizens may not be required to provide certificates and other public documents on facts on which administrative bodies and institutions already keep official records – these institutions now obtain them themselves and ex officio! This means that the “official bodies” or institutions must communicate with each other ex officio and citizens no longer have to go from one institution to another or from one counter to another, which speeds up or shortens their journey to many services and simplifies procedures. True, these legal provisions are still not applied in some other cases, and citizens do not know enough about this possibility either, so they are often surprised or do not claim their rights.
These changes are part of the public administration reform that has been taking place in BiH based on the strategic commitment of the Council of Ministers of BiH, the entity governments and the Brčko District of BiH, and under the coordination of the Office for Public Administration Reform in BiH and with the strong support of the European Union in BiH. In the period from 2004 to 2020, since the establishment of the Office of the Coordinator for Public Administration Reform, the EU invested 110 million euros in this process, through 210 projects.
“The Office of the Coordinator for Public Administration Reform is the key coordinating institution responsible for public administration reform, i.e. for the coordination and implementation of the process. However, the key job lies with the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Federation of BiH, Republika Srpska and the Brčko District of BiH, which are responsible for the implementation of the planned activities and measures from the Strategic Framework for Public Administration Reform and the Action Plan,” says Darko Kasap, Coordinator for Public Administration Reform in BiH. He explains that the reform is part of the process of BiH’s accession to the European Union and that it is being implemented with the strong support and assistance of the Delegation of the European Union to BiH, which has been a long-standing partner of the Coordinator’s Office.
Among the changes or reforms are amendments to the Law on Civil Service in the Institutions of BiH, which have made it easier to apply for job vacancies (without “paper” applications – it is enough to send all the necessary documents electronically). At the same time, the promotion of civil servants at the level of BiH has been facilitated, and the position of a civil service inspector has been established. Similar processes will take place in the entities and the Brčko District.
“The amendment to the Law gave the BiH Civil Service Agency the authority to establish and maintain a register of employees in BiH institutions, and employees will no longer undergo probation,” Kasap explains.
The reform also established certain benefits for business people – the Indirect Taxation Administration has established electronic communication with taxpayers and now it is possible to submit KiF and KUF accounting records in electronic form. Through the ePorezi portal, indirect tax payers, in addition to accessing their cards, are enabled to electronically submit VAT and excise declarations, as well as requests decided on by the Administration, from their own office or home, and the Administration itself has begun implementing a new transit system that is aligned with EU customs legislation and the Convention on a Common Transit Procedure.
” On 30 August 2024, the ITA officially joined the CCN/CSI communication network in Brussels, in such a way that the ITA Information Technology Sector successfully installed and configured the communication equipment delivered by DG TAXUDA from Brussels,” the Administration said, noting that this created the conditions for BiH to become a member of the EU Common Transit Convention within a year, which will lead to a better business environment in BiH, from which most benefits will be reaped by the business community.
“The process will be faster and simpler when BiH becomes a full member of the NCTS Convention. For example, goods leaving BiH will spend less time waiting at border crossings, which certainly means an acceleration of the flow of goods. True, everything will depend on the number of trucks at the border at a given moment, but truck drivers will not need to bring papers to customs at the border because everyone will already be in the system and customs will know in advance which truck is coming, what goods are in question, and have access to all the papers accompanying those goods. In this sense, a large number of trucks will cross the border without any stops,” the ITA BiH explains.
At the same time, the issuance of licenses for occupational health and safety, inspection and testing of work equipment and personal protective equipment at work, testing of working environment conditions, i.e. chemical, biological and physical hazards, has been simplified in Republika Srpska – companies or legal entities no longer have to submit certified copies of the decision on entry into the appropriate register.
“It is now possible to send all the necessary documents, and there are more than 10 of them, by e-mail, but many of us still do not trust that system, so we send them by post and email. Fortunately, license applications are not sent often,” they say in one of the licensed companies.
Progress in the reform process was also confirmed by the European Commission in a report from November 2024, in which it assessed that “some progress has been achieved in public administration reform”.
Statement by the Representative of the EU Delegation to BiH
“Changes are often not visible and come into place slowly, but institutions have made some progress to provide BiH residents with the same quality of services as in the EU. However, public reform requires financial resources and it will be necessary for the authorities to provide greater budgetary support reform activities,” explains Kasap.
Part of this process is the adoption of the new Law on Freedom of Access to Information in the institutions of BiH, to which the public has numerous objections, but the fact is that it imposes an obligation on all institutions to establish an electronic Register of Requests for Access to Information and to publish all decisions and acts on their websites within 15 days of adoption.
In the period before the adoption of the new Law on Freedom of Access to Information, the PARCO strongly insisted on greater transparency in the work of all institutions and in that process became a leader in transparency – a survey on the openness of institutions of the government system conducted by the Citizens’ Association ‘Why Not’ in cooperation with civil society organizations from the region showed that the Office for Public Administration Reform in BiH is the third most open public institution in the region.
“Although the general result in this area is unsatisfactory, certain institutions are working on their openness and achieving good results. Of the 61 administrative bodies that were included in the 2023 survey, and in general of all executive and legislative institutions in BiH, the Public Administration Reform Coordinator’s Office, with 88%, has the best result when it comes to openness and transparency in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In addition, this institution is the third most open institution in the region, “the report on the Openness of Executive Authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Region states”.
The reform, which has been underway since 2006, should ultimately provide BiH citizens with electronic services without collecting paperwork at counters, more reliable and faster public services, accountable civil servants who work conscientiously and without political influence, managers who spend taxpayers’ money rationally, and strong institutions resistant to all forms of corruption. However, “Bosnia and Herzegovina needs to complete essential steps to improve the overall functioning of its public administration by ensuring a professional and depoliticized civil service and a coordinated country-wide approach to policymaking (Key Priority 14 of the Opinion). Last year’s recommendations have been partially implemented,” the November 2024 report states.
But in BiH, more and more people understand that a more efficient public administration, working directly in the interests of citizens, can contribute to poverty reduction, economic development, and improved public services.
“Citizens change their perception most easily when they feel concrete measures and receive a concrete benefit for themselves from the reforms. The reform achieves a more efficient, transparent and open public administration, oriented towards citizens and the economy. Digital transformation will create the conditions for a higher rate of economic growth and accelerate the economic development of BiH. Digitalization solves the famous long-standing problem of ‘You need to bring one more paper’, makes it easier to obtain the necessary documents and significantly saves time and money,” says Kasap.
Truth be told, there are many objections to the slow pace of reform – Srđan Blagovčanin from Transparency International in BiH writes that “no substantial step forward in reforming public administration has taken place. That is, all in all, there is no political will, and consequently, no capacity for serious reform”, the Office for the Audit of Institutions of BiH also has numerous objections, but reform is a process. The list of goals undertaken is long, and efficient public administration is not possible without professional and responsible public servants. The reform plan emphasizes the importance of professional and accountable staff, and through extensive training programs, civil servants will be enabled to acquire new skills to respond to the demands of modern administration. This professionalization not only builds citizen trust but also aligns BiH with the requirements for EU membership, ensuring a more accountable and efficient public sector.