CONCURRING OPINION OF JUDGE MIJOVI Ć

Although I have voted with the majority in the Chamber on all the operative provisions of the judgment, my reasoning with respect to a violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention differs to a certain extent from the views expressed in the judgment.

According to the present judgment, Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 has been violated because of the deficient implementation of the domestic legislation on “old” foreign-currency savings, whilst in my personal opinion, a violation should be based on the solutions and measures contained in the legislation in question. The Chamber found that the current legislation as such was compatible with Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 but that it was its state of implementation that was unsatisfactory (namely, because government bonds in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina had not yet been issued and certain instalments had not yet been paid).

It is my view, however, that the current legislation - perhaps it is better to say the contested measures - does not in itself strike a “fair balance” between the demands of the general interest of the community and the requirement of the protection of the individual ' s rights.

The problem of “old” foreign-currency savings has a very long history and, as pointed out in the judgment, dates back to the 1980s. It survived the dissolution of the SFRY, and Bosnia and Herzegovina assumed full liability for this sort of claim. Preliminary data show that the associated public debt exceeds 1 billion euros. Given the overall circumstances, and above all the need to reconstruct the national economy, it is reasonable to accept that the owners of so-called “frozen” bank accounts cannot be paid their money without a carefully designed repayment scheme. That is a part of the judgment ' s reasoning I do support.

Where I disagree with the Chamber, however, is with regard to the legislative provision concerning the reduction of the interest rate to 0.5% for the period from 1 January 1992 to 15 April 2006, a measure that I consider neither justified nor proportional. In accordance with an official report submitted by the Government (see the judgment, paragraph 54) it is obvious that the relevant interest rate appears to be much higher - 2.33% on average). Compared to the interest rate in the neighbouring countries [22] , which have more or less experienced similarly catastrophic effects of the armed conflict and the ongoing reforms and have set up similar “old” foreign-currency savings repayment schemes, this interest rate of 0.5% is the lowest. The Chamber was of the opinion that this issue fell “within the State ' s margin of appreciation”, whilst in my opinion this interest rate provision would be more than sufficient in itself to render the current legislation contrary to Article 1 of Protocol No. 1.

On the other hand, if the Chamber had opted for this line of reasoning, either the State or the Entities and the Brčko District would have had to pass new legislation which might subsequently have proven more time-consuming, economically challenging and questionable, and very discouraging for almost one quarter of the Bosnia and Herzegovina population - people who are not merely tired of waiting but are already at an advanced age and in despair. That is why I decided to vote with the majority.

[1] Zakon o deviznom poslovanju , published in the Official Gazette of the SFRY no. 66/85, amendments published in the Official Gazette nos. 13/86, 71/86, 2/87, 3/88, 59/88 and 82/90 .

[2] Zakon o bankama i drugim finansijskim organizacijama , published in the Official Gazette of the SFRY no. 10/89, amendments published in the Official Gazette nos. 40/89, 87/89, 18/90, 72/90 and 79/90 .

[3] Zakon o deviznom poslovanju i kreditnim odnosima , published in th e Official Gazette of the SFRY no. 15/77, amendments published in the Official Gazette nos. 61/82, 77/82, 34/83, 70/83 and 71/84 .

[4] Zakon o obligacionim odnosima , published in the Official Gazette of the SFRY no. 29/78, amendments published in the Official Gazette nos. 39/85, 45/89 and 57/89.

[5] Zakon o sanaciji, stečaju i likvidnosti banaka i drugih finansijskih organizacija , published in the Official Gazette of the SFRY no. 84/89, amendments published in the Official Gazette no. 63/90.

[6] Odluka o načinu izvršavanja obaveza Federacije po osnovu jemstva za devize na deviznim računima i deviznim štednim ulozima građana, građanskih pravnih lica i stranih fizičkih lica , published in the Official Gazette of the SFRY no. 27/90.

[7] Uredba sa zakonskom snagom o preuzimanju i primjenjivanju saveznih zakona koji se u Bosni i Hercegovini primjenjuju kao republički zakoni , published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina no. 2/92 of 11 April 1992.

