Pursuant to the Article IV.B.7.a) (IV)of the Constitution Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Parliament of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina at its session held on February 28. 2006 and at the House of Peoples session held on March 22, 2006 have adopted the following
LAW
ON AUDITING THE INSTITUTIONS OF FEDERATION OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
I. GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1.
Scope of the law
1) This Law regulates audit of the institutions at level of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina the objectives, duties, organisation, management and powers of the Audit
2) Audit of the institutions at level of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is performed by Office for audit of the institutions at level of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: Audit Office)
Article 2.
Definitions
In this Law, the terms used have the following meaning:
– “Audit Office for the Institutions of FBiH means the Supreme Audit Institution defined in article 20 of this law;
– “Auditor” means an official appointed by the Auditor General, in writing, to carry out Audit Office duties or functions;
– “Auditor General” and “Deputy Auditor General“means the persons appointed to the posts under this Law;
– “budget“ means a document that sets plan of financial activities for budget users including projection of revenues and receivables and set amount of expenditures of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, cantons, cities and municipalities for the period of one fiscal year. The Budget also defines upper threshold for total debt for Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, cantons, cities and municipalities for the period of the given fiscal year, including existing debt and projection of the new debt for the fiscal year. Budget is approved an adopted by legislative body in Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, canton parliaments, city councils, and municipal councils;
– “Budget Institutions” means all institutions of FBiH including FBiH ministries, administrative organisations and other bodies an institutions of FBiH financed from the budget adopted by the Parliament of FBiH, and also ministries, administrative organisations an other bodies and institutions in cantons and municipalities;
– “audited institutions” means FBiH institutions subject to audit;
– “Co-ordinating Committee” means the committee established by article 46 comprising of the Auditors General and Deputy Auditors General of the Supreme Audit Institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina;
– “Confidential Information” means any information disclosure of which would be against public interest for reasons of security, defence, international relations, or which would discriminate the privileged personal integrity or privileged commercial interests of any person or institution as defined by law or generally accepted commercial practice;
– “First level budget users” means institutions directly financed from the budget adopted by the FBiH Parliament, with their own budget items. The second level users are funded via the first level of the budget users;
– “Internal Control” means the organisation, policies and procedures used to ensure that government programmes achieve their intended results; that the programme resources are used in line with the stated aims and objectives of the organisation concerned; that programmes are protected from waste, fraud and mismanagement; and that information obtained is reliable and timely, maintained, reported and used for decision making;
– “INTOSAI” means the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions;
– “INTOSAI auditing standards” means the set of audit standards developed by the INTOSAI. The standards have the following basic elements: The Lima Declaration on Guidelines on Auditing Precepts (principles for independence), The Auditing Standards (principles for audit work) and The Code of Ethics (values and principles for auditors).
– “Responsible Minister” jmeans the Minister responsible for the area subjected to audit;
– “Parliament committee” is committee responsible for finance and budget in each of the two houses in the FBiH Parliament, responsible for audit;
– “Pre-audit” refers to the ex-ante examination or ex-ante certification of transactions as part of the accounting system;
– “Premises” means any building, office, land or site.
– “Public report“ means any report made public based on decision of the Audit Office;
– “Quality” means the degree of compliance of the actually implemented audit processes, including the preparation of the audit report with the existing audit standards and rules and regulations:
– “Quality Control System“ means a set of coordinated activities established to ensure that the work of the Audit Office complies with existing audit standards and rules and regulations;
– “Quality Assurance“ means assessment of implementation and operation of the designed quality control system and measures.
Article 3.
Objectives
1) The main objective of the Audit Office shall be to, through the performance of audits, provide independent opinions on the budget execution and the financial statement, the use of resources and the management of state property by the government and public institutions in FBiH. Thereby, the Audit Office will contribute to reliable reporting on the execution of the respective budgets and a transparent and sound management of public revenues, expenditures and property in FBiH.
2) The Audit Office shall inform responsible public authorities and the public about its findings and recommendations through the timely publication and public dissemination of audit reports and through other information activities if relevant.
