Bosnia and Herzegovina 1995 Constitution (reviewed 2009)

Article VI. Constitutional Court

1. Composition.

The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina shall have nine members.

1. Four members shall be selected by the House of Representatives of the Federation, and two members by the Assembly of the Republika Srpska. The remaining three members shall be selected by the President of the European Court of Human Rights after consultation with the Presidency.
2. Judges shall be distinguished jurists of high moral standing. Any eligible voter so qualified may serve as a judge of the Constitutional Court. The judges selected by the President of the European Court of Human Rights shall not be citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina or of any neighboring state.
3. The term of judges initially appointed shall be five years, unless they resign or are removed for cause by consensus of the other judges. Judges initially appointed shall not be eligible for reappointment. Judges subsequently appointed shall serve until age 70, unless they resign or are removed for cause by consensus of the other judges.
4. For appointments made more than five years after the initial appointment of judges, the Parliamentary Assembly may provide by law for a different method of selection of the three judges selected by the President of the European Court of Human Rights.

2. Procedures.

1. A majority of all members of the Court shall constitute a quorum.
2. The Court shall adopt its own rules of court by a majority of all members. It shall hold public proceedings and shall issue reasons for its decisions, which shall be published.

3. Jurisdiction.

The Constitutional Court shall uphold this Constitution.

1. The Constitutional Court shall have exclusive jurisdiction to decide any dispute that arises under this Constitution between the Entities or between Bosnia and Herzegovina and an Entity or Entities, or between institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, including but not limited to:
   • Whether an Entity’s decision to establish a special parallel relationship with a neighboring state is consistent with this Constitution, including provisions concerning the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
     
     Whether any provision of an Entity’s constitution or law is consistent with this Constitution.

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   Disputes may be referred only by a member of the Presidency, by the Chair of the Council of Ministers, by the Chair or a Deputy Chair of either chamber of the Parliamentary Assembly, by one-fourth of the members of either chamber of the Parliamentary Assembly, or by one-fourth of either chamber of a legislature of an Entity.

2. The Constitutional Court shall also have appellate jurisdiction over issues under this Constitution arising out of a judgment of any other court in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
3. The Constitutional Court shall have jurisdiction over issues referred by any court in Bosnia and Herzegovina concerning whether a law, on whose validity its decision depends, is compatible with this Constitution, with the European Convention for Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and its Protocols, or with the laws of Bosnia and Herzegovina; or concerning the existence of or the scope of a general rule of public international law pertinent to the court’s decision.

4. Brcko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Brcko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina, existing under the sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina and falling under the responsibility of the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina as arising from the Constitution, which territory is jointly owned by the Entities, shall be a local self-government unit with own institutions, laws and regulations, and powers and statute laid down finally in the decisions of the Arbitration Tribunal for the Dispute over the Inter-Entity Boundary Line in Brcko Area. Relations between the Brcko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Entities may be additionally specified by law enacted by the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina shall have jurisdiction to decide any dispute in relation to the protection of the established status and powers of the Brcko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina that arises under this Constitution and decisions of the Arbitration Tribunal between an Entity or Entities and the Brcko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina or between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Brcko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Any such dispute may be referred by a majority of representatives of the Assembly of the Brcko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina including at least one fifth of the members elected from amongst each constituent people.

5. Decisions.

Decisions of the Constitutional Court shall be final and binding.