Category: Bosnia and Herzegovina

“Things are pretty quiet, and there aren’t any big developments,” begins Sead Miljkovic of Miljkovic & Partners, when asked for the Buzz in Bosnia & Herzegovina. He reports that “infrastructural projects and consolidations in the bank sector” are active at the moment, as well as “financing of public projects,” but he adds that “none of it is large-scale.”

Miljkovic points out that the biggest hurdle to any “exciting developments” is the fact that the BiH Government remains incomplete following last October’s elections. “Neither the Federal nor the State nor Local Governmental institutions are fully formed and functioning,” Miljkovic says. “This slows business down, and puts a halt on NATO integration as well as any perceivable EU accession movements.” According to him, “the political picture is quite complex and is a major obstacle to realizing any previously started projects or beginning work on any new ones,” and he reports that “the last time something big in terms of legislation passed was at the end of 2017/start of 2018,” and that nothing of major importance has happened since.

Asked about the state of the BiH legal market, Miljkovic says that no new firms have entered in the previous year, nor are there any exits likely to impact the current market composition. “Everything is pretty stable and has not changed much in the past year, and it seems that this trend will continue for the immediate future.”

Law Firm Sajic has successfully represented Aquana doo Banja Luka in the Supreme Court of the Republic of Srpska, which upheld the decision of the lower court that Aquana doo owed only EUR 50,594.85 to plaintiff Atzwanger S.P.A. as damages related to the construction of an aqua-park in Banja Luka, and not the EUR 1,158,863.90 that Atzwanger had been seeking.

According to Law Firm Sajic, the lower court had ruled that Aquana doo Banja Luka owed only EUR 25,525.35 in damages, plus EUR 25,069.50 in interest “due to delays in payment under the Agreement on the Construction of a Garage.” According to the firm, “the total contract value of the investment for the construction of the aqua park was EUR 5 million.”

The Law Firm Sajic team consisted of Managing Partner Aleksandar Sajic and lawyer Tijana Kondic. 

The Law Firm Sajic has won a EUR 3.25 million case for insurance company Krajina Osiguranje before the Supreme Court of the Republic of Srpska.

According to Law Firm Sajic, “the Supreme Court of the Republic of Srpska rejected the judicial review requested by the company RK Boska in the case against the insurance company Krajina Osiguranje.” The firm reports that RK Boska’s claim for EUR 3.25 million in damages was initiated in 2012. “The lower courts … rejected the claim in its entirety as not grounded,” Law Firm Sajic reports, “and now the decision has been confirmed by the judgement of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Srpska.”

The Law Firm Sajic team was led by Managing Partner Aleksandar Sajic.

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Tkalcic-Djulic, Prebanic & Jusufbasic-Goloman Law Firm has announced that Senior Partner Bojana Tkalcic-Dulic retired at the end of 2018. 

In a letter to the clients that appeared on the firm’s website, Tkalcic-Dulic explained: “After a very long, rich and extremely interesting career in judiciary and practice of law, I have estimated that the time where I should devote more to my private life has come. I have, therefore, decided to stop pursuing my career beginning this year, hoping that I will have the time and the opportunity to pursue new life challenges.”

As a result of Tkalcic-Djulic’s departure, the firm rebranded as Lawyers‘ Office Olodar Prebanic & Arela Jusufbasic-Goloman. The firm posted an announcement declaring that the rest of the team will continue its business as usual.

Sajic has advised Hidraulika Flex d.o.o. Laktasi on the EUR 3.9 million sale of 60% shares to Pewag Engineering Gmbh. 

According to Sajic, “due to its complexity and value, the merger of these companies was one the largest deals in the second half of 2018.”

According to Sajic, “this cooperation will improve position of the company Hidrulika Flex Laktasi on the Bosnian market and will attract new investors from Austria.”

The Sajic team consisted of Partner Sanja Dukic and Associate Tijana Milacic.

We’re still in the aftermath of the general elections that occurred in October of 2018,” says Andrea Zubovic-Devedzic, Partner at CMS in Sarajevo, who describes the elections as “ the biggest topic in 2018.” According to Zubovic-Devedzic, “there was a lot of wait-and-see before the elections. The hope was the government would be formed quickly and things would pick up. But unfortunately that hasn’t happened yet, and we’re still waiting.”

As a result, she says, a lot of large-scale projects and important legislative work remain on hold. “That can be frustrating,” she admits. “Especially as the country is still focusing on foreign investment, and obviously foreign investors are not keen to enter a market were there is uncertainty about what the government’s policies will be for the next four years. So the aftermath is still being felt.” In addition, she says, “some of the legislative initiatives put forward before the elections were rushed, some would argue based on insufficient analysis, and with a failure to properly consult the business sector. This is something that could, and certainly should, change.”