3) The Audit Office shall be non-political and shall not support or be associated with any political party.
Article 4.
Freedom from direction or control
n the exercise of its duties and powers under this Law, the Audit Office shall be independent and not be subject to the direction or control of any other person or institution other than defined in this law.
Article 5.
Funding of the Audit Office
1) The Audit Office shall, based on the provisions in the FBiH Budget Law prepare its annual budget and submit it for approval to the Parliament Committee responsible for audit.
2) After approval by the Parliament Committees, the Audit Office shall, according to time limits set in the FBiH Budget Law, forward the draft budget to the FBiH Ministry of Finance (hereinafter MoF) to be part of the FBiH draft budget for the forthcoming fiscal year.
3) The Auditor General approves the requests for payment of the Audit Office expenditures and submits it to the Ministry of Finance for execution.
Article 6.
Annual Activity Report and External Audit of the Audit Office
1) Pursuant to the FBiH Budget Law, the Audit Office shall prepare financial reports on the operations and submit it to competent Parliamentary Committee.
2) Annual Activity Report (hereinafter: Final report), in addition to information on the operations of the Audit Office, includes also the financial statements of the Audit Office.
3) The Audit Office shall prepare its financial statements in accordance with the FBiH Budget Law.
4)The Parliamentary Committee responsible for Audit shall appoint an independent audit firm or commission composed from 5 members- audit and accounting experts, to conduct an audit of the Annual Activity Report of the Audit Office.
5) Parliamentary committee responsible for the Audit appoints special 3- member committee, composed of experienced experts to review the Annual Activity Report of the Audit Office
6) The committee described in (5) submits report on its findings with comments to the responsible Parliament Committee before the Audit Office’s budget proposal is approved by the Parliament Committees.
Article 7.
Immunity and Indemnity
1) Auditors are not responsible for deeds or omissions occurred during the time of performing their duties.
2) The immunity granted in the previous paragraph shall not protect a person who is caught in the act of committing a criminal offence during his tenure.
3) the Audit Office shall cover all court expenses to a person tried before the court of justice for deeds or omissions occurred during the course of performing his/her duties if the person is found not guilty.
II. DUTIES OF THE AUDIT OFFICE
Article 8.
Responsibilities
1) The Audit Office is responsible for:
a) Financial audits (regulated in article 13 of this law);
b) Performance audits (regulated in article 14 of this law); and
c) Other specific audits (as regulated in articles 17 and 18 of this law)
Article 9.
Duties not to be undertaken
1) The Audit Office is not responsible for any pre-audit examination or pre-audit certification of accounting transactions as part of the accounting system;
2) The Audit Office is not responsible for any duties except those prescribed by this Law, unless deems that such duties are not incompatible with the prescribed responsibilities, or if carrying out other duties will not prevent the Audit Office from fulfilling its obligations under this law.
Article 10.
Auditing Standards, Quality Control System and Quality Assurance
1) The Audit Office shall implement the INTOSAI auditing standards and ensure that staff and other persons undertaking any audit function under this law comply with these standards.
2) The Audit Office shall adopt and publish standards described under (1) within 3 months from the day of the law coming into effect.
3) Audit standards of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) shall be used during the audit of public companies in the way prescribed in the Article 11 of this Law, if applicable
4) Within 3 months from the day of the law coming into effect the Audit Office shall adopt directions, manuals, guidelines and other documents necessary for implementing the auditing standards.
5) The Audit Office is responsible for implementing a quality control system to ensure that audit standards, rules and regulations are complied with in the audit work, including quality assurance mechanisms for the audit work.
6) The Parliamentary committee responsible for audit shall every 4 years initiate a peer review of the performance of the Audit Office. The peer review shall be funded from the Budget.
7) A Supreme Audit Institution from another country will have advantage in a process of selection of the institution to carry out a peer review
8) The Audit Office shall publish and submit reports from such peer reviews to the Parliament Committees responsible for audit, including a report on actions taken by the Audit Office as a result of the peer reviews.
Article 11.
