The decision was made without debate at a meeting of the General Affairs Council in Luxembourg on Tuesday.
"The decision will allow BiH to move forward in its relations with the EU and it should provide a positive stimulus to continue socio-economic, judicial, and other necessary reforms for the EU integration of the country. The overall aim is to allow BiH to prepare itself for future EU membership," the Council said in a press release.
The SAA was signed on 16 June 2008 and had been ratified by all member states by February 2011. It, however, did not enter into force because Bosnia and Herzegovina was required to implement some more reforms, including the European Court of Human Rights ruling in the Sejdic-Finci case to make it possible for members of ethnic minorities to run in elections for the State Presidency and the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly.
Last December the EU adopted a new approach to Bosnia and Herzegovina to facilitate its EU integration.