At the beginning of 2013 Bulgarian Parliament amended changes in Bulgarian Investment Promotion Act after the veto of the president.
The President returned to the law because of provisions that do not match the overall concept of increasing investment activity in the country in crisis. The President stated that in the adopted IPA there are provisions which He approved the introduction of incentives aimed at creating and maintaining jobs in economically disadvantaged areas and in high-tech activities and an opportunity for the promotion of local government investment of municipal significance. However, the return of the law is motivated by the fact that some of the proposed amendments do not fully comply with the overall concept of increasing investment activity in the country in crisis.
The president points out that one of the areas in which the state must do more to encourage investment is intellectual property. In this sector enabling environment requires predictability and stability. It is important that all conditions under which the state supports this type of investment, are regulated by law. Conditions and the lack of measures to encourage this type of investment would lead to uncertainty in the legal world. The law should guarantee unequivocally that the incentives will not adversely impact on the state budget.
According to President Rosen Plevneliev diversity of objects of intellectual property and investment opportunities in this area requires further analysis and needs a clear vision of how government support will be combined with the need to stimulate Bulgarian culture.
Next president opposes such amendments to the Foreigners Act in the Republic of Bulgaria on the scope of persons who can obtain a permanent residence permit in the country. According to him, the proposed changes do not contribute to the overall goal of the law – to encourage investment and bring unreasonably high requirements for granting a permit for permanent residence in Bulgaria and would be an additional obstacle to foreign investors.
So back to the topic – changes in regulation on investment promotion in several key areas, including improving and decentralizing the certification of projects and providing opportunities for investment promotion at the municipal level.
Two key changes:
To achieve this purpose a new section was created “Investment projects of local importance” in Chapter IV of the on Investment Promotion Act (IPA). It is envisaged that investment of municipal significance to promote through reduced time for administrative services and other benefits specifically provided by law. Along with the legal framework provides and local governments to adopt regulations in this area.
Another part of the changes are aimed at introducing additional criteria for certification of a class investments.
According to the amendments project will be classified as priority investment project based on the criteria of a minimum amount of investment and employment. Certificate of priority investment project will be issued on the basis of a decision of the Council of Ministers.
Implementing measures to promote investment provides a proposal from the Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism Ministers Council may allocate funds for partial reimbursement for a period not exceeding 24 months from the opening of the workplace, as that of investor for its own account in its capacity as employer contributions for obligatory state social insurance, supplementary pension insurance and mandatory health insurance for employees occupying the new jobs, where the conditions laid down in the law.
For the implementation of this measure new jobs must be filled by Bulgarian citizens, nationals of another State of the Union, another country – party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area or the Swiss Confederation.
In addition foreign investor my acquire residency permit and Bulgarian Citizenship on basis of implemented investment projects in Bulgaria.