Audit Mandate
1) In accordance with the provisions in this law, The Audit Office mandate covers all public institutions of FBiH, including:
a) The Parliament of Federation BiH;
b) The President of Federation BiH;
c) The FBiH Government and respective ministries;
d) Extra-budgetary funds as may be established by law
e) All public funds, institutes and agencies;
2) The mandate also covers:
a) Assemblies and governments of cantons on the territory of Federation BiH;
b) Municipalities on the territory of Federation BiH;
c) All Budget Institutions directly financed from the budget adopted by parliaments, assemblies of Cantons and Municipal Councils;
d) Extra-Budgetary Funds as may be established by law.
e) Any funds provided by international bodies or organisations to any institution or project in FBIH either as a loan or a grant for Bosnia and Herzegovina;
f) Any funds provided from the budget to any other institution, organisation or body.
3) Audit Office’s mandate also covers any company in which the state has a share-holding of 50 percent plus 1 share or more;
4) The audit mandate includes all financial, administrative and other activities, programmes and projects managed by one or more of the institutions referred to in this article, including the processing and proceeds from sales of assets, privatisations and concessions.
Article 12.
Audit Planning
1) The Auditor General shall each year after consultation with the Deputy Auditor General decide on the Audit Office Annual Audit Plan for the following year also considering requests according to this law. The Audit Plan shall be submitted to the Parliament Committees responsible for audit, for their information
2) When determining the Annual Audit Plan, the Auditor General and Deputy Auditor General shall comply with the provisions in this law and with adopted auditing standards according to article 10 of this law.
Article 13.
Financial Audit
1) When carrying out audits in accordance with adopted auditing standards, the Audit Office shall examine the financial statements and underlying accounts of the audited institution with the aim of assessing whether the financial reports are reliable and whether the balances fully reflect the results of the budget execution.
2) The Audit Office shall assess whether the management of the institution follow laws and regulations, whether the funds have been used for intended purposes; evaluate the financial management; internal audit functions and internal control systems.
3) The Audit Office shall conduct interim audits during the course of the financial year, including follow-up on implementation of recommendations from previous audits and an analysis of the measures taken on the basis of the recommendations.
4) Every year the Audit Office shall carry out audit according to paragraph (1) (2) and (3) of this article and provide an opinion on the annual budget execution reports of each budget user defined in article 11, paragraph (1) of this law; and shall report annually on the audits, as regulated in article 16.
5) The Audit Office shall every year carry out audit and provide an opinion on the government’s annual report on the budget execution and shall report pursuant to the article 16.
6) For other institutions except those mentioned in paragraph (4) of this article, the Audit Office shall carry out financial audits according to the annual audit plan.
7) In determining the frequency and modality of audits referred to in paragraph (6) of this article, the Audit Office shall take into consideration the following:
a) whether the institution has already been audited by independent external auditors and if the Audit Office has justification that such audits are sufficient to provide assurance of the criteria applied by the Audit Office;
b) a risk-based assessment.
Article 14.
Performance Audits
In terms of the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which an institution has used its resources in carrying out its operations, the Audit Office has the right to conduct a review or examination (Performance Audit) of a particular aspect of the operations of the whole or part of any institution, programme or activity according to this law. The Audit Office shall report on the audits, as regulated in article 16.
Article 15.
Comments on draft reports
1) The Audit Office shall prepare a draft audit report before the audit report is finalized. The draft report shall be submitted to the head of the audited institution for comments.
2) If the head of the audited institution concerned gives written comments to the Audit Office within 15 days after receiving the draft report, or longer time as decided by the Audit Office, the Audit Office shall consider those comments before preparing a final report and relevant comments shall be reflected in the final report.
Article 16.
Reporting on Audits
1) The Audit Office shall submit audit reports to the audited institution and the FBiH Parliament. A copy of the report should simultaneously be provided to the Government of FBiH and the President of FBiH. Copies may be sent to any other relevant institution. The Audit Office shall make audit reports public immediately after submission of such reports.
