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BiH adopted ‘Lex Agrokor’

The Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Thursday adopted a special regulation that is intended to enable enhanced oversight of the operations of large business systems in that entity, and the federal prime minister Fadil Novalić confirmed that this is a response to the challenges arising from the crisis in the Agrokor group and its subsidiaries operating in BiH.

The document titled Regulation on the Procedure for Extraordinary Supervision in Economic Companies of Systemic Importance for FBiH is essentially a kind of ‘Lex Agrokor’ and pertains to related companies or systems that have at least one thousand employees and generate revenue of at least 500 million convertible marks (approximately 250 million euros).

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In a statement to the Fena agency, Prime Minister Novalić stated that the regulation contains mechanisms in accordance with the situation in the Federation of BiH, while fully respecting the inviolability of private property. The document was created based on previous oversight of the operations of Agrokor’s companies in BiH and consultations with the temporary commissioner of the Croatian government Ante Ramljak, whose primary goal was to protect suppliers and employees.

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“On the other hand, given that we are a small, open economy, large corporate systems have a significant impact on economic, social, and financial stability, and we must find a way to protect the system while respecting the principles of a market economy. That is exactly what we have done through the regulation,” said Novalić.

Although there was good communication between the authorities in BiH and the companies affected by this crisis after the introduction of temporary management in Agrokor, Novalić warns that there are other factors influencing the development of events, explaining that he primarily means creditors outside BiH.

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“Given that recent events related to the activation of guarantees bring significant uncertainty regarding the understanding of overall risks, we believe that now is the best time to introduce a legal measure of enhanced supervision,” said Novalić, suggesting that the direct impetus for the adoption of the regulation was Sberbank’s attempt to gain ownership of Jamnica in Sarajevski kiseljak.

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The regulation defined the concept of a system of primary and related legal entities, and the extraordinary supervision of their operations relates to the application of applicable regulations and laws that can be introduced at the proposal of the relevant ministry in the case of illiquidity.

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In such cases, the possibility of appointing a government commissioner is opened, and his powers are defined, as well as the possibility of establishing a creditors’ committee and enhanced supervision for the regular settlement of financial obligations.

Novalić is explicit in stating that the introduction of the institute of temporary management does not mean that the government takes over the management of any economic entity but only ensures enhanced supervision.