February 2010

In February 2010 Ms. Dessislava Iordanova joined the team of Dimitrov, Petrov & Co. Law Firm. The new associate in the firm has previously worked as Head of the Sector Analysis Department at the Commission for Protection of Competition where she completed numerous trainings and gathered considerable work experience in the areas of competition environment, consumer protection and intellectual property. Ms. Iordanova is a Trade Mark, Geographical Indications and Indistrial Design Attorney at the Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria

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The AASLC has been promulgated in the State Gazette, issue 15 dated February 23, 2010. The main objective of the adopted amendments and supplements is the improvement of the legal regulation of labour relationships in compliance with the requirements of the European Union. The Act regulates business trips of workers and employees to other European Union Member States, countries from the European Economic Area or Switzerland for a period longer than 30 days. A provision of a guarantee concerning minimum work conditions defined for the relevant position in the receiving country has been stipulated.

An amendment of great importance concerns the recognition of the period of working under a labour relationship in countries that are European Union Member States, countries from the European Economic Area or Switzerland for length of service. The time used for paid or unpaid leave due to pregnancy, childbirth or adoption is also recognised as length of service. The AASLC envisions the formation of regional councils for tripartite collaboration in order to develop social dialogue on a regional level. With the adopted amendments the material liability of employers has been increased in cases of death or injury of workers and employees. The AASLC establishes Good Friday as an official holiday.

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The Service Activities Act has been promulgated in the SG, issue 15 of February 23, 2010 and entered into force on the date of its promulgation. It transposes Directive 2006/123/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on services in the internal market, in force since December 27, 2006. The Directive establishes general provisions facilitating the exercise of freedom of establishment of service providers and free movement of services in the European Union. Its aim is progress in ensuring genuine internal market for services, so that the business and consumers be able to take full advantage of the opportunities provided by an integrated internal market in the largest sector of the European economy. The provisions of the Directive are aimed at simplification of administrative procedures, elimination of barriers for activities for provision of services, increase of mutual trust between Member States and confidence of the providers and consumers within the range of the integrated internal market.

The Service Activities Act implements the organizational and practical measures, set in the Directive and related to the establishment and functioning of a point of single contact designed to be the only institutional interlocutor for the provider of services. Through the single point contact the provider shall be able to collect all the necessary information by electronic means and to accomplish all administrative procedures related to the start and provision of services. The Act legally defines a service as any economic activity performed by a provider for remuneration or at their own expense but explicitly excludes some services from its range – financial services, electronic communications services under the Electronic Communications Act, transport, medical and health services, etc.

The Act regulates in separate chapters the right of free establishment and procedures for issuing of permits, the freedom of provision and use of services, the obligations of the providers of services. The use of an information system of the internal market has also been regulated. It has been designed to assist the exchange of information and the mutual cooperation between the competent authorities of the Republic of Bulgaria and the competent authorities of the Member States.

The adoption of the Act and the application of its provisions assist the improvement of business conditions in the largest sector of the Bulgarian economy – the service sector. It aims to facilitate business activities and improve economic conditions not only in Bulgaria but also within the range of the integrated European market. It shall also reduce the administrative burden for the administration itself. The improvement of business conditions in its turn shall assist the achievement of economic growth and the increase of competitiveness of the Bulgarian economy, which is necessary in the conditions of an economic crisis.

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Decree No 13 from February 8, 2010 for adoption of Rules for Issuing Bulgarian Personal Documents was promulgated in the SG, issue 12 dated February 12, 2010. The Rules regulate the terms and conditions for issuing Bulgarian personal documents under the Bulgarian Personal Documents Act (BPDA) and the provision of data from the information funds under Art. 70 of the BPDA.

Bulgarian personal documents are issued on the basis of an application form, filed with the sites specified in the Rules, as those for issuing an identity card, passport and driving certificate can be filed electronically as well, by using a universal electronic signature, and in compliance with the requirements of Art. 18a of the BPDA. In case technical capacity is present, applications are filled in with data from the National Authomated Information Fund “National Register of Bulgarian Personal Documents” (NAIF “NRBPD”) and are submitted to the applicant for ascertaining the correspondence of the data. When filing the application, the face, signature and the respective biometric data of the applicant are digitally photographed according to the type of the document.

The Rules regulate in detail the terms and conditions for issuing an identity card of Bulgarian citizens, passports and substitute documents (a temporary passport, а temporary travelling document of EU Member State citizens under Art. 39b of the BPDA, an official pass for crossing the border, a temporary passport for final departure from the Republic of Bulgaria), a driving certificate, identity documents and sojourn documents of foreigners. Data from the information funds, related to the issuance and use of Bulgarian personal documents, are provided by CDI/RDMI, BIDD – MI and MD – MI, orally or in writing, or in other information carriers in a 14-day term as of the registration of a request or written application filed personally.

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Ordinance for Amendment and Supplement of Ordinance No 20 of 2009 on the Issuance of Approvals under Art. 11, Para. 3 of the Credit Institutions Act An ordinance for Amendment and Supplement of Ordinance No 20 of 2009 on the Issuance of Approvals under Art. 11, Para. 3 of the Credit Institutions Act has been promulgated in the SG, issue 10 of February 5, 2010.

The Ordinance supplements the definitions of the legal terms “financial sector undertakings” and “institutions comparable to a bank”, and thereby extends the range of individuals eligible to membership in the management board or the board of directors of a bank. Pursuant to the amendments, those can be also individuals who have held a position with managing duties for at least 5 years (or at least 3 years if they have a university degree in economics or law) at: special investment purpose companies; reinsurers and health insurance companies; financial institutions, licensed or registered pursuant to another act; electronic money companies; payment system operators; public authorities or other public legal entities, whose principal functions include financial supervision over the companies listed above. Along with that, the rules according to which those individuals have to meet the requirements under Art. 11, Para. 1, item 1 and item 3 – 9 of the Credit Institutions Act remain in force.

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An ordinance for Amendment of Ordinance No 21 of 1998 on the Obligatory Minimum Reserves Maintained with the Bulgarian National Bank by Banks has been promulgated in the SG, issue 10 of February 5, 2010 and has come into force on February 1, 2010. The amendments accomplished with the Ordinance concern two aspects of regulation.

The first one is the explicit specification that the banks maintain obligatory minimum reserves with the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) by their settlement-accounts in RINGS, along with other special purpose accounts in Bulgarian Levs (BGN) and Euro. RINGS (Real-time Interbank Gross Settlement System) is a payment system for gross settlement which transfers funds between the settlement-accounts of the participants. That is carried out conclusively, individually (transaction by transaction) and in real time after receipt of a payment order for transfer by the system.

The second amendment concerns the widening of the definition of funds which are recognised by the BNB as reserve assets. Pursuant to the Ordinance they include also funds from settlement-accounts of the banks in the national system component of TARGET2 to the amount of 10% of the maintained average daily amount of the payment orders with successfully completed settlement, calculated for the period. TARGET2 (Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross settlement Express Transfer system for settlements in euro) provides gross settlement in real time for transfers in euro with money settlement in a central bank. As of February 1, 2010 the Bulgarian National Bank and the national banking community have joined the system after signing an explicit agreement with the central banks of the Euro-system.

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