Amendments to the Law on the Commercial Register and the Register of Non-Profit Legal Entities

At the end of April 2020, the National Assembly of Bulgaria adopted amendments to the Law on the Commercial Register and the Register of Non-Profit Legal Entities (hereinafter only the Law or LCRRNPLE). The amendments to the Law aim on the one hand to reduce the administrative burden for businesses and on the other hand to create the prerequisite for the establishment of a Centralized Administrative Information System for submission of annual financial statements and statistical data. This system provides for the integration of the information systems of the National Revenue Agency, the National Statistical Institute and the Registry Agency. By integrating these systems, the business will have the obligation to submit data to only one institution, unlike the present moment – the same data are being submitted by the same person to different institutions.

The amendments to the LCRRNPLE provide that as of 1 January 2022, there is no state fee for announcing annual financial statements in the commercial register and the register of non-profit legal entities. From that date, applications for the disclosure of annual financial statements and annual activity reports shall also be submitted only electronically.

Changes in LCRRNPLE stipulate that as of 24 April 2020 until repeal the state of emergency by the Council of Ministers it is possible to be introduced temporary measures to protect the production of food produced in the Republic of Bulgaria, the trade with it and placing it on the market in store chains. A person who violates the requirements is subject to a pecuniary sanction at the amount of BGN 15,000 to 25,000, and in the case of a repeated violation – a pecuniary sanction at the amount of BGN 30,000 to 50,000. Penalties are issued by the Executive Director of the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency or by the Director of the relevant Regional Food Safety Directorate. In addition, the Government may, by an act, impose a temporary ban on the import of certain foods from non-EU countries, subject to international treaties to which the Republic of Bulgaria is a party.