Bulgaria has significantly reformed its regulatory management system as a direct result of the commencement of the Law on Normative Acts on 4 November 2016. The law has extended minimum consultation periods with stakeholders to 30 calendar days, and resulted in the establishment of a central consultation portal, which is now better integrated with Bulgarian impact assessments for regulatory proposals. The central public consultation portal also provides direct feedback to participants that explains how their submission has helped shape final regulatory proposals.
The law also introduced a new regulatory impact assessment (RIA) requirement system, whereby regulatory proposals are now subject to either a partial or full assessment. Bulgaria established an oversight body for RIA quality control at the end of 2016 so as to help ensure RIA quality.
Indicators presented on stakeholder engagement and RIA for primary laws only cover processes carried out by the executive, which initiates approx. 42% of primary laws in Bulgaria. There are requirements to conduct RIA to inform the development of primary laws initiated by parliament, although they are relatively less stringent than those for laws made by the executive.
Since the commencement of the law, all new laws, codes and sub-statutory acts of the Council of Ministers are subject to ex post evaluation within five years of their respective commencement. Although ex post evaluations have been conducted, they are limited in number and in scope, focussing only on administrative burdens for business. Assessing a wider range of impacts would help to ensure that regulations remain appropriate over time.
