The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina should soon receive a modern law on e-commerce. It is a completely new legal solution, which, when adopted, will be even ahead of those of neighboring countries.
As the portal Biznis.ba learns, the legal solution should be sent from the Ministry of Trade to the FBiH Government in the next ten days, and after passing all the procedures, it will be sent to the parliamentary procedure in the form of a draft, it says. Biznis.ba.
All interested actors, from large and small retailers, through inspections and consumers to civil society organizations, worked on its development in the previous months. The law is harmonized with European directives and has three key objectives.
The first is to eliminate the gray market in this area, which, according to inspection analyses, costs the state between 200 and 300 million KM. The second is consumer protection, because the largest number of complaints and commercial frauds are through e-platforms, and the third is increasing the competitiveness of our companies.
Among other things, the law also treats digital business, and in Article 18 it provides that: When a person’s signature is required as a presumption of legal validity and the conclusion of a contract, it is considered that this condition is satisfied by an electronic message signed with an electronic signature, in accordance with special regulations.
In addition, the legal solution treats various aspects from the very registration of the participants in the purchase and sale, the protection of consumers and their rights, to the transfer, logistics and movement of goods.
Article 28 (Register of shipments of delivery services)
Thus, Article 28 regulates that “in order to monitor the circulation of goods and services in electronic commerce and to suppress unregistered trade, a Register of shipments of delivery services (hereinafter: Register) is established for all shipments related to electronic commerce in the territory of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina”.
The register is managed and maintained by the Federal Ministry of Trade, which is the controller of personal data in terms of special regulations on the protection of personal data.
“All delivery services that pick up shipments for the purpose of delivery are required to enter information about the shipment in the Register immediately after its collection. The registration in the Register must contain at least the following data: unique identification of the shipment (preferably in accordance with the GS1 SSCC standard or another international standard), shipping address and delivery address, payment method (cash, card, electronic transfer, cash on delivery) and the value of the shipment and basic information about the sender and recipient, to the extent necessary for identification, without specifying the contents of the shipment, and in accordance with special regulations on the protection of personal data.
Only authorized officials of the Federal Ministry of Trade and competent authorities (customs, tax administration, market inspection) will have access to the Register, in accordance with special regulations on the protection of personal data.
Article 29 talks about depositing the money collected from collection by cash on delivery.
“Delivery services are obliged to deposit all money collected from the collection of cash on delivery shipments into the sender’s bank account within three (3) working days from the day of collection, in accordance with the regulations governing the fiscalization of traffic and internal payment transactions. Delivery services may not pay the collected money in cash, except in exceptional cases provided for by the by-law,” it is stated.
Article 36 regulates the status of social networks in electronic commerce.
Paragraph 1 states that: “A social network that enables users to directly purchase, order or pay for goods, services or digital content through its technical solutions is considered an electronic platform and is subject to the obligations and responsibilities prescribed in terms of this law”.
The second paragraph states that “a social network that enables indirect advertising, negotiation or conclusion of the sale of goods, services or digital content between users, through private messages, comments, links or other communication functionalities, is considered to mediate in electronic commerce and is obliged to ensure that such activities are in accordance with the provisions of this law on transparency, merchant identification and consumer protection and special regulations governing the field of trade and consumer protection”.
The legal solution stipulates that the social network is obliged to establish a mechanism for reporting and removing illegal content, unregistered information society service providers and misleading offers, and to cooperate with the Federal Ministry of Trade and competent inspection bodies in supervision procedures.
There is no doubt that the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina now has the opportunity to, unlike the region that has these laws, which are outdated, pass a modern law that will enable improvement in the market. Let’s hope that this time the lobbies that protect the gray and black market and that suit the disordered system will not be louder in advocating the continuation of the current catastrophic situation in this area.