Zubovic-Devedzic claims that it’s “difficult to give a general response as to a question about the state of the economy, though she notes that “several areas have seen improvement, such as the IT sector, where there is a lot of interest from other countries.” According to her, “there are a number of start-ups in the country, and lots of young people willing to take the risk — and it usually pays off.” 

“So some areas are doing better than before,” Zubovic-Devedzic says. “But in many areas there is still much justified frustration. Still long and drawn-out bankruptcy and generally court proceedings, for instance. Still very complex regulations, and lack of state support for business. 

Still it’s not only the younger-skewing sectors that are doing well. “Some sectors are strong,” Zubovic-Devedzic emphasizes. “The Energy sector is strong, for instance. We’ve been involved in several deals recently, involving both renewables and traditional forms of energy. Foreign investors remain interested, regardless of the complexities of the local market. We are aware of negotiations going on and potential investment coming in … but of course this, again, depends on the ultimate formation of the government.” And another thing that’s happening is PPP,” she adds. “For years there were only a few such projects going on in BiH, but recent governments seem to have finally realized the real value of this model, and it appears they want to expand the use of PPP solutions beyond energy, into transportation and other areas.” There is no national PPP law, she explains, “so this is more on the canton level — it’s more a local government thing.” Still, she says, “the value of PPPs is being recognized on all levels, and we hope to see more of it going forward.”

Finally, turning to Bosnia & Herzegovina’s legal market, Zubovic-Devedzic points to a new draft of the Advocacy Law that has been put forward and has been shared with the public. “It doesn’t involve that many changes,” she says, “but we’re all hoping to see the country’s very strict laws on competition in the legal market being loosened, especially relating to the participation of foreign law firms.” According to her, “it’s still a very conservative market. But we have seen several spin-offs lately, trying to implement a more modern model. This trend appears to be continuing, as more lawyers are willing to try it on their own. I think this is something we hope to see more of in the future.”

Nina Vjestica has become a partner at Dimitrijevic & Partners.

Vjestica has worked at Dimitrijevic & Partners since its establishment in 2016. According to the firm, she focuses on banking and finance matters, environmental law, real estate deals, regulatory compliance, and commercial law matters, and “she is particularly specialized in the healthcare and insurance industries.”

Stevan Dimitrijevic, Partner at Dimitrijevic & Partners, commented, “Nina exemplifies the values of the firm. In the five years that she has been part of our team, Nina has contributed to the firm’s growth, its investment in people and in its dedication to providing outstanding client service. We are very pleased to welcome her into the Partnership and look forward to building a successful future together.”

In a period from 2014 to 2016 Vjestica was an associate at Karanovic & Nikolic in Banja Luka. She started her career in 2012 as an intern at the Banja Luka Basic Court, where she spent two years.

She studied law at the University of Banja Luka.

Jankovic Popovic Mitic is advising China Shandong on the concession of the Banja Luka – Prijedor project.

China Shandong International Economic and Technical Cooperation Corp won a concession to charge a toll on the highway it is constructing in the Republic of Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the local government reported last week.

The Banja Luka-Prijedor project is a 42-kilometer long highway with two lanes in both directions, a traffic island, and an emergency lane. As designed, the highway section will consist of seven tunnels and 35 bridges, three interchanges, and the infrastructure for a closed toll payment system as well as a system for traffic safety management and control. This is the first highway concession project in the Republic of Srpska, according to JPM. 

The JPM team was led by Senior Partner Jelena Gazivoda and included Partners Nikola Dordevic and Ivan Petrovic.

The Sajic law firm has successfully represented Italy’s Amigos Caffee S.n.c. before the Intellectual Property Institute of Bosnia and Herzegovina in its challenge to the attempt to apply for the “AMIGO” trademark by the Netherlands’ Strauss Coffee BV.

According to Sajic, the Institute for Intellectual Property of BiH issued its final decision on September 13, 2018, rejecting Strauss Coffee’s attempts to trademark “AMIGO” in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“In particular,” according to Sajic, “our client is a world-known coffee producer and the holder of the previously protected right to the trademark ‘AMIGOS’ for the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, so having in mind that the applicant was required to grant the right to the ‘AMIGO’ trademark, Sajic represented our client in a special procedure and presented the basic reasons indicating the undeniable similarity between the indicated signs and, finally, the possibility of misleading consumers, where the same resulted with the rejection of the recognition of the AMIGO trademark.”

Sajic Senior Associate Bogdanic Ognjen represented Amigos Caffee in proceedings before the Institute for Intellectual Property of BiH.