Federal Administrative Agencies
of Yugoslavia - Their role, position and organization
UDC 342.24:354(497.1)
INTRODUCTION
According to the new Constitution of the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
(SFRY), promulgated on 21 February 1974,
and in conformity with the character of the
federal organization of Yugoslavia and with
other principles of its socialist self-manage-
ment socio-political and socio-economic system,
the assembly of each socio-political community
(Federation, socialist republic, socialist auto-
nomous province, and commune), in its capa-
city as a body of social self-management and
of highest agency of power in the framework
of the rights and duties of a socio-political
community, forms the administrative agencies.
By the SFRY Constitution, unified principles
are established on the basis of which through
the constitutions of the socialist republics and
socialist autonomous provinces, i.e. through
statutes of the communes and law, the forming,
organization and jurisdiction of the assemblies
of socio-political communities and agencies
responsible to them, including the administra-
tive agencies, are regulated.
In conformity with the above-mentioned
constitutional principles, the fundamental
characteristic of the federal administrative
agencies emanates, first of all, from the nature
of their functions and their specific position.
This specificity is determined by the federative
organization of Yugoslavia, and through that
by the need for that character of Yugoslav
State community and its socio-political and
economic system to be maximally expressed
in the federal administrative agencies too,
together with all relevant basic principles and,
more particularly, the following: the equality
of nations and nationalities of Yugoslavia, res-
ponsibility of the republics and provinces for
their own development and for the realization
of specific functions of the Federation, freely
associated labour by the means of production
in social ownership and self-management of
by
Ivan FRANKO,
Federal Secretary for
Judicial Administration and Organization
of Federal Administration
workers in production and in distribution of
the social product in basic and other organ-
izations of associated labour and in the social
reproduction in its entirety, i.e. the self-man-
agement of working people as a basis of a
unified system of self-management and power
of the working class, the position and role
of the assemblies of socio-political communities
constituted on the delegate basis, as well as
the role and position of socio-political organ-
izations.
I. THE FUNCTION OF FEDERAL
ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCIES
Administrative affairs in the framework of
the rights and duties of the Federation are
conducted by federal administrative agencies
and federal organizations.
The SFRY Constitution established in a
unified manner the component parts of the
function of administrative agencies in all socio-
political communities, including the federal ad-
ministrative agencies. Accordingly, the func-
tion of federal administrative agencies and of
federal organizations is expressed through the
following: putting the established policy into
effect and enforcing the statutes, regulations
and other general acts of the Assembly of the
SFRY and the provisions and general acts
of the Federal Executive Council; putting into
effect the guidelines of the Assembly of the
SFRY; responsibility for the state of affairs
in particular areas and taking initiatives for
solving questions in these areas; decision-
making in administrative matters; performing
administrative supervision and other adminis-
trative affairs; preparing drafts of provisions
and of other general acts, as well as perform-
ing other professional /affairs for the Assembly
of the SFRY and the Federal Executive
Council.
The agencies and organizations are bound
in their work to safeguard the efficient realiza-
146
tion of the rights and interests of the working
people and citizens, of the organizations of
associated labour and of other self-manage-
ment organizations and communities.
The function of federal administrative agen-
cies and federal organizations is limited by
the nature of the constitutional powers of the
Federation, which are characterized, in terms
of its executive jurisdiction, by the predo-
minant representation of powers to regulate
basic social relations in particular areas, as
well as by the unified regulation of correspond-
ing questions of interest for the country as a
whole. This is true in spite of the changes
introduced by the new Constitution and by
previous constitutional amendments, which
essentially narrowed the regulatory competence
of the Federation, which does not, according
to the Constitution, fall within the jurisdiction
of the socialist republics and socialist auto-
nomous provinces.
The second characteristic of the rights and
duties of the Federation concerns the fact that
the sphere of its responsibility for implementing
federal laws and other federal provisions is
wider than the domain where it enforces these
laws and provisions through the federal agen-
cies.
