On October 22, 2024, in Sarajevo, authorities from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika Srpska, and the Brčko District were presented with a draft roadmap for establishing and strengthening Beneficial Ownership (BO) Registers in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This step-by-step guide outlines potential challenges and offers recommendations to support authorities in building effective, transparent systems within each jurisdiction, while emphasizing the need for a unified access point to ensure interconnectivity.

Drawing on international best practices and lessons learned from other jurisdictions, the roadmap details several stages and focal areas to be considered based on each jurisdiction's current progress. These stages cover the planning and development phases of register creation, potential challenges related to data accuracy and reliability, and the necessary definitions, access regulation, and transparency of registers.

The stakeholder discussions highlighted practical challenges, such as disparity in legal frameworks, gaps in current registration and control practices, data verification issues, and the future interconnectivity of these registers.

Based on the feedback received, the Draft Roadmap will be finalized and used as a guiding document not only for the authorities but also to inform the Council of Europe’s work in this field.

This workshop is a part of the Council of Europe's three-year initiative focused on combating corruption, money laundering, and terrorist financing in Bosnia and Herzegovina, funded under the joint European Union and Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye III” and through a voluntary contribution of the Council of Europe.