ECPRD Seminar on Legal and Regulatory Impact Assessment of Legislation,
21-22 May 2001, Tallinn

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<<Contents

During the last three years, in the period between 1998 and 2000, the process of approximation of Bulgarian national legislation with the achievements of European Union law is making considerable progress. This is clearly visible from the fact that in the last three years the Bulgarian Parliament adopted a total of 463 legislative acts. Of these, 97 are international acts reflecting European legislation¹. The 97 acts were ratified by the Bulgarian Parliament and are part of the internal legislation of the country. In accordance with Article 5, Item 4 of the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria the ratified acts supersede any of the internal legislation stipulating otherwise. The remaining 366 legislative acts adopted during this period, to a considerable degree, fulfilled the requirements for approximation of Bulgarian legislation with European Union legislation².

This intensive legislative process is in compliance with the obligations undertaken by the Republic of Bulgaria as per the Europe Agreement establishing an association between the European Communities and their Member States, on the one hand , and the Republic of Bulgaria, on the other hand (EA)³.

The legal basis for approximation is contained in Articles 69 and 70 of the EA. Article 69 of the ?? states that Bulgaria undertakes the obligation to endeavour to ensure the approximation of the country's existing and future legislation to that of the Community as an important condition for Bulgaria's economic integration into the Community.

Article 70 of the EA delineates the scope of the approximation and enumerates the more important areas in which it is to be implemented, namely: customs law, company law, banking law, company accounts and taxes, intellectual property, protection of workers at the workplace, financial services, rules regarding competition, protection of health and life of humans, animals and plants, consumer protection, indirect taxation, technical rules and standards, nuclear law and regulation, transport and the environment.

In its essence, the approximation is expressed in the adoption of European law rules into Bulgarian legislation. This approximation, in fact, means the unilateral movement of Bulgarian national legislation towards European Union legislation. The approximation is a gradual process, taking place within a transitional period that differs in duration for each of the candidate countries. Article 7, Item 1 of the EA determines a ten-year transitional period for the Republic of Bulgaria. This ten-year period sets the maximum duration of the process of approximation of the two legislations. The ten-year period is divided into two successive stages, each lasting five years. The first stage covers the period between 01 February1995 and 01 February 2000, and the second stage will last from 01 February 2000 until 01 February 2005. The Republic of Bulgaria completed successfully the first stage of the process of approximation of Bulgarian legislation with EU legislation and in December 1999 was invited to begin negotiations for membership of the European Union.

It should be noted that the European Community acts do not determine internal deadlines, schedules or priorities of approximation that are to be achieved during the transitional period. Determining the priorities is a task of the competent authorities in the Republic of Bulgaria.

In order to achieve the goals for approximation of Bulgarian legislation to that of the European Union, the Bulgarian state developed and adopted a number of documents, the basic ones being: the National Strategy for Accession of the Republic of Bulgaria to the European Union, the National Programme for the Adoption of the Acquis Communautaire, the National Harmonogramme, the Bulgaria 2001 Programme and the Updated Bulgaria 2001 Programme.

The National Strategy for Accession of the Republic of Bulgaria to the European Union delineates the major guidelines in the country's activities in the short-term, medium-term and long-term perspective. The purpose of the strategy is to place the integration efforts within the framework of a consistent and sustainable policy, to determine the priorities and principles in the different areas and to identify the relevant tasks and instruments to achieve them. The strategy also treats issues related to the resources to be used and the steps that need to be taken to achieve the strategic goals.

The National Programme for the Adoption of the Acquis Communautaire, further on referred to as "the National Programme", is a legal and technical instrument for realising the Republic of Bulgaria's strategic goal - the country's accession to the European Union. The National Programme expresses the concept of the government of the Republic of Bulgaria with reference to the contents, stages of implementation, management, co-ordination and monitoring of the process of adopting the achievements of European Community law (acquis communautaire). The Programme is a dynamic action plan (rolling plan) divided into short-term (for the current year), medium-term (for 3 to 5 years) and long-term aspects. This division makes it possible to trace the stages in which European legislation is introduced in internal legislation. The tasks are so distributed in time that the implementation of the short-term priorities is a prerequisite for the planning and implementation of the medium-term priorities, which on their part gradually become short-term priorities or are amended with respect to the specific needs or the changed conditions. This is an expression of "the open character" of the National Programme, which allows for the continuous addition of new priorities. Another characteristic feature of the National Programme is that it is a working plan for co-ordination between the Republic of Bulgaria and the European Union at any particular moment. It also serves as justification of the Republic of Bulgaria's requests for financial support from the European Union.

