MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND WATER REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA

1. MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND WATERREPUBLIC OF BULGARIA Bulgaria and the Basel protocol on liability and compensation

2. Basel Convention • Republic of Bulgaria has ratified the Basel convention in 1996 with a special Law on ratification • Since then Bulgaria is a Party of the Convention and implements its requirments for the regulation of the transboundary movement of waste • All shipments of waste were prior to notification until 2004 when a new Waste Management Act entered into force in Bulgaria. According to the Act only the shipments of waste in the Amber and the Red List of Regulation 259/93/EEC were notified.

3. Regulation 259/93/EEC The Waste Management Act transposes the requirements of the Directive 75/442/EEC on waste and Directive 91/689/EEC on hazardous waste in the national legislation  General provisions: ►the scope of waste management legislation in Bulgaria is specified; ► waste is classified in four basic classes(municipal, construction, industrialand hazardouswaste) and on this basis the competences of the different authorities are specified; ► the general definitions for “waste”, “producer” of waste, “holder” , “disposal” and “recovery” operations are introduced Chapter V regulates the import, export and transit of waste into and out of the territory of Republic of Bulgaria

4. Regulation 259/93/EEC • Ordinance on the order and procedure for import, export and transit of waste, and for the cases when a bank guarantee or insurance is required(promulgated, SG, №102/19.11.2004), transposes the requirements of Regulation (ЕЕС) 259/93on the supervision and control of shipment of waste within, into and out of the European Community • Chapter IV of the Ordinance regulates the questions concerning the financial guarantee in the case of transboundary movement of waste

5. Civil Liability • The disposer or the owner shall be liable for the damage caused. • Personal injury, loss of life, damage to property and damage to environment are covered in our domestic law. • The relevant agency for the enforcement of the liability is the national court. • The liability is strict and fault based. • The liability shall expire at latest 180 days after the receipt of the waste from the consignee. • There is a minimum financial limit to the liability. • The amount of the bank guarantee or the insurance are determined in the Ordinance. • There are no gaps identified. • Republic of Bulgaria has not entered into any regional or bilateral agreements regarding the liability in connection with accidents during a transboundary movement of hazardous wastes.

6. R A T I F I C A T I O N P R O C E D U R E

7. According to Article 5, paragraph 4 of the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria: Any international instruments which have been ratified by the constitutionally established procedure,promulgated and having come into force with respect to the Republic of Bulgaria, shall be considered part of the domesticlegislation of the country. They shall supersede any domestic legislation stipulating otherwise.

8. Questionnaire No. 2 1. Has your country taken any steps to ratify the Protocol on Liability and Compensation? Republic of Bulgaria has not taken any steps to ratify the Protocol on Liability and Compensation.

9. Questionnaire No. 2 2. With regard to the ratification process of international agreements in your country: a) Which entity may initiate the ratification process and how - The Ministry concerned shall initiate the ratification process. - The proposal for ratification is made by the relevant Minister who submits it with a report for the necessity for approval to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other authorities concerned. - After receipt of the opinions of all authorities concerned, the Minister initiating the ratification process submits all relevant documents to the Council of Ministers. .

10. Questionnaire No. 2 b) Would that entity retain the leading role in guiding the instrument during the entirety of the ratification process? If not, which entity will take the leading role? - The Council of Ministers shall take a decision for approval of the proposal for ratification and submit it to the National Assembly. - The National Assembly shall pass a Law on the ratification.

11. Questionnaire No. 2 c) Which other entities must be consulted before ratification can take place? Before ratification, the terms of the relevant international treaty or agreement are discussed in the parliamentary commissions with representatives of all Ministries concerned.

12. Questionnaire No. 2 d) Which is the entity taking the final decision? National Assembly shall ratify the Treaty/Agreement/Convention/Protocol at the end as it is approved with a Law on Ratification.

13. Questionnaire No. 2 3. Are there any other requirements following ratification for an international instrument to enter into force and / or to be implemented in your country? The President shall sign a Decree for the publication of the Law on ratification in the State Gazette in order to enter into force

14. Questionnaire No. 2 4. What are the difficulties, concerns and obstacles identified in your country to ratification of the Protocol? a) At a practical level (e.g. capacity to implement) The efforts of our Ministry in the last years were directed to the EU Negotiation Process and the implementation of the EU legislation in the field of environment protection, so there is no enough administrative capacity. b) At a legal / technical level (e.g. conflict with existing domestic rules) If the Protocol ratification procedure starts there should be a great number of amendments in the existing legislations.