2) The Audit Office shall submit final reports on Financial Audits from the article 13, paragraph (4), to each audited institution and to the respective Ministry of Finance no later than 90 days from the day of the submission of the Annual report. For the audit of the Government’s Annual Report on the execution of the budget, as regulated in article 13, paragraph (5), the Audit Office shall submit a report to the FBiH Parliament no later than 90 days after receipt of the Government’s Annual Report on the Budget execution.
3) according to paragraph (2) of this article and within 60 days upon receiving the audit report each audited institution shall deliver a response to the Audit Office, with a copy to the Ministry of Finance which sets forth the actions that the institution is undertaking to address all weaknesses, irregularities and violations identified in the audit report.
4) Based upon the findings and recommendation of the annual audit and/or annual report on the execution of the Budget, the Parliament of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina may reduce the budget of one or more Budget Institutions or take any additional corrective actions as may be appropriate.
5) When reporting on Performance Audits, as regulated in article 14, and Special Audits, as regulated in article 18; the Audit Office shall prepare and submit a report to the FBiH Parliament and audited institution and to the Parliament no later than 30 days after completing the audit
6) The Audit Office shall gather the most important findings and recommendations from the undertaken Financial Audits, Performance Audits and the Special Audits in an Annual Audit Report to the Parliament. The Annual Audit Report shall be submitted to the FBiH Parliament, with the audit report on the government’s annual report on the budget execution as an integrated part, as regulated in paragraph (2) above.
7) in accordance with the provisions of this Law all Audit Office reports published shall be published in the Official Gazette of FBiH and on the Audit Office website, with the exception of confidential information according to article 44 and 45 of this law.
Article 17.
Extra reports to the Parliament
1) The Audit Office may at any time submit audit report to the Parliament on any matter within the mandate of the Audit Office.
2) The Audit Office must provide a copy of the report, for information, to the President of FBiH, the FBiH Government, the Finance Minister and to any other institution in the FBiH that in the Audit Office’s opinion, has a special interest in the report.
Article 18.
Special Audits
1) The FBIH Parliament or any parliamentary committee competent for audit may at any time request the Audit Office to undertake a special audit. Parliamentary committee competent for audit decides upon the special audit requests and provides the budget for the special audits to the Audit Office.
2) The Audit Office shall perform the special audit defined in paragraph (1) of this article and report to the requester as regulated in article 16.
Article 19.
Information to Law Enforcement Authorities
The Audit Office shall, after informing the head of the audited institution, if it can be done without influencing the criminal investigation, notify law enforcement authorities when indications of significant violations have been noticed. In such situations, the Audit Office shall also inform the Ministry of Finance and the responsible minister.
III ORGANISATION, STRUCTURE AND POWERS
Article 20.
The Audit Office
1) The Supreme Audit Institution in Federation BiH is Audit Office for the Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
2) The Audit Office is legal entity with its seat in Sarajevo. The Audit Office may decide to establish regional offices where appropriate and economically justified for the functioning of the Audit Office.
3) The Audit Office includes: the Auditor General, Deputy Auditor General, audit staff (auditors) and administrative staff.
Article 21.
Management of the Audit Office
1) Auditor General is the head of the Audit Office, responsible for duties and powers given to the Audit Office under this law.
2) Auditor General has a Deputy Auditor General to assist in carrying out the duties of the Audit Office. Subject to the directions of the Auditor General, the Deputy Auditor General may exercise all the functions, duties and powers of the Auditor General.
3) The Auditor General and the Deputy Auditor General can not participate in, or make decisions about audit of the institutions in which the Auditor General and/or Deputy Auditors General were members of the management in the previous two years.
Article 22.
Organisation
1) The Auditor General shall after consultation with the Deputy Auditor General determine the organisation of the Audit Office by Book of Regulations on Internal Organisation and Systematisation of Working Posts.
2) The Auditor General shall after consultation with the Deputy Auditor General adopt all internal regulations, rules and procedures necessary for the functioning of the Audit Office.
3) When determining the organisation of the Audit Office, the Auditor General shall in an internal act define division of responsibilities between himself/herself and the Deputy Auditor General.