The National Harmonogramme is the document ranking third in importance and used to monitor and report the Republic of Bulgaria's progress in the process of approximation of national legislation to the acquis. The National Harmonogramme provides information on the status of the legislation and its degree of harmonisation at a particular moment. It is updated every two months and is sent to the European Commission for information. The National Harmonogramme is a document of considerable size. The information on the degree of harmonisation of Bulgarian legislation with legislation of the European Union is presented in tabular form in about 3000 pages.

The Bulgaria 2001 Programme and the Updated Bulgaria 2001 Programme are acts of the government of the Republic of Bulgaria which have also been approved with resolutions of the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria. One of the main goals laid down in the Bulgaria 2001 Programme was for the Republic of Bulgaria to be invited to negotiations for accession to the European Union. This goal was achieved in December 1999 and was replaced by a new goal that is set out in the Updated Bulgaria 2001 Programme, i.e. successful negotiations with the European Union for fully-fledged membership.

In order to implement the goals and tasks set out in the documents mentioned above, the Bulgarian Parliament and the Bulgarian Government undertook a number of legislative changes aimed at establishing a special administration whose main task will be the approximation of Bulgarian legislation with European Union legislation.

The Council of Ministers develops the overall policy of the Republic of Bulgaria towards the European Union and co-ordinates its implementation, including the negotiations and preparation for membership. The Council of Ministers holds monthly meetings on issues related to the European integration process.

In its meetings, dedicated to European integration issues, the Council of Ministers makes decisions on all political issues related to European Union integration, discusses and approves the documents related to implementation of the Europe Agreement, approves the National Programme for Adoption of the Acquis and adopts the legislative programme, including legislative initiatives from the National Programme for Adoption of the Acquis.

Representatives of other institutions are invited to the Council of Ministers' meetings on European integration issues when questions related to their competence are discussed.
The Council of Ministers' resolutions on European integration issues and the documents approved by them are sent to the President of the Republic of Bulgaria and to the National Assembly.

To co-ordinate the activities on the preparation of the Republic of Bulgaria for accession to the European Union and to carry out the accession negotiations, the Council of Ministers adopted a special act No 3 of 2000 to establish a Council on European Integration headed by the Prime Minister. The members of this council are: the Deputy-Prime Minister and Minister of Economics, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works, the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Minister of Transport and Communications, the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, the Minister of Labour and Social Policy and the Minister of Environment and Water.

Among the main priorities in the activities of the Council on European Integration are the discussion of Bulgaria's draft positions and mandates for negotiations with the European Union; the preparation of proposals for undertaking priority actions on the side of the Council of Ministers on European integration issues, as well as the approval of areas for impact studies on the adoption of the Acquis in different sectors.

To secure the optimal outcome of the negotiations with the European Union, the Council of Ministers nominated a special representative of the Bulgarian Government to the negotiations for European Union accession called Chief Negotiator and appointed his core team.

The Chief Negotiator represents the Republic of Bulgaria in the negotiations with the European Union, formulates and presents to the Bulgarian government specific problems emerging in the course of the negotiations and requiring actions on the part of the relevant administrative units responsible for the preparation of the Republic of Bulgaria for accession to the European Union. The Chief Negotiator informs the Council of Ministers and the commissions of the National Assembly on the progress of the preparation and the results of negotiations, as well as on emerging problems that require specific steps to be taken and specific legislative acts to be adopted by these organs.

The Chief Negotiator participates in the meetings of the Council on European Integration.

A Co-ordination Council for preparation of the Republic of Bulgaria for accession to the European Union was established with the Council on European Integration at the Council of Ministers. A number of working groups are attached to the Co-ordination Council. They form the extended team for accession negotiations. The working groups consist only of experts. They prepare the draft positions of the country in the dialogue with the European Union in negotiations for membership.

