Bosnia and Herzegovina Results Report 2022-2024

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s second action planAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen... resulted in a modernized national public procurementTransparency in the procurement process can help combat corruption and waste that plagues a significant portion of public procurement budgets globally. Technical specifications: Commitments that aim t... More portal with open dataBy opening up data and making it sharable and reusable, governments can enable informed debate, better decision making, and the development of innovative new services. Technical specifications: Polici... access. Some commitments faced technical hurdles and lack of institutional consensus during implementation, such as the open data portal. Despite a challenging political context, the multi-stakeholder forumRegular dialogue between government and civil society is a core element of OGP participation. It builds trust, promotes joint problem-solving, and empowers civil society to influence the design, imple... continued to meet throughout the action plan and implementing agencies and civil society organizations have maintained a constructive dialogue around OGP.

Implementation

Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH)’s second action plan included 10 commitments. It continued several of the first action plan’s policy areas, such as open data, public procurement, anti-corruption, budget transparency, and access to information, and introduced a new commitment on beneficial ownership.[1] Six of the 10 commitments were substantially or fully completed, which was similar to the rate of completion in the first action plan (four of seven substantially or fully completed).[2] Of three commitments identified as promising in the IRM Action Plan Review,[3] one achieved significant results: CommitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action... 6 launched a modernized national public procurement portal with open data access contributing to its usability for accountability purposes.

Factors that supported progress were strong institutional leadership, active civil society involvement, and enabling policy and legal frameworks in place. Specifically, the adoption of laws (Law on the Protection of Personal Data, the Law on Border Control), a Public Procurement Strategy (2024-2028), and national policies on transparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More and anti-corruption aligned with the EU integration process were enabling factors.

Several commitments faced delays due to technical hurdles, lack of institutional consensus, and policy fragmentation, as in the previous cycle. For example, Commitment 8 on anti-corruption digitization and Commitment 7 on the anti-corruption e-platform showed no notable results, due to lack of institutional agreements, technical and capacity deficits, and financial constraints.

Participation and Co-Creation

In BiH, the Advisory Council of the Open Government PartnershipThe Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on improving government transparency, ensuring opportunities for citizen participation in public matters, and strengthen... More Multi-Stakeholder Forum Initiative (MSF) oversees implementation of the action plan and includes representatives from CSOs and public administration bodies. Overall, the level of engagement in the co-creation and implementation of the second action plan improved compared to the first action plan, based on the frequency of meetings and stakeholders engaged. Public institutions and civil society frequently engaged each other both in-person and online throughout the design and implementation of the action plan. For example, CSOs were able to suggest improvements and some implementing agencies consulted CSOs individually during the implementation of commitments, such as Commitment 9 on improving transparency of public funds allocated to media and CSOs.

Implementation in Context

During implementation, several domestic and international developments impacted progress. In October 2022, BiH held general electionsImproving transparency in elections and maintaining the independence of electoral commissions is vital for promoting trust in the electoral system, preventing electoral fraud, and upholding the democr... More which delayed the adoption of the action plan. Two years later, the BiH Presidency unanimously decided to initiate negotiations with Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, fulfilling a key requirement for opening EU accession talks. In March 2024, EU leaders agreed to commence accession negotiations with BiH, conditional on the implementation of further reforms.

At the end of December 2024, BiH adopted two key laws for opening negotiations with the EU: the Law on the Protection of Personal Data[4] and the Law on Border Control.[5] Additionally, a Public Procurement Strategy for 2024-2028 and action plan for its implementation[6] was adopted together with amendments to the Law on Public Procurement harmonized with EU standards.[7] This created a supportive environment for the procurement commitment (Commitment 6).