Out of these characteristics of the rights
and duties of the Federation a presumption
arises that the enforcement of federal provi-
sions falls into the realm of the agencies in
the republics and autonomous provinces. Ac-
cordingly, the powers for enforcing federal
provisions, i.e. for safeguarding that enforce-
ment, are established in favour of the Feder-
ation in relatively narrow spheres where, in
the interest of the country as a whole, the
need arises for safeguarding a unified execution
of these provisions, as well as for putting estab-
lished policy into effect. In conformity with
the stated characteristics of the powers of the
Federation through which its regulatory com-
ponent has been determined, the function of
federal administrative agencies and of federal
organizations is characterized by the making
of drafts of laws and of other general acts
for the Assembly of the SFRY and the Federal
Executive Council.
The qualitatively new element of the func-
tion of federal administrative agencies and of
federal organizations is their responsibility for
the state of affairs in the areas where they
are formed. The basic characteristic of such
a responsibility is that it is limited to the
sphere of the rights and duties of the cor-
responding federal administrative agency, i.e.
federal organization. This responsibility is not
limited by the executive competences of the
agency or the organization, but is related to
the complete state of affairs in the given area,
i.e. also to the sphere where the Federation
is empowered to regulate specific relations,
while not having executive competences, as
well as to the areas in which the Assembly
of the SFRY is authorized to consider relevant
questions of common interest for the organ-
izations of associated labour and for other self-
management organizations and communities, as
well as to coordinate their relationships and
interests. It results from the above that federal
administrative agencies and/or federal organ-
izations are bound to follow the state of affairs
in the area for which they are formed, to
undertake as need be measures falling within
their competence, to inform the Assembly of
the SFRY and the Federal Executive Council
on the phenomena and problems arising in
these areas, as well as to take initiatives at
the Assembly and the Federal Executive Coun-
cil for solving the questions in particular areas.
This of federal administrative
responsibility
agencies and of federal organizations includes
their duty to follow the state of affairs in the
area of social understanding and self-manage-
ment agreements; it also includes the duty of
informing the Assembly and the Federal Exe-
cutive Council on phenomena in these areas,
then the duty to submit proposals to the As-
sembly for taking initiatives for coming to
social understanding and to self-management
agreement and to take part in these them-
selves, within the framework of the rights and
duties entrusted to them, as well as to take
initiatives for resolving questions in the area
of social understanding and agreements with
the self-management organizations and com-
munities.
One of the specificities of the function of
federal administrative agencies and of federal
organizations, which is connected with respons-
ibility for the state of affairs in the areas for
which they have been formed, consists of the
fact that their activities in implementing the
established policy cannot be limited to the
sphere of enforcing the federal provisions
falling within their competence; they are bound
to take initiatives for exchanging information
and for the realization of other aspects of co-
ordination in the areas regulated by federal
statutes where the agencies in the republics and
autonomous provinces are responsible for en-
forcing such statutes; they also effect the co-
ordination of activities and understanding with
these agencies and with self-management or-

ganizations, communities, corresponding socio-
political organizations, as well as with other
social institutions.
The dimensions of enforcing the federal
provisions, including decision-making in ad-
ministrative matters, performing of administra-
tive supervision and other administrative af-
fairs, as well as carrying out the established
policy -
as a component part of the function
of federal administrative agencies -
determine
the entity of affairs arising from the com-
petence established for the federal administra-
tive agencies and federal organizations by
federal laws, by which questions from cor-
responding areas, as well as the kind and the
scope of affairs to be performed in practice
in terms of discharging that competence, are
regulated.
The scope of affairs prescribed for the
federal administrative agencies and federal or-
ganizations, in terms of making the drafts of
provisions and of other general acts for the
Assembly and the Federal Executive Council,
is determined by the contents, character and
scope of the constitutional powers vested in the
Assembly of the SFRY and the Federal Exe-
cutive Council for the purpose of regulating
specific questions, as well as by initiatives of
federal administrative agencies and federal or-
ganizations in the field of enacting provisions
within their jurisdictions and in conformity
with their responsibility for the state of affairs
in the areas for which they have been formed.
However, in order to obtain information
regarding the need for the regulation of cor-
responding questions and the manner of
regulating them, the federal administrative
agencies and federal organizations, each in
their jurisdictional fields, are directed to follow
the execution of federal provisions by the agen-
cies in the republics and autonomous provin-
ces, in cases where the latter are responsible,
i.e. where that responsibility falls on the agen-
cies of the socio-political communities of the
republics and provinces, in other words, in
all areas in which the Federation has regulatory
competences.