Article 23.
Requirements for Auditor General and Deputy Auditor General
1) Eligible candidates for the posts of Auditor General and Deputy Auditor General shall:
a) have an economic or legal university degree and experience in the area of accounting, audit, public finance or public administration, not less than 10 years;
b) have not been found guilty in a Court of Law for committing a criminal offence or business crime or acts incompatible with their duties.
2) The Auditor General and Deputy Auditor General shall carry out the functions of the Audit Office in an independent manner and in accordance with the INTOSAI auditing standards.
3) The Auditor General and Deputy Auditor General are subject to the Law on Conflict of Interest in Governmental Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina. (Official Gazette BiH no.16/02 and 12/04)
Article 24.
Appointment of Auditor General and Deputy Auditors General
1) The Auditor General and Deputy Auditors General shall be appointed by FBiH Parliament, upon a proposal of the President of FBiH based on the ranking list of candidates prepared by the selection commission described in paragraph (3) of this article.
2) A vacancy note for posts of the Auditor General and Deputy Auditor General is published in the Official Gazette of FBiH and at least one daily newspaper distributed throughout the territory of FBiH.
3) FBiH Parliament appoints a six-member Selection Commission composed of representatives from both houses of FBiH Parliament. Two of the six members shall be from the opposition parties. The Selection Commission shall determine whether candidates meet the requirements set forth in the vacancy notice and create ranking list of candidates to the President of FBiH.
4) The Auditor General and Deputy Auditor General shall be appointed for a fixed non-renewable period of 7 (seven) years, at a minimum two months before the expiration of the mandate of the current incumbents of the post.
5) The Deputy Auditor General shall be appointed from the FBiH constituent people other than that from which the Auditor General is appointed.
6) Appointment of the Auditor General and Deputy Auditor General and end of their mandate shall be announced in the Official Gazette of the FBiH
7) Salary and allowances of the Auditor General and Deputy Auditor General is established by the Parliamentary Committee responsible for audit in amount equal to the salary of the President and Deputy President of the FBiH Supreme Court
Article 25.
Discontinuation of the Auditor General and the Deputy Auditor General mandate
1) FBiH Parliament may remove the Auditor General and the Deputy Auditor General from office in the following cases;
a) upon submitted written voluntary resignation;
b) in case of inability to perform the duties for more than six months;
c) in case of the reasons enlisted in Article 23 of this Law.
2) In case described under Paragraph 1 of this Article the FBiH Parliament shall appoint a new person to the post, to serve only until the end of the mandate of the person whom he/she has replaced.
3) The appointment procedure shall be conducted in accordance with Article 24 of this Law..
4) Replacement of the Auditor General and Deputy Auditors General shall be published in the Official Gazette of FBiH.
Article 26.
Delegation of the Auditor General powers:
1) The Auditor General may, by written authority, delegate any of the Auditor General’s powers under this Law to any Audit Office employee. However, the Auditor General can not delegate his/her ultimate responsibility in any case.
2) In exercising powers of functions under the delegation, the employee must comply with all directions of the Auditor General.
Article 27.
Contracting external associates to assist with audits
The Audit Office may engage any qualified person to assist in the performance of any Audit Office duty. Any such person to be engaged by the Audit Office shall accept to follow applicable standards and rules of the Audit Office as regulated according to this law.
IV STAFF OF THE AUDIT OFFICE
Article 28.
General Provisions
1) The Audit Office shall employ auditing and administrative staff meeting the requirements for carrying out duties within its domain. Employment shall follow the provisions of the articles 29 – 38 of this Law.
2) Employees of the Audit Office shall not be subject to the Law on Civil Service in the Institutions of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (official Gazette no: 29/03, 23/04,39/04, 54/04,67/05 and 8/06).
3) Where the rights and duties of employees and working relations have not been regulated in this Law, relevant legislation and regulations of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina concerning employment shall apply.
4) The structure of employees within the Audit Office shall generally reflect the ethnic structure of the population of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in accordance with the last census.
Article 29.
