Wood processing in Bulgaria is reserved to large retail chains engaged in timber trade or incumbent wood processors, who submit a proof of the volume of processed wood during the previous calendar year, in a registered establishment inside Bulgaria.This requirement grants an unfair advantage to locally established firms over new investors, preventing newcomers from participating in wood-processing activities in Bulgaria through greenfield investments.
"Chapter Thirteen - PROTECTION OF WOODED AREAS
"Section II - Control
Article 206. (Amended, SG No. 60/2015, effective 7.08.2015) (1) The owners and users ofsites, in which timber is received and processed or from which it is shipped, shall be obligated:
1. to keep a journal of the received, processed and shipped timber;
2. to own a trade mark and to affix this trade mark to the timber shipped from the site;
3. (effective 1.01.2016 - SG No. 60/2015) to build and maintain a continuous video surveillance system for the site, as well as provide access to information.
(2) The terms and procedure for fulfilment of the obligations under Paragraph 1 shall be stipulated by the ordinance under Article 148, Paragraph 11. [...]" (Forestry Act of the Republic of Bulgaria, SG No. 19/8.03.2011 [google translated])
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"Art. 13. (1) (Amended, SG No. 89/2019, effective 13.05.2020) The owners and users of sites in which timber enters, is processed or is dispatched shall receive access to the diary under Art. 206, para. 1, item 1 of the Civil Procedure Code, called an electronic diary, after registration of the production mark for the respective site.
(2) The diary shall be according to a sample, determined by an order of the executive director of EAG.
(3) No more than one diary may be kept for one site. [...]
(6) (Supplemented, SG No. 79/2015) The owners and users of sites in which timber with a volume of more than 20 thousand cubic meters has entered in the previous year, as well as large retail chains engaged in trade and with wood, may propose to the Executive Director of EAG the issuance of an order for determining an individual sample of a diary. [...]" (ORDINANCE № 1 of 30.01.2012 on the control and protection of forest territories Issued by the Minister of Agriculture and Food and the Minister of Interior, promulgated, SG, iss. 11 from 7.02.2012, in force from 7.02.2012, as amended [google translated]).
Forestry Act of the Republic of Bulgaria, SG No. 19/8.03.2011 [google translated]
ORDINANCE № 1 of 30.01.2012 on the control and protection of forest territories Issued by the Minister of Agriculture and Food and the Minister of Interior, promulgated, SG, iss. 11 from 7.02.2012, in force from 7.02.2012, as amended [google translated]
[<a href=" http://www.iag.bg/data/docs/Forestry_Act.pdf">Act</a>],[<a href="https://dv.parliament.bg/DVWeb/showMaterialDV.jsp?idMat=61060">Ordinance</a>]