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AFTER ADOPTION OF THE RULES OF HEARING PROCEDURES
The public has been invited to give their comments on the Draft Rules of Public Hearing Procedures of the SERC.
They could do that in different manners until February 4, 2005. The SERC has concluded that the content of this
document during the public hearing period did not draw any attention of members of the public or, surprisingly,
of representatives of regulated entities whose applications shall be processed by the SERC, in accordance with
the rules established by this document. This is the reason why the SERC has given importance to the comments
made on similar documents which were presented to the public by the regulators of the Republika Srpska and
BiH Federation.
Well-intended observations of the members of expert public made the SERC check once again the general
concept and individual rules of procedure which shall be applied. The SERC had to carefully consider the interest
of expert public: whether it is fully autonomous in the capacity of a regulatory body when developing rules and
regulations in accordance with which the parties shall participate in proceedings and based on which the
regulator shall issue its decisions. This is the reason why the legislator had to be consulted and its will,
expressed in a range of laws establishing the institution of the regulator, had to be discovered, as well as to
what extent they precisely determine the legal nature, status, role, and competence of the regulator.
The SERC explored in detail a range of state laws, and corrected some provisions of the Rules of Public
Procedures in its final version in order to include, to a greater extent, basic procedural principles which shall
govern its proceedings, and to clearly determine and protect the respective rights and obligations of the parties
in the proceeding, thus ensuring legal grounds for its actions and decisions.
The final version of the Rules, adopted at the session of the Commission held on May 24, 2005, is a result
of the current view of the SERC that the envisaged types of hearings before the SERC and established
procedural institutes, especially those present in the formal type of hearings, correspond to the relevant laws.
At the same time, the SERC is aware that the substance of some parts of the Rules of Public Procedures is
very technical, complex and demanding. This substance stimulates interest and obligation to continuously
monitor, critically revise and evaluate the application of this document. The SERC shall not restrain itself to
revise the Rules if its provisions prove to be disputable in theory and unfeasible in practice.
The SERC shall be grateful to receive and review each suggestion which may contribute to further improvements
of this document
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