Duties of the staff
1) Employees of the Audit Office shall apply and ensure compliance with the Constitution and laws of FBiH, and perform their tasks defined in the Internal Organisation Rulebook.
2) If Audit Office staff gets illegal instructions or orders he/she shall apply the procedure prescribed in a special Book of Rules.
3) The Audit Office shall establish a Code of ethics for the employees based on the internationally accepted INTOSAI standards. This code of ethics must be read by employees and each employee must solemnly swear and by his/her signature accept the obligations to follow this code of ethics, which is a precondition for employment.
4) An employee shall be impartial and in particular:
a) Refrain from any act or omission which is incompatible with or infringes duties as established by this Law and in particular refrain from public manifesting his/her political or religious beliefs;
b) Not pursue nor accept any gain, benefit, advantage in money, services or kind for himself/herself or for his/her relatives.
5) Employees are obliged not to disclose classified information as defined in the relevant Internal Rulebook. This obligation continues after a person is no longer employed with the Office.
Article 30.
Rights of the staff
An employee of the Office shall have the following rights:
a) A leave of absence as established by the Internal Rulebook and to continue in the same or similar job position when the leave ends;
b) Be entitled to salary and compensation in accordance with the manner established in the Internal Rulebook;
c) Be encouraged and supported in advancing career and professional development through training and other means;
d) Be protected in his/her physical and moral integrity by the State while fulfilling his/her official duties;
e) Be treated by his/her superiors with respect to his/her human dignity;
f) Be entitled to form and to join a Trade Union or a professional association in accordance with the law.
g) receive fair and equitable treatment in all aspects of personnel management without regard to gender, ethnic or social origin, residency, religion, political or other opinion, marital or other status, age, property, handicapping condition or other status.
Article 31.
Incompatibilities
An employee shall not exercise a function, an activity or hold a position, which constitutes conflicts of interest with his/her official duties, and in particular shall not:
a) hold any public function at any level within Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina;
b) be a member of governing or others boards of political parties and shall not follow political parties’ instructions;
c) exercise any additional remunerative activity unless authorised by the Auditor General.
Article 32.
Employment
1) Should a vacancy for position exist within the Office, the Office shall advertise this vacancy.
2) The vacancy announcement must be published, at least one month before the application deadline in at least one daily newspaper distributed in whole FBiH.
3) The Vacancy Announcement shall contain:
a) A job description;
b) The general requirements from Article 33, Para. (1) of this Law
c) specific requirements for the position established by the Internal Rulebook on Internal Organisation and Systematisation of Working Posts
Article 33.
General requirements
1) Person seeking employment with the Audit Office must:
a) be citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina;
b) be over 18 years of age;
c) hold appropriate educational and professional qualifications, as determined by the Book of Rules on Internal Organisation and Systematisation of Working Posts in the Audit Office;
d) satisfy medical conditions required for the position;
e) have military obligations clearance according to the law;
g) not have been dismissed from the civil service as a consequence of a disciplinary measure at any level of governance in Bosnia and Herzegovina minimum three years prior to the date of the application for a position ;
i) not to have criminal proceeding initiated against him/her and not have been found guilty with the exception of criminal offences against traffic, in accordance with the criminal legislation; and
j) not be affected by Article IX.1 of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
2) Apart from the general requirements for employment with the Audit Office, the candidates shall also meet the specific requirements (e.g., specified level of education and profession, years of service, special professional skills and knowledge, special health abilities, etc.) that shall be defined by the Book of Rules on Internal Organisation of the Audit Office.
Article 34.
Selection Process and Appointment
1) The Auditor General shall establish a selection committee, composed of three members.
2) The selection committee shall review all applications received within the prescribed deadline and define a short-list of the best-qualified candidates.
3) All short-listed candidates shall be interviewed by the selection committee.
4) The interview must be conducted in such a manner as to secure the upholding of the principles of Legality, Merit, Independent Scrutiny, Openness and Transparency.
5) Following the interviews, the selection committee shall, by written recommendation, put forward a ranking list with at least three of the best-qualified candidates to the Auditor General.
