Bulgaria Justice Ministry Proposes Changes in Trade Law
September 18th, 2008
The Bulgarian Justice Ministry has sent for approval to all Ministries the project for changes in the Trade Law, as announced by the Justice Ministry’s press center.
The changes have the goal to reduce bureaucratic procedures and save time and expenses for the businesses in Bulgaria and are expected to have a positive influence on their economic activity and competitiveness.
The changes remove the report from an independent expert and the mandatory verification of the agreement to divide or merge a company, if all shareholders have agreed to the company’s transformation and the mandatory. Currently, when companies divide or merge they are also required to hire an independent while the overall procedures to transform a company can take up to 8 months even a full year.
The changes are in accordance with a directive of the European Commission. All countries members of the European Union must align their national legislature to the directive mandates by the end of 2008.
The changes also provide that the company’s capital verification would be conducted in cases when there is a need to establish accordance between the capital and the net value of the property to be transferred to the company during a merge or a divide. In such cases, a mandatory report must be prepared even when the mandate for verification of the agreement is no longer required.
The current trade law would be applied if the report of the company’s Managing Board about the company’s transformation has already been announced in the trade registry by the time the new Trade Law had entered into effect.
When public joint stock companies are transformed, the verification of an independent expert is still mandatory even if all shareholders have agreed to the transformation in writing, due to the need for more detailed information for all shareholders.
The project for the new Trade Law has been prepared by a work group named “Joint Stock Company Law” at the Council for European Matters at the Ministries’ Council and has been submitted by the Justice Ministry.
There is a 10-days deadline, during which all ministries have to send their objections and opinions regarding the changes. The project is also published on the Justice Ministry website and is open for public discussions.
After the deadline, the project of changes in the Trade Law will be examined by the Ministries Council.
