The Consensual Patent’s Last Year: What Changes for Anyone Protecting an Invention in Bosnia and Herzegovina?

A manufacturer in Bosnia and Herzegovina develops an improved technical component. The improvement may not represent a major technological breakthrough, but it is new, commercially useful and capable of being copied quickly by competitors. In such circumstances, the availability of timely and cost-effective protection can be decisive. Under the current framework, that role has been performed by the consensual patent. As of 21 June 2027, the relevant mechanism will change.

Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted a new Patent Law on 14 May 2026, as part of a broader package of industrial property legislation. The law entered into force on 20 June 2026, but its application is deferred until 21 June 2027. The transitional period is intended to allow the Institute for Intellectual Property of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the courts and market participants to prepare for the new legal framework.

The core requirements for patent protection remain unchanged: the invention must be new, involve an inventive step and be capable of industrial application, and the standard term of protection remains twenty years. The reform is therefore not a departure from the foundations of patent law, but a significant reshaping of the legal framework that determines how those rights are obtained, maintained and enforced. Four groups of applicants are likely to feel those changes most directly.

The first category concerns applicants that would previously have relied on the consensual patent. The new law replaces that form of protection with the utility model, conceived as a registration-based right intended to make the patent system more transparent and to streamline the procedures for protecting inventions before the Institute. The change is not limited to terminology. The existing expression “consensual patent” may create the misleading impression that the right has been granted following a full substantive examination of patentability requirements, whereas in practice it functions as a simplified form of protection. The term “utility model” is therefore more appropriate, both because it is commonly used in patent systems that recognise this type of protection and because the subject matter protected by this right is more narrowly defined.

Compared with the previous consensual patent regime, the new law narrows the scope of subject matter eligible for protection as a utility model. In addition to the generally accepted exclusions from patent protection, utility model protection is not intended to cover inventions relating to processes, biotechnological inventions, chemical or pharmaceutical substances, or inventions whose commercial exploitation would be contrary to public order or morality. The utility model is therefore designed primarily for technical solutions relating to objects or products, which is consistent with its function as a faster and simpler form of registered protection.

The new law also separates the procedure for granting a patent from the procedure for registering a utility model. A utility model will be registered on the basis of a separate application and, after completion of the formal examination, published as a registered right within a shorter timeframe. This procedural separation should reduce the duration of the registration process and make the system more accessible for applicants seeking protection for less complex technical solutions.

This change is not merely terminological. Utility models are recognised in a number of European jurisdictions and are generally used as simplified protection mechanisms for technical solutions that may not justify the time and cost of a fully examined patent. The introduction of this concept should therefore make the domestic framework more understandable to foreign business partners and better aligned with comparative European practice.

The second category concerns applicants and right holders whose protection in Bosnia and Herzegovina depends on the European patent system. One of the most significant changes introduced by the new law is the more comprehensive regulation of the relationship between the domestic patent system and the European patent framework. The provisions of the 2010 Patent Law governing the extended European patent have been revised and aligned with the European Patent Convention, the practice developed under that Convention, and the Cooperation and Extension Agreement between the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the European Patent Organization. In this respect, the new law removes a number of shortcomings identified in the previous regime, particularly provisions that were unclear, imprecise or insufficiently adapted to practical needs.

For this category of applicants and rights holders, the changes are relevant in two respects. First, the new law continues to regulate the extended European patent, but in a more detailed and coherent manner, with the aim of ensuring more consistent application of the rules and greater legal certainty. Secondly, it introduces a separate chapter on the European patent, reflecting Bosnia and Herzegovina’s broader objective of aligning its legislation with the European Patent Convention and meeting the legislative requirements for accession to the European Patent Organisation. This is particularly important because accession to the European Patent Organisation remains one of the key institutional steps toward full integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina into the European patent system.

The third category is particularly relevant for pharmaceutical and agrochemical companies. The new law regulates the supplementary protection certificate for products forming part of a medicinal product or a plant protection product protected by a basic patent in a greater detail, including the possibility of extending the certificate in the case of medicinal products for paediatric use, as well as the examination procedure and the issuance of the decision granting the certificate. The purpose of the certificate is to compensate for part of the period required to obtain the first marketing authorisation, during which the patented product could not be commercially exploited. The certificate takes effect upon expiry of the basic patent and may last for a maximum of five years, or, in the case of medicinal products for paediatric use where the prescribed conditions are met, for a maximum of five years and six months. Within the scope of protection conferred by the basic patent, the protection granted by the certificate is limited to the product covered by the marketing authorisation, namely the active ingredient or combination of active ingredients of a medicinal product for human or veterinary use, or a plant protection product, including authorised uses of that product before the certificate expires. 

The fourth category concerns parties involved in infringement proceedings. The new law clarifies the position of licence holders by allowing them to bring an infringement claim where they are authorised to do so under the licence or by law. It also refines the rules on measures for securing evidence. In particular, where a court orders such measures, it is required to protect confidential information and prevent the mechanism from being used solely to obtain the opposing party’s confidential business information.

The essence, the introduction of the utility model, the more structured regulation of the extended European patent and European patent, a more operational framework for supplementary protection certificates and refined enforcement mechanisms should make the system more coherent. At the same time, these changes require timely review of existing portfolios, licensing arrangements and planned filings, particularly where rights may need to be enforced or where products are subject to lengthy regulatory approval procedures. For that reason, the period before 21 June 2027 should be used not merely as a transitional pause, but as an opportunity to align patent protection strategies with the new legal framework.