[8] Zakon o prenosu sredstava društvene u državnu svojinu , published in the Official Gazette of t he Republika Srpska no. 4/93 of 28 April 1993, amendments published in the Official Gazette nos. 29/94 of 28 November 1994, 31/94 of 27 December 1994, 9/95 of 19 June 1995, 19/95 of 2 October 1995, 8/96 of 10 April 1996 and 20/98 of 15 June 1998 .

[9] Zakon o pretvorbi društvene svojine , published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina no. 33/94 of 25 November 1994 .

[10] Odluka o uslovima i na činu isplata dinara po osnovu definitivne prodaje devizne štednje domaćih fizičkih lica i korišćenju deviza sa deviznih računa i deviznih štednih uloga domaćih fizičkih lica za potrebe liječenja i plaćanja školarine u inostranstvu , published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina no. 4/93 of 6 March 1993.

[11] Odluka o uslovima i načinu davanja kratkoročnih kredita bankama na osnovu definitivne prodaje deponovane devizne štednje građana i efektivno prodatih deviza od strane građana , published in the Official Gazette of the Republika Srpska no. 10/93 of 15 July 199 3, amendments pub lished in the Official Gazette no. 2/94 of 21 February 1994.

[12] Zakon o utvrđivanju i realizaciji potraživanja građana u postupku privatizacije , published in the Official Gazette of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina no. 27/97 of 28 November 1997, amendments published in the Official Gazette nos. 8/99 of 5 March 1999, 45/00 of 25 October 2000, 54/00 of 26 December 2000, 32/01 of 24 July 2001, 27/02 of 28 June 2002, 57/03 of 21 November 2003, 44/04 of 21 August 2004 and 79/07 of 7 November 2007.

[13] Uredba o ostvarivanju potraživanja lica koja su imala deviznu štednju u bankama na teritoriju Federacije Bosne i Hercegovine, a nisu imala prebivalište na teritoriju Federacije Bosne i Hercegovine, published in the Official Gazette of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina no. 44/99 of 30 October 1999 .

[14] Zakon o početnom bilansu stanja u postupku privatizacije državnog kapitala u bankama , published in the Official Gazette of the Republika Srpska no. 24/98 of 15 July 1998 , amendments pub lished in the Official Gazette no. 70/01 of 31 December 2001 .

[15] Zakon o privatizaciji državnog kapitala u preduzećima , published in the Official Gazette of the Republika Srpska no. 24/98 of 15 July 1998, amendments published in the Official Gazette no s . 62/02 of 7 October 2002, 38/03 of 30 May 2003 and 65/03 of 11 August 2003 .

[16] The convertible mark (BAM) uses the same fixed exchange rate to the euro (EUR) that the German mark (DEM) has (EUR 1 = BAM 1.95583) .

[17] Zakon o izmirenju obaveza po osnovu računa stare devizne štednje , published in the Official Gazette of Bosnia and Herzegovina no. 28/06 of 14 April 2006, amendments published in the Official Gazette nos. 76/06 of 25 September 2006 and 72/07 of 26 September 2007 .

[18] Zakon o uslovima i načinu izmirenj a obaveza po osnovu računa stare devizne štednje emisijom obveznica u Republici Srpskoj , published in the Official Gazette of the Republika Srpska no. 1/08 of 4 January 2008.

[19] Odluka o emisiji obveznica Republike Srpske za izmirenje obaveza po osnovu verifikovanih računa stare devizne štednje , published in the Official Gazette of the Republika Srpska no. 20/08 of 5 March 2008.

[20] Odluka o rasporedu po godinama dospijeća obveznica Bosne i Hercegovine koje se izdaju radi izmirenja obaveza po osnovu računa stare devizne štednje za Federaciju Bosne i Hercegovine i Brčko Distrikt Bosne i Hercegovine , published in the Official Gazette of Bosnia and Herzegovina no. 29/08 of 8 April 2008.

[21] Odluka o emisiji obveznica Brčko Distrikta za izmirenje obaveza po osnovu verifikovanih računa stare devizne štednje , published in the Official Gazette of the Brčko District no. 19/09.

[22] 5% in Croatia and 2% in Serbia and Montenegro