In view of the fact that the areas in which
the Federation is empowered to regulate de-
finite relations are wider, the domain of
regulatory competences of the Federation is
rather wider too, in the sphere of its executive
powers; this has a direct bearing on the degree
of development of activities of federal admin-
istrative agencies and federal organizations in
the sphere of supervision of the putting into
effect of federal laws and of drafting provisions
147
and other acts for the Assembly and for the
Federal Executive Council, as well as perform-
ing other professional affairs for the needs of
these institutions.
II. THE POSITION OF FEDERAL
ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCIES AND
FEDERAL ORGANIZATIONS
Federal administrative agencies and federal
organizations perform the affairs within their
jurisdiction independently and are responsible
for their work to the Assembly of the SFRY
and the Federal Executive Council.
The specific position of the federal admin-
istrative agencies and federal organizations is
expressed through their responsibility for en-
forcing federal statutes in the areas where these
statutes are enforced by the agencies in the
republics and autonomous provinces, and in
which, according to the Constitution, the
federal administrative agencies and federal or-
ganizations are responsible for that enforce-
ment.
The specificity of the position of federal
administration is determined by the character
of powers and of the position of the Federation,
as well as by the relations of federal adminis-
trative agencies and federal organizations
towards the administrative agencies in the
republics and the autonomous provinces,
towards the Assembly of the SFRY, the Pre-
sidency of the SFRY, the President of the
SFRY and the Federal Executive Council, as
well as towards the self-management structures
and socio-political organizations.
The position of federal administrative agen-
cies and of federal organizations is determined
by their specific relationships too, towards the
administrative agencies in the republics and in
autonomous provinces, which is expressed in
two basic aspects, as follows :
-
through definite rights and duties of the
federal administrative agencies and federal
organizations towards the administrative agen-
cies in the republics and autonomous provinces
in cases in which the latter agencies perform
the enforcement of federal statutes for whose
enforcement the responsibility falls within the
competence of federal administrative agencies;
-
in the coordination of the federal ad-
ministrative agencies with the administrative
agencies in the republics and autonomous
provinces in affairs pertaining to the enforcing
of federal statutes, when these statutes are en-
forced by the agencies in the republics and
autonomous provinces, which are also respons-
ible for this enforcement.
148
The federal administrative agencies and
federal organizations are bound, in discharging
affairs within their competence, to abide by
federal statutes and other regulations and
general acts, by the guidelines of the Assembly
of the SFRY, as well as by the positions of
principle and guidelines of the Federal Exe-
cutive Council. They are also bound to submit
to the Assembly of the SFRY and to the
Federal Executive Council reports on their
activity, on the state of affairs in the areas
for which they are formed, on the implement-
ation of the policy established, aswell as on
the putting into effect of federal statutes.
Federal administrative agencies and federal
organizations have a duty, at the request of
the Assembly and the Federal Executive Coun-
cil, to inquire into the state of affairs in spe-
cific areas, to study specific issues, to perform
specific affairs within their competence, as well
as to submit the corresponding reports.
The Federal Executive Council coordinates
and directs the work of federal administrative
agencies with a view to ensuring the execution
of policy and the enforcement of statutes, other
regulations and enactments of the Assembly
of the SFRY. It also supervises the work of
federal administrative agencies and federal
organizations. The Federal Executive Council
is entitled and bound to rescind regulations
of these agencies and organizations which are
contrary to a federal statute, other regulation
or enactment of the Assembly, or to a regula-
tion passed by the Council for the implement-
ation of a federal statute, other regulation or
enactment, and may, under conditions specified
by federal statute, annul regulations passed by
these agencies and organizations. The Federal
Executive Council is also entitled to establish
general principles for the internal organization
of federal administrative agencies and federal
organizations.
Federal administrative and federal
agencies
organizations are also bound to coordinate
with organizations of associated labour and
with other self-management organizations and
well as with socio-political
communities, as
organizations far
as as the questions of interest
for these organizations and communities are
concerned. They are also bound to ensure
mutual information on relevant issues.
III. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF
FEDERAL ADMINISTRATIVE
AGENCIES AND FEDERAL
’
ORGANIZATIONS
The administrative structure of the Feder-
ation consists of four kinds of federal admin-
istrative agencies, viz. federal secretariats,
federal committees, federal boards, and federal
inspectorates, as well as of five kinds of federal
organizations, viz. federal institutions, federal
directorates, federal bureaus, Yugoslav com-
missions for cooperation with specific inter-
national organizations, and federal professional
councils. At present, the Federation has
forty-six federal administrative agencies and
federal organizations (see the organization
chart appended).
The Constitution of the SFRY establishes
the setting up of federal secretariats to conduct
administrative affairs in specific areas within
the framework of the rights and duties of the
Federation, as well as of other federal admin-
istrative agencies and federal organizations for
the discharging of specific administrative, pro-
fessional and other affairs, these latter being
set up by a federal statute.
According to the Law concerning the Organ-
ization and Competence of the Federal Ad-
ministrative Agencies and Federal Organiza-
tions, the organizational structure of federal ad-
ministration contains twenty-five federal ad-
ministrative agencies, seven of which are
federal secretariats and eleven federal com-
mittees, so that these are the kinds which are
most frequent as administrative agencies and
thus characterize that structure. The Law also
establishes criteria for the formation of these
agencies.
Federal secretariats are set up to conduct
administrative, professional and other affairs
in the areas in which the following should be
ensured: coordination, coming to agreement
and cooperation in work with corresponding
federal, republican and provincial administra-
tive agencies and self-management and other
organizations and communities related to the
questions of common interest and significant
for realization of unity in implementation of
established policy, and where federal adminis-
trative agencies, as a rule, are not entrusted
with direct implementation of federal laws,
other federal regulations and general acts.
According to the same Law, the adminis-
trative structure of the Federation contains
altogether twenty-one federal organizations,
nineteen of which have the status of artificial
person.
The same Law stipulates that some of the
federal administrative agencies (two federal
boards and two federal inspectorates) and spe-
cific federal organizations (one federal insti-
tution, three federal directorates and one
federal bureau) are in the framework of the

corresponding federal secretariats,i.e. federal
committees. The Law also establishes the
position of these agencies and organizations
in the above mentioned framework, as well as
their relations towards the agencies they are
included in.
At all federal boards, three federal institu-
tions (for prices, statistics and hydro-meteo-
rology), as well as at all three federal director-
ates, councils have been set up. The councils’
task is predominantly to consider all questions
of principle pertaining to the policy and en-
forcement of federal statutes and regulations,
as well as coordination of republican and
provincial interests in performing the tasks of
boards, institutions and directorates; on these
questions they also submit their proposals and
opinions to the Federal Executive Council and
to the official at the head of the federal board,
federal institution and federal directorate. In
conformity with powers established by a federal
law, these councils decide on specific questions
falling within the competence of federal ad-
ministration, i.e. federal organization in whose
framework they were set up. The relevant
law also establishes in a more detailed manner
the relation between the council and the official
managing the federal administrative agency,
i.e. federal organization in whose framework
the council is set up.
The council comprises one member from
each of the republics and autonomous provin-
ces. The official managing the relevant federal
board, institution or directorate is an ex officio
member of the council. The members of the
council are nominated by the Federal Executive
Council.
The law establishes that federal administra-
tive agencies and federal organizations may,
within the performance of affairs in their com-
petence, form professional commissions, coun-
cils, work groups, as well as other collegiate
work bodies, in order to realize the cooper-
ation and coordination in work between them-
selves. One finds in the practice of federal
administrative agencies and federal organiza-
tions a collegium, as an advisory body of the
official managing a federal administrative
agency and/or a federal organization.
IV. THE MANAGEMENT OF FEDERAL
ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCIES AND
FEDERAL ORGANIZATIONS -
THEIR OFFICIALS
A federal secretariat is managed by a federal
secretary,a federal board by a director, and
149
a federal inspectorate by a chief federal
inspector.
A federal committee is managed, in the
framework of powers established by law, by
a committee as a collegiate body and by a
president of the committee.
A federal institution, federal bureau or
federal directorate is managed by a director,
the Federal Institution for Social Planning by
the director general, while a professional coun-
cil is headed by a president.
