The High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, today issued two Decisions amending the BiH Law on Identity Cards of Citizens of BiH and the BiH Law on Central Registers and Data Exchange. The amendments clarify the contents of the new BiH identity card. In particular, the amendments remove the Entity reference, in response to recommendations made in a recent Council of Europe report on the protection of personal data of citizens.
These technical adjustments to the laws are necessary in order to ensure that BiH can meet deadlines specified in the commercial contract for the Citizens Identification Protection System (CIPS) project, and as such remove the risk of delaying the project and exposing citizens to unnecessary financial costs. The adjustments also ensure that the identity documents introduced through CIPS meet the highest European and international standards.
The High Representative calls upon the BiH Parliament to take whatever steps are necessary to comply fully with CoE recommendations and to resolve all outstanding legislative issues with regard to the CIPS project. Furthermore, the High Representative encourages the BiH Council of Ministers to increase the level of management and budgetary resources needed to implement the CIPS project, given the importance of this project to the domestic and international security interests of the citizens of BiH.