6) The Auditor General decides upon employment of the candidate ranked as first on the list made by the selection committee. In the case that the decision on appointment cannot be made due to any justified reason (with supporting evidence), the next candidate on the short list shall be considered for the employment.
7) The Audit Office must keep all the records (file) regarding the selection process including the vacancy announcement and applications received.
Article 35.
Disciplinary responsibilities
1) An employee shall be held accountable for the violation of official duties, which occurred as a result of his/her own fault, as laid down in this Law.
2) Violation of official duties can comprise:
a) undertaking actions defined as criminal offences and other serious or minor offences, which are harmful to the reputation of the Audit Office;
b) betrayal of the State, military and official secrets and contravention to the regulations on keeping those secrets;
c) abuse of official position or exceeding of authorisations;
d) failure to consciously and carefully execute official duties;
e) refusal to execute a legal orders given by the direct superior;
f) undertaking actions or activities in contravention to the interests of the Audit Office;
g) causing a substantial material damage consciously or by an extreme negligence;
h) unauthorised absence from work for more than 7 days;
i) breach of regulations related to the working discipline at the Audit Office;
j) failure to execute entrusted tasks and duties in a timely and proper manner;
k) indecent attitude towards the citizens, collaborators and other parties in the official duties.
3) The accountability for committing criminal acts and offences shall not preclude the disciplinary accountability of an employee, provided that the act also constitutes a breach of duty.
4) Disciplinary sanctions could be:
a) written warning,
b) punitive suspension of duties,
c) demotion to a lower position,
d) termination of employment.
Article 36.
Disciplinary Procedure
1) Any audited institution may file a complaint against an auditor to the Head of the Audit Office.
2) Any Audit Office staff member can initiate disciplinary proceedings against co-worker who has allegedly committed a violation of article 35.
3) The Auditor General decides on disciplinary responsibility of the Audit Office staff.
The Auditor General shall adopt the Book of Rules on Disciplinary Procedure as to regulate disciplinary responsibility more specifically, in consistency with the Labour Law (Official Gazette of FBiH no. 43/99, 32/00 and 29/03) and Criminal Proceedings Law (Official Gazette FBiH no.35/03, 37/03, 56/03 and 28/05).
Article 37.
Salary Structure
The Audit Office shall establish the pay structure for calculation of the Audit Office staff salaries and the various salary grades in which the staff shall be categorised. In determining the salary grades, the Audit Office shall take into account the specific skills and experience that are required to fulfil the duties and responsibilities of the Audit Office.
Article 38.
Termination of employment
1) The employment of Audit Office employee shall cease in the following cases:
a) Voluntary resignation;
b) End of contract, where applicable;
c) Reaching legal retirement age;
d) Permanent inability to fulfil official duties due to health conditions, provided that the employee can not be transferred to other suitable positions within the Audit Office;
e) Loss of citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina;
f) Acquisition of the citizenship of another country contrary to the Constitution and the laws of Bosnia and Herzegovina;
g) Two consecutive unsatisfactory performance appraisals;
h) Conviction for a criminal offence; or
i) Dismissal from the service as a result of a disciplinary procedure.
V INFORMATION GATHERING POWERS
Article 39.
Power of the Audit Office to obtain information
1) The Audit Office may request in writing from an audited institution to submit within set time limits:
a) any type of information ;
b) any document or information, including data in electronic form held by or under the control of the institution.
2) The Audit Office may require:
a) the information or answers to questions to be given orally or in writing;
b) the information or answers to questions to be verified by a statement or certificate.
3) The statement or certificate is a guarantee that the information or evidence the institution provides is true and may be used by the Audit Office.
4) An audited institution must comply with provisions of this article.
Article 40.
Access to premises and documentation
1) Auditors are allowed to:
a) enter and remain on any premises occupied by audited institution at all reasonable times;
b) full and free access to any documents or other property at all reasonable times;
c) examine, make copies or take extracts from any document.
2) An auditor is not allowed to enter or remain on premises if he/she fails to produce a written proof of his/her authority upon the tenants’ request. .
