In order to protect its business and the interests of its clients, Ekopak undertook a series of activities related to the publication of the Rulebook on the termination of the validity of the Rulebook on packaging and packaging waste management (Official Gazette of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, No. 8/16)

The Federal Ministry of Environment and Tourism has secretly and, although it is a legal obligation, without any discussions with stakeholders , and primarily with the system operator who has been implementing the Rulebook in the field for the fifth year and on behalf of the packaging industry has duly fulfilled all the obligations it prescribes,  published the Rulebook on the termination of the validity of the Rulebook on packaging and packaging waste management (Official Gazette of the Federation of BiH, No. 8/16).

As a responsible system operator, and on the occasion of the publication of the Regulation on the termination of the Regulation on the Management of Packaging and Packaging Waste, Ekopak has undertaken a number of activities with the aim of protecting its business and the interests of its clients: 

– that the lowest sustainable fees are paid for packaging and that these fees are spent for the purposes for which they are intended

– establishing a system of separate collection and recycling of packaging waste based on best European practices. 

The undertaken activities are already yielding results.

Acting upon the request of Ekopak, the Competition Council of BiH ordered the Federal Ministry of Environment and Tourism to take a temporary measure to repeal and implement the Rulebook on the termination of the validity of the Rulebook on the management of packaging and packaging waste (Official Gazette of the Federation of BiH, No. 8/16)

Considering the fact that by publishing the Rulebook on the termination of the Rulebook on the management of packaging and packaging waste (Official Gazette of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, No. 8/16), the Federal Ministry of Environment and Tourism grossly violated the provisions of the Law on Competition of BiH: it closed the market, eliminated competition and gave a monopoly to the Environmental Protection Fund of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ekopak addressed the Competition Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which,  acting upon Ekopak’s request, on 30.03.2016. issued Decision No. 06-26-3-007-3-II/16 on a temporary measure by which:

– Orders the Federal Ministry of Environment and Tourism to temporarily suspend and apply the Rulebook on the Termination of the Rulebook on Packaging and Packaging Waste Management (Official Gazette of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, No. 8/16)

– The temporary measure is determined for a period of three months and may be extended if necessary and justified pursuant to Article 40 of the Law.

– The decision is final and will be published in the Official Gazette of BiH, the official gazettes of the entities and the Brčko District.

The explanation of this Decision states: “The Competition Council has preliminarily determined that  the Federal Ministry of Environment and Tourism has violated the provision of Article 4, paragraph (1) of the Competition Law  in terms of adopting the Rulebook restricting the market in a way that imposes an obligation on system operators to transfer all obligations, including all contracts that operators have concluded with other economic entities (Polluters and Collectors), as well as the remaining unspent financial resources, to the Public Institution Environmental Protection Fund of the FBiH,  which directly closes the market and eliminates competition, i.e. prevents the work of economic entities that held the Decision on the permit for the operator of the  packaging waste management system.”  In Annex III of this notice, we provide you with the most important parts of the Decision of the Competition Council of BiH. 

The decision of the BiH Competition Council was published in:

– Official Gazette of Bosnia and Herzegovina No. 35/16 of 13 May 2016. year, which you can download  here ,

– Official Gazette of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina No. 41/16 dated 05/27/2016. year, which you can download  here .

This practically means that the implementation of the Rulebook on Packaging and Packaging Waste Management (Official Gazette of the FBiH, No. 88/11 and 28/13) continues.

We invite all system payers who have not yet joined the Ekopak system to do so, so that, strengthened by your support, we can continue to act in the direction in which we started:  to develop a sustainable system of packaging and packaging waste management legally, professionally, transparently, according to the highest ethical standards and at the lowest sustainable costs, with the least impact on consumer prices and the greatest benefits for the environment in the Federation of BiH, in which Ekopak will persist .