Bosnia and Herzegovina

Starting a Business in

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Listed below is a detailed summary of the bureaucratic and legal hurdles an entrepreneur must overcome in order to incorporate and register a new firm, along with their associated time and set-up costs.  It examines the procedures, time and cost involved in launching a commercial or industrial firm with up to 50 employees and start-up capital of 10 times the economy's per-capita gross national income (GNI).

The information appearing on this page was collected as part of the Doing Business project, which measures and compares regulations relevant to the life cycle of a small- to medium-sized domestic business in 183 economies. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2011.

  • Standardized Company

  • Legal Form: Limited Liability Company
  • City: Sarajevo

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 Stipulate a founding act and have it notarized in the municipality office

The system of Notary was introduced in May 2007: The Law on Enterprises of FBiH; The Law on Notary of FBiH. The amended Law on Enterprise determines that all legal entities are required to harmonize business activities in accordance with a new Standard Classification of Activity. The Law on Notary requires all documentation needed for registration of a company to be prepared and certified by the public notary.
7 days BAM 400
2 Obtain a statement from commercial bank that full amount of the capital has been paid in; pay the registration fee to the budget account of the cantonal court

The founder should pay the amount of the capital to a temporary account at one of the local banks, to be subsequently transferred to the company transaction account after its opening.
1 day no charge
3 Obtain the statement of tax authorities that the founders have no tax debts


1 day no charge
4 Court registration with Municipal Courts

By law, regulated forms must be completed. These forms may be purchased at a stationery shop or at the court (BAM 15), to be prepared according to the regulations on registering legal entities in the court register. After the court registration of the new company, the court informs the Official Gazette to announce the prepared notice.

Companies are automatically registered for membership in the chambers of economy at the state, entity, canton, and regional levels. Since 2004, membership in the Chamber of Economy of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Chamber of Economy of the Republic of Srpska is voluntary.
The fees for chambers of economy in Bosnia and Herzegovina are as follows:
- State level: Foreign Trade Chamber of Bosnia and Herzegovina. For the membership fee, the company may choose one of two options (a) a fee of 1% of the declared customs value of imported or exported goods and services; or (b) a fee of 2% of the monthly sum of paid salaries.
- Entity level: Chamber of Commerce of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. For the membership fee, the company may choose one of two options (a) a fee of 7% of the company’s bruto paid salaries for all employees; or (b) a fee based on the number of employees, (e.g., BAM 150 for 31–50 employees).
- Cantonal (for Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina) : Chamber of Economy. For the membership fee, the company pays 3% of its bruto income.
- Regional (for Republic of Srpska): BAM 20 for capital in the amount of 250.000 b) 0.02% of the annual revenue
- Brcko District level: Chamber of Economy.
10 days BAM 405 (registration fee) + BAM 150 (publishing fee)
5 Buy a company stamp

The electronic version of the forms is available on the website of some of the competent courts, for e.g. for the Municipal Court in Sarajevo, the forms are available on the web site www.oss.ba.
1 day BAM 40
6 Request and obtain municipal approval on intended activities

The 4 municipalities making up the City of Sarajevo have reduced the cost for this procedure to BAM 10.

The Company founder goes to the municipality, fills out a request form and attachs all required documents (proof of company's court registration, statement confirming that all business premises fulfill conditions mandated by the law, and notification about the date when the company will start with operations) and the proof of payment of the administrative fee. Then, the time necessary to obtain the resolution on intended activities takes about 10 days
10 days BAM 10
7 Application for utilization permit to the canton ministry of commerce

The application should be submitted to Canton Inspections (all the inspections are centralized at one place), and depending on the company’s scope of business, the relevant inspectors perform control at the company’s business premises and issue the "approval to perform business." For example, if the company’s scope of business is trade, the trade inspector and the employment inspector must perform the control. For this permit, the following must be submitted: a copy of the resolution on the intended activities; a copy of court registration; evidence of business premises possession; an appropriate attestation for electric power, issued by an authorized institution (the landlord should have obtained this document); and a copy of the employee registration forms. If the company produces a product, an attestation must be submitted for the machines.
1 day BAM 150
8 Apply for company identification number with the competent tax office

When filing an application for statistical and taxpayer numbers simultaneously with the competent tax authorities (according to Regulations on Obtaining ID Numbers [Official Gazette No. 39/02]), the newly incorporated company must submit with the application form a photocopy of the court resolution (registration) and the contract on the lease of the business premises, resolution of the competent municipality on the intended activities (this resolution must confirm that certain activities may be exercised at a certain address), and a copy of the Director of the company's ID card. Newly adopted Rulebook (as published in the OG FBiH 02/10) regulates new tax registration procedures that streamlines the process for legal entities. In accordance with the new Article 8a of this Rulebook, respective court and tax administration initiate tax registration by mutual official correspondence and legal entities are only obliged to submit required documents (copy of court registry, 2 copies of application form including company's stamp, and copies of ID cards) after the court registration is completed. This Rulebook does not require submission of following documents (as previously requested: 1) contract on the lease of the business premises and 2) resolution of the competent municipality on the intended activities.
5 days no charge
9 Open a company account with commercial bank


1 day no charge
10 Enroll the employees in pension insurance

Law on Unified System of Registration, Control and Collection of Contributions (Official Gazzete of FB&H, no. 42/09) regulates completely new system of registration. In accordance with the Article 14 of this Law, the company is obliged to submitt the application for registration for every new employee within seven (7) days from the date of commencement of work.
The following document should be submitted: court resolution on registration in the registry, Certificate of the Identification and Statistic number and the Form JS 3100
1 day BAM 1 (application form)
11 Enroll the employees in health insurance with Health Insurance Institute (Zavod za zdravstveno osiguranje)

The following documentation must be submitted for health insurance purposes: the application for pension insurance, the application for health insurance (obrazac ZO1), the employee identification card, and the health booklet.
1 day BAM 1 (application form)
12 Adopt and publish a rule book on matters of salary, work organization, discipline, and other employee regulations.

The procedure applies to employers who hire more than 15 workers. The company’s body authorized to issue internal regulations shall pass these rulebooks and does not have to submit them anywhere.
1 day no charge, KM250 minimum if made by a lawyer, depending of complexity
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