The working groups present the prepared negotiating positions on the different chapters for discussion in the Co-ordination Council. The working groups discuss drafts of new legislative acts based on the Acquis, prepare opinions on them and prepare tables of compliance. The opinions prepared by the working groups are a mandatory requirement for presenting a specific draft legislative act to the Council of Ministers. The working groups continually compare the membership requirements resulting from the Acquis Communautaire with results from the latest regular report from the European Commission on the Republic of Bulgaria's progress towards accession to the European Union.

Within the administration of the Council of Ministers a European Integration and Relations with the International Financial Institutions Directorate has been established. The Directorate delivers opinions on draft-decisions of the Council of Ministers with respect to their compliance with the Acquis Communautaire, compares the relevance of the draft-decisions of the executive branch related to the adoption of the Acquis Communautaire, makes sure the legislative programme includes legislative initiatives from the National Programme for the Adoption of the Acquis and is responsible for updating this programme in the context of negotiations. The Directorate prepares and maintains a constantly updated National Harmonogramme on the status of the approximation of the national legislation with European Union legislation. This harmonogramme is presented to the European Union institutions.
In May 2001, under the Minister of State Administration, a Translation and Editing Centre was established. Its main activity is to organise the translation of the European Union acts into Bulgarian and the translation of Bulgarian legislation into the official languages of the European Union.
In order to co-ordinate the activities on the preparation of the Republic of Bulgaria for accession to the European Union and to bring the negotiations with the EU to a successful completion, in the beginning of 2000 the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria elected a standing committee called Council on European Matters. The standing committee, mandatorily, comprises three members of Parliament from each parliamentary group, as well as members of the Board of the Joint Parliamentary Committee "Bulgaria - European Union". The Council on European Matters is headed by the chair-person of the National Assembly.

Upon a proposal by the Chairperson of the National Assembly, the Council on European Matters hears reports presented by the chairpersons of standing committees or by parliament members authorised by them and reviews the draft laws from the National Programme for the Adoption of the Acquis submitted to the National Assembly (for first and second vote); the Council also delivers opinions on the compliance of draft laws submitted to the National Assembly with the Acquis and on the legislative priorities as per the National Programme for the Adoption of the Acquis Communautaire, monitors the work of the Council on European Integration at the Council of Ministers and of the Coordination Council for preparation of the Republic of Bulgaria for European Union accession, hears reports from the Chief Negotiator on the negotiations for accession to the European Union, presents to the working groups with the Coordination Council the information they need on the work of the National Assembly on the European integration issues, and hears reports of the Board of the Joint Parliamentary Committee "Bulgaria - European Union". At the end of each parliamentary session, the Council on European Matters presents to the National Assembly a report on the activities of the National Assembly on the approximation of Bulgarian legislation with European Community legislation. The Council adopts its resolutions with an absolute majority of the parliamentary groups. In case of the lack of an absolute majority, the National Assembly Chairperson sends the question or the draft law for discussion in the standing committee or in a plenary session.

Within the administration of the Bulgarian Parliament a European Integration Directorate was established to facilitate the work of the Council on European Matters. The Directorate comprises of experts on European law specialised in the different areas of the negotiations.

Based on the information presented above, the conclusion can be made that a considerable amount of work has been done to complete the law-making process of approximating Bulgarian legislation with European Union legislation. The harmonised legislative acts have been effective in Bulgaria for a very short period of time only and therefore it is not possible to make specific assessment of the practical impact of European legislation on Bulgarian legislation. This will be the subject of research in future papers.

References

1 Within the view of the purposes of the present paper, the term European legislation comprises European Union legislation and legislation of the international organisations outside the EU structure such as the Council of Europe, the World Trade Organisation, EFTA, NATO, etc
2 After a review of t Bulgarian legislation made in 2000, the negotiations between the Republic of Bulgarian and the European Union were provisionally closed on the following chapters: Chapter 11 "Statistics", Chapter 16 "Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises", Chapter 17 "Science and Research", Chapter 18 "Education and training", Chapter 19 "Telecommunications", Chapter 20 "Culture and audiovisual", Chapter 23 "Consumers protection
3 The Agreement was signed on 15 April 1993 and became effective on 01 February 1995.