The official in charge of a federal adminis-
trative agency and/or a federal organization
represents the agency and/or the organization,
organizes the performing of its work, enacts
provisions within his competence, appoints
workers within his competence, as well as acts
as the highest disciplinary official in the agency
and/or organization. The officials managing
the federal administrative agencies and federal
organizations are authorized to issue rules,
orders and directions for putting into effect
of federal laws, other regulations and general
acts of the Assembly of the SFRY and of
regulations of the Federal Executive Council
-
if they are authorized in this respect by
these regulations and/or acts.
A federal committee considers, by holding
a session, questions of principle within the
competence of the committee; it proposes
measures to be taken in the corresponding area;
enacts regulations and takes measures for
which is authorized; submits initiatives for
the enacting of federal laws and other acts of
the Assembly of the SFRY, as well as of
regulations and acts of the Federal Executive
Council; at the request of the Assembly of
the SFRY and the Federal Executive Council
delivers opinions concerning the questions
within the committee’s competence; performs
other affairs too within its competence, as
authorized by a federal law or by an act of
the Assembly of the SFRY establishing the
possibility for such affairs to be performed by
a collegial body. A committee works on the
basis of the rules of procedure enacted by it,
while decisions are taken by the majority of
votes of its members.
A president of a federal committee represents
the committee; he convokes, and is in charge
of preparing the committee’s sessions and pre-
sides over them; enacts regulations and other
acts, as well as undertakes measures if so
authorized by a federal law or other federal
provision; enacts decisions in administrative
procedure and is the highest official in disci-
plinary matters for the workers in the com-
150

mittee ; performs other duties and rights of an .
official managing a federal agency prescribed
by law.
Federal secretaries and presidents of federal
committees are members of the Federal Exe-
cutive Council. They, as well as their deputies,
are nominated and relieved of duty by the
Assembly of the SFRY. The officials of feder-
al administrative agencies (except federal
secretaries and presidents of federal commit-
tees), as well as members of collegiate bodies
in these agencies and organizations, are
nominated and relieved of duty by the Federal
Executive Council; presidents and members of
federal professional councils are nominated and
not &dquo; appointed &dquo;.
Members of .a federal committee are no-
minated by the Federal Executive Council on
the proposal of republican and provincial exe-
cutive councils from the ranks of officials and
workers of corresponding republican and pro-
vincial agencies and organizations, as well as
of interested federal agencies and organizations
and relevant self-management and other organ-
izations and communities, and of outstanding
social, scientific, and professional workers.
The director general of the Federal Institution
for Social Planning is an ex officio member of
the Federal Committee for Social Planning,
while the director of the Federal Institution
for International Scientific, Educational-Cul-
tural and Technical Cooperation is an ex officio
member of the Federal Committee for Science
and Culture.
Federal secretaries and presidents of federal
committees are responsible to the Assembly
of the SFRY and the Federal Executive Council
for their work, for the work of the agency they
manage, as well as for the state of affairs in
the corresponding area of social life within
the framework of the agency’s competence.
Officials managing federal administrative
agencies and/or federal organizations which are
appointed by the Federal Executive Council
are responsible to that Council. All these offi-
cials bound to inform the chambers of the
are
of the SFRY and the Federal Exe-
Assembly
cutive Council on the state of affairs in the
corresponding area of administration, as well
as on the activities of the agency and/or organ-
ization they manage. They are also bound,
at the request of the Assembly’s chambers and
of the Federal Executive Council, to inform
and give explanations concerning the questions
within the competence of their agencies and/or
organizations, as well as to answer to the
questions of delegates and delegations in the
chambers of the Assembly of the SFRY.
151
Officials in charge of federal administrative
agencies and federal organizations and other
officials nominated by the Assembly of the
SFRY are nominated for a term of four years.
They may be nominated for two consecutive
terms and, exceptionally, by a procedure laid
down by federal statute for one more term.
Officials heading federal administrative agen-
cies and federal organizations and other offi-
cials in these agencies and organizations ap-
pointed by the Federal Executive Council are
subject to reappointment for the same office
after a four-year term.
