09.4.2007

COMPANY REGISTRATION TIME IN BULGARIA TO DECREASE

On July 1 2007, the electronic database of the trade registry in Bulgaria will become active, the Registry Agency (RA) announced at a news conference.

The time needed for the registration of a company in Bulgaria is expected to drastically decrease after the electronic registry becomes fact, Focus news agency reported on March 29. Five to six days would be necessary for the registration, according to Ivailo Filipov from the RA.

The 28 registries of regional courts will be transferred to a single electronic registry. Companies will have direct access to the information, which will be public and visible from any country. No duplicate names of companies will be allowed. Appellations will be booked via internet.

The new electronic register will also replace the paid paper references. Thanks to the commercial register, the condition of a given commercial entity will be available online for its partners from around the world.

Every person will be able to follow his company registration work, done by the RA employees, via the new electronic register. After July 1 2007, the only administrative body having the right to issue references, to move forward a firm’s registration or to re-register will be the Registry Agency.

Every company will have three years to assure its inclusion in the commercial register and will have to request a reference from the court for its actual status, Bulgarian-language Actualno.com reported on April 2. The rest of the documentation for the company’s case should be scanned and uploaded to the electronic register. After this period of three years, it is expected that about 400 000 will companies fall off the register.

The RA will be selling the entire data base for 10 000 leva, plus additional taxes for its actualisation.