The false bomb threats that paralyze courts, schools and other institutions, which we have witnessed recently, could soon become a thing of the past. The authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina have decided to put an end to the abuse of anonymous telephone numbers, through amendments to the Law on Communications, which were adopted in the House of Representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the first reading, which introduces the mandatory registration of all users of telecommunications services.
The amendment proposal stipulates that operators must complete the registration of all end users of publicly available electronic communication services.
In practice, this means that it will no longer be possible to use SIM cards without identifying the user, including prepaid numbers that were often used anonymously until now.
What exactly is changing
Unlike the previous practice, the new law introduces a mandatory identity check before activating or using the service.
Registration will be done by physical presence or through electronic identification, with the use of valid personal documents or other identification systems.
Operators will be required to collect and keep records of users, including basic personal data. For natural persons, this means first and last name, unique ID number or personal document number, address of residence or residence, as well as assigned telephone number. For legal entities, the name and identification number will be collected.
This obligation applies to all users: mobile, landline and internet services.
Forto: One call can block institutions and cost tens of thousands of marks
The Minister of Communications and Transport of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Edin Forto, explains that the amendment of the law was initiated due to specific problems on the ground.
“It is about the following fact: there is a trial, for example in the Sarajevo Municipal Court, and someone is a controversial person who wants to prolong his hearing and his trial, someone calls from an anonymous number from a prepaid card and says: ‘You have a bomb’. In accordance with the law, they must leave the building, call the police, do a KDZ inspection. This lasts for hours, sometimes a whole day because the building is huge,” said Forto, speaking live for Dan on N1.
He adds that such situations do not only happen in courts.
“It happens in schools and other places. It costs tens, tens of thousands of marks just for one day,” he warned.
Forto points out that the problem lies precisely in the anonymity of prepaid cards.
“You can find where the e-mail came from, but these cards simply do not allow the services or the police to trace it. That is why it is very important that we create some kind of database that will be maintained by telecoms in accordance with European practice,” he said.
According to him, basic personal data will be collected for each prepaid card sold, which will be stored in accordance with the Personal Data Protection Act.
Obligations for operators and deadlines
The law also introduces the obligation of operators to ensure the accuracy and up-to-dateness of data, and their processing in accordance with regulations on personal data protection.
After the adoption of the law, there will be a period of adjustment.
“Telecoms have 18 months to figure out how they will manage this and that is quite enough time. The law is in its first reading today, it needs another reading, then the House of Peoples and after that there is a period of preparation”, said Forto.
Operators will have to register existing users within that period, otherwise services for unregistered numbers could be suspended.
Reasons for passing the law
In the explanation of the proposal, it is stated that the aim of the changes is to prevent the misuse of electronic communications, especially in cases where anonymous numbers are used to commit criminal offenses or hinder investigations.
It is emphasized that these changes do not introduce monitoring of the content of communications, but only user records, so that competent authorities can react more efficiently in cases of abuse, writes N1 BiH.
