Supervisory Order dated August 30, 1997, as amended by Supervisory Order dated October 9, 1997, prohibited the local Republika Srpska (RS) police and customs from collecting any fee of any kind whatsoever from persons in vehicles or on foot crossing the Brcko bridge in either direction. These orders apply to both the Brcko automobile bridge and the Brcko railway bridge.
The Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) enacted the “Customs Tariff Policy Law,” effective November 13, 1997, which provides a uniform policy for charging customs fees at international border crossing points of the BiH. Additionally, the governments of the RS and Federation have agreed on a reciprocal Deposits System for High Duty Transits, to allow the Entities to charge customs duty deposits in accordance with BiH law.
Therefore, effective today, I am hereby amending the above-mentioned Supervisory Orders to allow the collection of customs duty and to charge customs duty deposits as agreed by the Entities by RS customs officers at the Brcko bridges.
In the event the local RS police and customs officials fail to follow BiH law or apply such law in a discriminatory or unlawful fashion, I will consider measures to prevent such discriminatory or illegal practices, up to and including modifying this order to re-impose the prohibition against the charging of any fees at the bridges.
This order refers only to the collection of customs duty deposits and the charging of customs duty at the bridges. The collection of visa, road tolls, or other fees are still prohibited at the bridges. Under no circumstances will the RS police collect fees of any kind at the bridges, nor will the RS police accompany or assist RS customs officials in collecting the above mentioned customs fees.
This order shall be posted conspicuously near the police and customs bridge crossing point of the Brcko automobile bridge and at the Brcko railway customs control point for all travelers to see. Failure to post this notice in such a manner will, in itself, be an illegal act resulting in the designation of the border crossing point as an illegal checkpoint with all the consequences following therefrom.
