The National Assembly has adopted, at both first and second readings within a single session, legislative amendments to the Law on the Introduction of the Euro in the Republic of Bulgaria. The main change is the extension of the deadline for converting the capital of capital companies from levs to euros, which is now changed from the previous 12 months to 36 months, effective from the official date of the adoption of the single European currency. The bill was submitted by "Progressive Bulgaria".
The purpose of these adjustments is to reduce the administrative burden on commercial companies. Under the new provisions, the obligation to enter an updated statute, memorandum of association, or articles of association into the Commercial Register, resulting from the currency conversion, will only arise when changes to the company's constitutive documents are required for other legal reasons. At the same time, the requirement to submit the aforementioned documentation to the institution mandatorily upon the filing of the first subsequent application for announcement, deletion, or registration is removed.
According to the motives for the bill, the measures are expected to lead to more efficient and timely processing of files in the Commercial Register, given the anticipated drop in the number of incoming applications. Milen Trifonov of "Progressive Bulgaria" explained that the change is necessary due to the serious difficulties created by the previous paragraph of the law, which forced all legal entities to declare changes to their acts within short timeframes. "In practice, the deadline was shortened to six months for inactive traders and nine months for active ones, which led to a backlog of applications to the Commercial Register," he argued.
During the debates, different opinions were expressed by the parliamentary groups:
- Dimo Drenchev of "Vazrazhdane" stated his support for the idea that companies should be completely exempt from filing such declarations, regardless of the specific deadline.
- Nadezhda Yordanova of "Democratic Bulgaria" noted that the problem had been foreseeable as early as July 24 during the vote on the 2026 State Budget Act, when proposals for a more fundamental solution were made. "I believe this proposal just to postpone the deadline is not good. It delays the problem but does not solve it, which is why we proposed that the obligation regarding the deadline be dropped," she stated, emphasizing that despite the criticisms, the party would support the project with the caveat that in three years the topic would likely require a decision once again.