prijava
SARAJEVO, December 12 (FENA) - British Ambassador to BiH Matthew Field said, at a conference in Sarajevo on improving efficiency in resolving commercial disputes, that innovative entrepreneurs need efficient judiciary.
“The United Kingdom, as a leader in supporting socio-economic reforms in BiH, wants to help improve the business environment, create jobs and grow. Deficiencies in the BiH court system have a negative impact on the country's ability to do business and attract new investments, to a greater extent than anywhere else in Europe,” Field said.
The conference, titled "Time for Reforms: Greater efficiency in resolving commercial disputes in BiH and better access to justice," was organized as part of the World Bank's technical assistance project “Enhancing business climate through faster resolution of economic disputes”, with financial support from the UK Government and cooperation with the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH.
Field said that a set of analytical studies will be presented today which offer recommendations on how to strengthen business departments and reduce pending cases, speed up small claims cases and improve procedural efficiency, and build the capacity of business case judges. The implementation of these reforms would, he added, lead to a more favorable business environment.
Head of Operations Section for Justice, Home Affairs and Public Administration Reform of the EU Delegation to BiH, Nicolas Bizel, emphasized two important aspects of functioning of the judiciary - efficiency and independence. When it comes to BiH, he particularly singled out the long duration of proceedings, large number of pending cases, and outdated enforcement proceedings as problems. He added that the problem of efficiency of the economic judiciary in BiH had been pointed out earlier, and that the EU with other partners continued to support reforms in this area.
Presidents of the Chamber of Commerce of the Federation of BiH and Republika Srpska Chamber of Commerce, Mirsad Jašarspahić and Borko Djurić, said that these economic associations support all activities leading to a simpler, faster and more efficient resolution of economic disputes, and one of the ways is alternative resolution models disputes given that a large number of commercial cases have been in the courts for years.
“We even have examples that some companies failed because disputes in which they participated were not resolved on time, and they could not suffer the consequences,” said Djurić.
The recommendations, said the World Bank country Manager for BiH, Emanuel Salinas, are aimed at moving from problem to solution.
"This involves simplifying procedures so that it does not take as long to resolve, clarity of rights and actions necessary to access the judiciary to entrepreneurs, and developing alternative dispute resolution mechanisms such as arbitration," Salinas added.
The aim of the technical assistance project is to support BiH judicial institutions to implement reforms that will improve the efficiency of commercial dispute resolution and access to justice.
(FENA) A. B.
