The High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, today issued a Decision amending the RS Law on Urban Planning enabling the RS to meet in an efficient and speedy manner its obligations under Annex 8 of the Dayton Peace Agreement, which covers the preservation and reconstruction of national monuments. The amendments to the law will ensure that monuments listed under Annex 8, including the Ferhadija mosque, will be exempted from the licensing regime envisaged in the Law on Urban Planning, thus speeding up the implementation of Annex 8. These changes will also contribute to the harmonisation of the legislation in both entitites necessary for proper protection, conservation, presentation and rehabilitation of designated National Monuments in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The OHR proposed that these amendments should be incorporated into the draft Law on Urban Planning when it was before the RSNA. As these amendments were not incorporated by the RSNA when it passed the law, the High Representative has made the necessary legislative changes enabling building permits for these monuments to be issued in a timely manner.