In nominating and appointing officials head-
ing the federal administrative agencies and
federal organizations, as well as other officials
and particular workers in them, the national
composition is taken into consideration. In
performing their function, the officials heading
federal administrative agencies and federal
organizations, as well as other officials in these
agencies and organizations are not allowed
either to receive guidelines and orders from
the agencies and officials of other socio-politi-
cal communities or to proceed on such guide-
lines and orders.
According to conditions contained in law,
the following officials in particular federal ad-
ministrative agencies and federal organizations
may be nominated or appointed, as the case
may be. The deputy-official managing a
federal administrative agency and/or a federal
organization may be nominated, i.e. appointed
in a federal secretariat, federal committee, as
well as in some of the federal institutions.
When the official heading the federal admin-
istrative agency, i.e. federal organization, is
absent, the deputy replaces him with the pre-
rogatives of the head of the agency and/or
organization, and acts in his name in the affairs
he has determined. As federal secretaries and
presidents of federal committees are members
of the Federal Executive Council, their deputies
replace them in that respect too.
The deputy-official of a federal secretariat
and of a federal committee is nominated by
the Assembly of the SFRY, while the deputy-
official of a federal institution is appointed by
the Federal Executive Council. Deputies in
federal administrative agencies and in federal
organizations nominated by the Assembly of
the SFRY are responsible for their work to
the Assembly and to the Federal Executive
Council, while those appointed by the Federal
Executive Council are answerable to that
Council.
If a deputy ina federal secretariat or federal
committee is not nominated, the official head-
152
ing a federal administrative agency or federal
organization is replaced, in the event of his
prolonged absence, by a member of the Federal
Executive Council determined by the Council.
In the event of the prolonged absence of an
official heading other federal administrative
agencies and/or federal organizations, the re-
placement is done by an official from such an
agency and/or organization, or by another
federal official determined by the Federal Exe-
cutive Council, while an official heading an
agency and/or organization in the framework
of a federal secretariat and/or federal commit-
tee is replaced by an official determined by
a federal secretary and/or a president of the
federal committee.
An under-secretary may be appointed only
in a federal secretariat and in a federal com-
mittee ; his functions include the following :
helping the official heading a federal adminis-
trative agency in specific affairs determined
by that official; acting as deputy-official in
the agency in case of absence of the official
in affairs concerning the internal activity of
the agency, if there is no deputy-official or
if such a deputy has not been appointed. An
under-secretary is appointed and relieved of
duty by the Federal Executive Council and is
responsible for his work to the official heading
the federal administrative agency.
The Federal Executive Council is also en-
titled to appoint, in a federal secretariat or
in federal committee, an under-secretary with
a *
a dutyto help the official heading such an
administrative agency, and this primarily in
the area of organization of affairs concerning
the relations with the Assembly of the SFRY
(the &dquo; assembly &dquo; under-secretary).
Deputies of the officials headinga federal
administrative agency and/or a federal organ-
ization are appointed and relieved of duty by
the Federal Executive Council. There can be
one or more such deputies both in federal ad-
ministrative agencies and in federal organiza-
tions. A deputy directlymanages a depart-
ment of work assigned tohim by the official
of the administrative agency and/or federal
organization and is responsible to such an offi-
cial for his work.
Counsellors to an official heading a federal
administrative agency and/or federal organiza-
tion are appointed and relieved of duty by the
Federal Executive Council at the proposal of
the official heading such an agency and/or
organization; their duty includes performing
affairs requiring specific skills and independen-
ce in work. One or more such officials may
be appointed in federal secretariats, federal
committees and federal institutions. They in-
dependently perform tasks and discharge af-
fairs belonging to the competence of the re-
levant agency or organization assigned to them
by the official heading such an agency and/or
organization and are responsible to him for
their work.
The Federal Executive Council may appoint
in the Federal Secretariat for Foreign Affairs
one or more ambassadors, whose duty is to
perform affairs in the area of foreign relations
which require specific skills and independence
in work, and which are assigned to them by
the federal secretary for foreign affairs.
All the officials mentioned are responsible
for their work to the Federal Executive Coun-
cil.
* *
Finally, it should be added that, immediately
after the promulgation of the new Constitution,
activity began with a view to finding the solu-
tions which should elaborate on the constitu-
tional principles related to the role, position,
relations and organization of administrative
agencies in the SFRY, in order to create
conditions for a more complete implementation
of the Constitution.