15. Questionnaire No. 2 5. How do you think that these difficulties, concerns and obstacles could be removed? Bulgaria shall be a member of European Union in 2007 or 2008. Then the Waste Shipment Regulation of EUshall be directly implemented in our country. So Bulgaria shall observe the opinion of the European Commission concerning the ratification of the Protocol.

16. Questionnaire No. 2 6.What actions could be undertaken by the Secretariat of the Basel Convention to facilitate the ratification of the Protocol by your country? Bulgaria is looking forward to the EU Membership and this is the highest priority for the Bulgarian Government. The Secretariat of the Basel Convention shall conduct discussions with the European Union to solve all issues concerning the Protocol ratification.

17. FINANCIAL LIMITS AND INSURANCE

18. Questionnaire No. 3 1. Does your country have difficulties with the minimum limits of liability specified in paragraph 2 of Annex B of the Protocol on Liability and Compensation? Our country does have difficulties with the minimum limits of liability. According to Art. 31, paragraph 1 of the Ordinance on the order and procedure for import, export and transit of waste, and for the cases when a bank guarantee or insurance is required: The amount of the bank guarantee or the insurance shall be determined as follows: 1. for waste listed in Annex 2 (Amber listed wastes) - not less than 500 levs per tone and not less than 50000 levs per single shipment; 2. for waste listed in Annex 3 (Red listed wastes) – not less than 2000 levs per tone and not less than 200000 levs per single shipment. This Ordinance transposes the requirements of Council Regulation No 259/93 and the amounts are acceptable for the Bulgarian companies dealing in the field of transboundary movement of waste. The amounts of financial guarantee according to above mentioned Ordinance is lower than minimum limits specified in Annex B to the Protocol.

19. Questionnaire No. 3 2. Does your country see a need to establish financial limits on a higher level than the ones specified in paragraph 2 of Annex B of the Protocol? At the present Bulgaria does not see a need to establish financial limits on a higher level. 3. Are there insurance solutions available to cover the liability specified in paragraph 2 of Annex B of the Protocol on Liability and Compensation? If no, are there other financial guarantees available? In Bulgaria there are solutions covering the liability established under Regulation No 259/93 transposed in Bulgarian waste management legislation.

20. Questionnaire No. 3 4. Has your country ever consulted the private insurance sector in this regard? Until the present moment there were no consultations in this regard. 5. Does your country have any suggestions, ideas and/or comments vis-à-vis coverage for the liability which is not based upon the private insurance sector? No. Bulgaria does not have any.

21. Questionnaire No. 3 • Does your country have difficulties with the minimum limits of liability specified in paragraph 2 of Annex B of the Protocol on Liability and Compensation? • System of financial guarantees established under Council Regulation No 259/93 does not specify minimum or maximum limits of the amount of guarantee. • Decision on method of calculation of the guarantee has been left to each Member State. • Poland has adopted the following system: • Amount of financial guarantee = cost of transport + cost of recovery/disposal of notified waste. • In most cases the amount of guarantee calculated according to above mentioned method is lower than minimum limits specified in 1n paragraph 2 of Annex B to the Protocol but is regarded as sufficient. • It must be mentioned however that the scope of liability stipulated in Council Regulation No 259/93 is different from the Protocol. • Financial limits specified in paragraph 2 of Annex B of the Protocol could be considered too high for entrepreneurs in Poland. • Does your country see a need to establish financial limits on a higher level than the ones specified in paragraph 2 of Annex B of the Protocol? • Poland does not recognize the need to establish financial limits on higher level than it was specified in paragraph 2 of Annex B of the Protocol. • Are there insurance solutions available to cover the liability specified in paragraph 2 of Annex B of the Protocol on Liability and Compensation? If no, are there other financial guarantees available? • There are no solutions available to cover liability specified in paragraph 2 of Annex B of the Protocol. • System of financial guarantees has been established under Council Regulation No 259/93. The financial guarantee is applied to all shipments which are covered by the Regulation. • Amount of financial guarantee = cost of transport + cost of recovery/disposal of notified waste. • Has your country ever consulted the private insurance sector in this regard? • Private insurance sector in Poland has not been consulted with regard to liability issues specified in the Protocol on Liability and Compensation. • Does your country have any suggestions, ideas and/or comments vis-à-vis coverage for the liability which is not based upon the private insurance sector? • No suggestions.