EUROPEAN COMMISSION FOR DEMOCRACY
THROUGH LAW
(VENICE COMMISSION)
LAW
ON
THE FINANCING OF POLITICAL PARTIES
OF
BOSNIA AND herzegovina
LAW ON PARTY FINANCING
Article 1
(Purpose of the law)
This law shall
regulate the methods and conditions under which political parties and members
of political parties acting on behalf of the party obtain their funds.
Article 2
(Definition of the political party)
For the purpose of
this Law, the political parties shall be considered organizations into which
citizens are freely and voluntarily organized and registered with the competent authority in either Entity, in
accordance with law in order to carry out political activities and pursue
political goals.
In order to
participate in the election political parties shall certify their eligibility
with the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina under the same name that it
registered with the competent court.
Article
3
(Sources of funding)
A party may obtain funds from the
following:
1.
Membership
fees;
2.
Contributions
from legal entities and natural persons;
3.
Income
generated by property owned by the political party;
4.
The
budgets of Bosnia and Herzegovina for financing of the parliamentary
groups in accordance to the Art. 10, Entities, or any subdivision thereof.
5.
Profit
from the income of the enterprise owned by the party;
The enterprise
referred to in Item 5 of the preceding paragraph may only carry out
culture-related or publishing activity.
Membership fees referred to in Item 1 of Paragraph 1 of this
article shall only be regular payments a member pays by virtue of statutory
provisions. Contributions shall be payments exceeding the aforementioned
membership fees.
Annual incomes of the party referred to in Items 3 and 5 of
Paragraph 1 of this article may not exceed 20% of the amount of all annual
incomes of the party. Within 30 days of filing its financial statement pursuant
to Article 11, a party shall donate such income in excess of 20% to one or more
charitable organizations.
Article 4
(Contributions)
Legal entities and
natural persons may give contributions to the political parties or members
acting on behalf of political party. For the purpose of this Law, a contribution
to the party or members acting on behalf of the political party shall also
include gifts given to the political party or member acting on behalf of the
party, free service or rendering of a service for the party or members acting
on behalf of the party or selling of products to the party or to the members
acting on behalf of the party under the conditions which provide a preferential
treatment for the party in relation to the general public.
A legal
entity or natural person that renders a service to the party or sells it a
product must deliver a receipt to the party, irrespective of who the payer of
the service is or the price of the product, or, irrespective of the whether the
service has been rendered or the product given free of charge.
Article 5
(Donating limit)
The total
amount of the single contribution referred to in Paragraph 1 of Article 4 may
not exceed eight average worker’s salaries according to the official
information by the Bosnia and Herzegovina Agency for Statistics in a calendar
year and may not be cumulated more than once a year.
Public grants appropriated for political youth organizations
shall not count towards the contribution limits imposed by this article.
Public grants appropriated for political youth organizations
shall be reported on political party financial disclosure forms separately from
other income to the party.
Article
6
(Reporting threshold)
If the total amount of the contributions given by the single
contributor referred to in Paragraph 1 of Article 4 exceeds 100 KM such payment
must be recorded in the financial report.
Article 7
(Contributions given to the members
of political parties)
In the case that the contribution to the political parties
is provided by its member or a group of members, the contribution is to be
reported in the same manner as the contribution referred to in the Article 6.
Article 8
(Prohibited donations)
A State body, public institutions, public companies, local
community bodies, humanitarian organisations, businesses which by virtue of
their activity are exclusively intended and directed for non-profit, religious
communities, as well as economic association in which public capital has been
invested to the amount of a minimum of 25% may not finance parties.
Private enterprises, which through government contracts
perform public services cannot financially support
political parties.
Article 9
(Prohibited activities)
Exercising any form of political pressure on legal and
natural persons when soliciting contributions for political parties is
forbidden.
Making promises of privileges or personal benefits of any
kind to a political party donor is forbidden.
Article 10
(Appropriations from the State
budget)
Budgetary financing
of the parliamentary groups represented in the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia
and Herzegovina shall be distributed so that 30% of
the total amount dedicated to the parliamentary groups will be distributed
equally, while 70% will be distributed proportionally according to the number
of seats each parliamentary group holds at the time of distribution.
Detailed distribution
and facilitation of funds will further be regulated by the Rules of Procedure
of Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Article
11
(Obligation
to render a public statement of account)
A political party
shall be obliged to file with the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina a
financial report for each calendar year (accounting year).
A political party
shall file a separate financial report for the campaign period as determined in
the Election Law.
Political parties shall submit by 31 March of the following
year a financial report in a format approved by the Election Commission. Such
report shall contain the same information as determined in the Election Law.
The Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina shall issue Regulations in order to
implement this article, whereby it shall specify in detail the content, form,
manner and other details of reporting.
All persons who are
required to file reports must also file such additional reports as the Election
Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina may require.
The Election Commission shall have full authority to
implement and enforce the provisions of this article in the same manner as
provided for by the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Article 12
(Appointment of the political party
agent)
Every political party shall appoint a competent person who
shall be in charge for filing reports and record-keeping, and who shall be
authorized to receive communications from the Election Commission of Bosnia and
Herzegovina.
Those who file reports shall inform
the Election Commission of
Bosnia and Herzegovina about appointing the competent
person referred to in paragraph 1 of this article within three (3) days of his
or her appointment, and must file the amendments within three (3) days, of any
changes to his or her status.
