Representatives of the European Commission and Bosnia and Herzegovina institutions met in Mostar on 16 and 17 March 2011, to discuss the level of approximation of the country in the field of internal market and competition with EU rules. Progress of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in its European Integration process depends on the country’s fulfilment of the requirements of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU, amongst others in those areas. At the end of a fruitful and constructive meeting, the European Commission and BiH agreed on the following conclusions:

In areas related to internal market and competition, where the two Entities in BiH hold competencies in the legislation and administrative execution of laws, the Commission expects effective and efficient coordination mechanisms to be in place. How this is done is up to the country.

Overall, some progress has been reached by BiH in the last 12 months, albeit unevenly. The European Commission welcomed progress reached in the field of intellectual property rights and the good functioning of the IPR Institute. The fight against counterfeiting and piracy is one of the Commission’s main objectives of the internal market policy and of its enforcement.

The Commission is concerned with the stalemate in the area of public procurement. BiH is the only country in the region that has not yet transposed the 2004 EU public procurement directives. All contracting authorities, from the state level to municipalities, would benefit from the use of EU compliant rules in requiring more competition amongst bidders and in receiving better and often less expensive offers for services, supplies and works. Some progress was noted in the field of banking, company law and the right of establishment.

The Commission recommended to BiH to ensure a harmonised regulatory framework in BiH for internal market issues in order make some progress towards the establishment of a single economic space in BiH. This is crucial for the business environment and the attraction of foreign investments, above all in the current period of the recovery from the economic and financial crisis.

The Commission took note of the continuous work of the Competition Council. Expert level exchanges are taking place between BiH and the Commission regarding acquis-compliant state aid legislation.