Bosnia and Herzegovina driver license dispute affects border crossings

A dispute regarding the validity of professional driver licenses has led to some drivers from Republika Srpska being turned back at state border crossings. The issue stems from a conflict between licenses issued by the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Republika Srpska and those issued by the state-level Ministry of Transport and Communications of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Logistics Consortium of BiH reports that the lack of recognition for entity-level licenses is forcing transporters to face doubled costs to obtain state-level documentation. Velibor Peulić of the Logistics Consortium noted that the jurisdiction of the state ministry was accepted in 2023 with the consent of the entity ministry.

Edin Forto, the Minister of Communications and Transport of Bosnia and Herzegovina, described the situation as an administrative misunderstanding between the Border Police and the ministry departments. He stated that officials are working to resolve the issue and expressed expectation that the problem will be fixed to prevent unnecessary returns at the border.