3) For this purpose, “written authority” means a document of the Audit Office signed by the Auditor General or the Deputy Auditor General that states that the auditor is authorised to exercise such powers.
4) If an auditor enters, or proposes to enter premises under this article, the institution must provide the auditor with all reasonable assistance for the effective exercise of powers under this article.
Article 41.
Information gathering powers not limited by other laws
The operation of articles 39 and 40 can not be limited by any other law.
Article 42.
Purpose for which information gathering powers may be used
The powers of articles 39 and 40 may be used for the purpose of, or in connection with, any Audit Office function.
Article 43.
False statements
An official must not make any materially false or misleading oral or written statement to an auditor if the official is aware of that fact.
VI SECRECY PROVISIONS
Article 44.
Confidentiality of information
The auditor must not disclose or transmit any information obtained during the course of performing an, except for the purposes of carrying out Audit Office function or in the cases prescribed by the law.
Article 45.
Povjerljive informacije koje ne trebaju biti uključene u javni izvještaj
1) The Audit Office must not include particular information in a public report if:
a) the Audit Office deems such information confidential; or
b) the head of the audited institution issues a certificate stating that, according to law and/or book of regulations of the audited institution, the information is confidential
2) If, requirements from paragraph (1) are met, the Audit Office may decide:
a) not to prepare a public report; or
b) to omit particular information from a public report;
3) the Audit Office may prepare a report under the Para. (2) and provide it to the responsible Parliament committee as confidential information, but shall not make such a report public.
VII COORDINATION COMMITTEE OF THE SUPREME AUDIT INSTITUTIONS IN BIH
Article 46.
Coordination Committee
1) The Auditors General and Deputy Auditors General are members of the Coordinating Committee of Supreme Audit Institutions (hereinafter: the Coordination Committee)
2) The Coordination Committee makes decision by consensus. Each Audit Office has one vote.
3) The cost of the Co-ordination Committee and cost of expert and administrative-technical operations shall be shared between the Audit Institutions on a basis to be determined by the Co-ordination Committee.
VIII PENALTIES
Article 47.
Violations of Articles 39, 40 and 43 of this Law
1) A legal entity shall be punished for a minor offence by a fine of not less than 5.000 up to 50.000 KM if it:
a) violates provisions of the Article 39 of this Law;
b) Does not provide the auditor with all reasonable facilities for the effective exercise of auditor’s powers under Article 40 of this Law.
2) For the minor offences referred to in the paragraph 1 of this Article, a physical person or a responsible person in a legal entity shall also be punished, with a fine of not less than 1.000 up to 2.000 KM.
3) A physical person or a responsible person in a legal entity, who makes a false or misleading oral or written statement to an auditor that leads to false findings defined in the article 43 of this Law, shall be fined with not less than 1.000 up to 2.000 KM.
IX TRANSITIONAL AND FINAL PROVISIONS
Article 48.
The Office for auditing the budgets in FBIH established by the Law on auditing the budgets in FBIH Herzegovina (FBiH Official Gazette No. 48/99), continue its operations in line with provisions of this Law.
Article 49.
1) The Auditor General and the Deputy Auditor General appointed in line with the Law on Auditing of the Budgets in Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH Official Gazette No. 48/99) shall have a seven year mandate, and their appointment shall be confirmed in accordance with the article 24 paragraph 4 of this Law.
2) Other Audit Office staff continues to perform duties in their capacity in accordance to the Book of Regulations on Organisation and Systematisation of Working Posts.
Article 50.
In case of conflict of the provisions of this and any other laws regulating this area, provisions of this law shall prevail.
Article 51.
This Law supersedes the Law on audit of the Budget in FBiH (Official Gazette FBiH no 48/49).
Article 52.
This Law goes into effect on the eighth day from the day of its publication in the Official Gazette of FBiH.
Chairman
of House of Peoples
Parliament of Federation BiH
Slavko Matić, s. r.
Chairman
House of Representatives
Parliament of Federation BiH
Muhamed Ibrahimović, s. r.