The competent person shall sign each such report and shall
be responsible for keeping records that support the reports, and must make such
reports available to the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina upon request. The political parties
shall retain their complete financial reports for at least last six years after
filing.
Article
13
(Authority of the
Election Commission)
The Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina
shall make all reports available to the public, and shall take appropriate
actions to ensure that all citizens have easy access to information contained
within the reports.
The Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina
shall have the authority to investigate instances of non-compliance with the
provisions of this chapter, and may order individuals to answer written
questions, to provide documentary and other evidence, and to provide testimony
in connection with any investigation that the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina
may initiate. The Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina
may initiate investigation or take appropriate implementing actions, on its own
initiative or in response to a complaint filed by a person.
The Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina
shall have jurisdiction with respect to enforcing this chapter, and shall have
power to make determinations that a political party or any other person has
violated provisions of this chapter, and it shall have power to assess civil
penalties against any political party, for non-compliance with the mentioned
provisions, or to take appropriate administrative action within its general
authority under this law.
Before assessing a civil penalty or taking administrative
action, the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina shall seek to achieve voluntary
compliance with the political party determined to be in violation.
Article 14
Financial Audits of
Political Parties
The Election
Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina shall establish an Auditing Office,
which shall review and audit financial reports submitted by the political
parties.
The audit of a party’s financial report shall include the
party’s national and Entity headquarters (including District Brcko) and at
least two subordinate regional branches chosen by the Auditing Office.
The result of the audit shall be in writing and delivered to
the executive committee of the party and to the executive committee of the
audited regional branch. It shall be signed by all auditors from the Auditing
Office.
If no
objections are lodged after the final, written audit report is delivered to the
party, the auditor shall certify the results of the
audit. The certification shall confirm that, after a dutiful audit and on the
basis of the party's account books and documents as well as the information and
evidence furnished by the executive committees, the statement of account
complies with the provisions of this Law. If objections are lodged, the auditor
must refuse to certify the audit or he must modify it according to the
objection. The names of the regional branches audited must be stated in the
auditor's certificate.
The auditor's certificate must be attached to the financial
report to be submitted and published in Official Gazette of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina will establish the Audit Office
taking into consideration the professional qualifications of the auditors. The
Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina will be in charge of hiring and
removing people from Auditing Office.
For the purpose of the preceding Paragraph a person
appointed as auditor must not be a member of the executive committee, a member
of a general party committee, an appointed accountant or employee of the party
to be audited or of one of its regional branches or have been such during the
last three years prior to his appointment.
In the event that the Audit Office holds that more precise
financial scrutiny has to be conducted in order to ensure the validity of
submitted statement of account, the Audit Office shall have a right of access
to party premises. In the case of refusal to permit access to party premises,
it shall be deemed that the party failed to submit a financial report and the
Election Commission shall prohibit the party to stand for the next election.
Article 15
(Role of the Election
Commission)
Any irregularities
found by the Audit Office shall be submitted to the Election Commission of
Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the case of failure to comply
with the Law, the Election Commission shall have the authority to impose the
financial penalties in accordance with the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
If a political party has received
funds in excess of the allowed annual income referred to in Article 3.4., or
received funds in excess of contribution limit set in the Article 5 or in the
manner prohibited by Article 8, the Election Commission shall fine the
political parties in an amount not exceeding the amount of three times the
unlawfully received sum. Such a fine shall be permitted and imposed under this
Article even if the total amount of the fine exceeds ten thousand (10. 000)
convertible marks.
Article 16
(Role of the Appeal
Council)
The Appeal Council shall be competent
to hear appeals from a decision of the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Appeal Council shall have the
authority to impose the financial penalties in accordance with the Election Law
of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Article
17
(Obligation to report
to Parliament)
The Election Commission shall have to report on the reviewed
statements of account to the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina each year. The report shall be
circulated as a Parliamentary printed paper.
Article
18
(Distribution of the
financial penalties)
All the fines imposed by the Election Commission or the
Appeal Council, as well as all illegal contributions collected shall be
distributed according to the following:
-
70%
of the sum shall be distributed to the budgetary financing of parliamentary
groups as provided in the Article 10;
-
30%
of the sum shall be allocated for the financing of the Election Commission of
Bosnia and Herzegovina and its Audit Office and the Appeal
Council.
Article 19
(Transitional Provisions)
As long as the Service for Financial Transactions (ZPP, ZAP,
SPP) exists, the political parties shall include in
their statement of account referred to in Article 11, a list of all annual
financial transactions completed through the Service for Financial
Transactions.
Article
20
No later than three (3) months after
this law comes into effect, the political parties are obliged to submit data
about their assets, categorized by amount, kind and source to the Audit Office.
Article
21
Until a permanent Election Commission is established
pursuant to Article V of Annex 3 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace,
the Provisional Election Commission may assume all, or any part, of the powers
and duties assigned to the Election Commission by this law.
Appeals from decisions of the Provisional Election
Commission may be made to the Election Appeals Sub Commission pursuant Article
16 and the rules of procedure adopted by the Election Appeals Sub Commission.
The jurisdiction of the Election Appeals Sub Commission granted by this
paragraph shall continue until an appropriate state body assumes such
jurisdiction.
