The Law on the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, imposed by the relevant High Representative’s decision, was adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the House of Peoples session held on 25 June 2002 and the House of Representatives session held on 3 July 2002, which was necessary in order to ensure the exercise of jurisdiction of the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina, respect for human rights and the rule of law in its territory.

The original 2002 Law on the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina provided only for the Plenum and three court divisions – Criminal, Administrative and Appellate. However, the amendments adopted in 2002 and 2004 made the hitherto organizational structure more complex. The amendments introduced within the existing Criminal and Appellate divisions novel, special sections – first Section II for Organized Crime, Economic Crime and Corruption, and then also Section I for War Crimes.

The establishment of these new court sections was accompanied by the establishment of a special system of support to the newly-established sections. In December 2004 an Agreement was signed between the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the High Representative for BiH, officially establishing The Registry as an international organization with the mandate to administer and provide support to the newly-established sections of the Court of BiH, Section I and Section II of the Criminal and Appellate divisions. The Common Secretariat continued to provide support to Section III of the Criminal and Appellate divisions and the Administrative Division.

It is important to note the international community’s significant contribution through the engagement of international judges, who have, by their experience and knowledge, contributed to the building of a modern and efficient court that in its operations applies the highest international standards. The Court of BiH has over a relatively short period of time managed not only to create the necessary infrastructure and capacities to conduct the most complex processes, but has also demonstrated its readiness to conduct cases against persons accused of the most serious crimes.

The professionalism and compliance with the highest standards in criminal cases conducted before the Court of BiH was also recognized by the decisions of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, which has, pursuant to Rule 11 bis, transferred to the Court of BiH a total of 6 of its cases including 10 suspects. Those were first such decisions on the transfer of cases to any court in the region, which was a significant recognition of the efforts made by the Court of BiH.

It is very important to note that in all this the Court of BiH never underestimated administrative and civil cases from within its jurisdiction, for the efforts made by judges and other employees in these two portfolios allowed the Court to stay on top of these cases too.

The result of the entire process is the development of the Court of BiH into a large and complex institution with 300 exclusively national employees, 51 of whom are judges.