Bulgaria's Construction Chamber (KSB) wants lawmakers to drop a full ban on cash payments in the building industry. The ban is part of changes to the Gambling Act, and the chamber has filed its position in the public consultation on the bill, KSB said.
The ban is not in the main text. It sits in the transitional and final provisions, which amend Article 3, paragraph 1 of the Law on Limiting Cash Payments. If the change passes, building firms, contractors and subcontractors will no longer be able to pay each other in cash for construction and installation work, for supplies of building materials, machinery and equipment, or for related services.
"KSB supports efforts to curb the 'grey economy', but believes this should be done through well-thought-out, proportionate and effective measures," the chamber wrote in its position.
KSB says there are not enough reasons, analyses or evidence to show the step is needed. It says the ban covers all services linked to construction, even routine and minor jobs, with no market, economic, logical or other arguments behind it.
"The proposed provision brings in rules that are unprecedented in nature and scope and that affect only the construction sector," KSB said. The chamber is especially worried that the explanatory notes do not say why construction is the only industry facing such a rule.
There is also no evidence that the sector carries a higher risk than others or that it should be treated more strictly, the chamber says. The notes assume that deals in the building business have no transparency or traceability at all. KSB says this is, at the very least, unproven.
The chamber says the building business is being put at a disadvantage and that the rule creates unequal treatment between sectors, with no objective or publicly justified reason. In practice, it says, the ban discriminates against suppliers of construction services compared with other market players, without a clear and objective test.
The draft law is on the public consultation portal. The one-month deadline for proposals ends on Friday, 23 October.