Effectiveness and Enforcement of Consumer Law in Bulgaria

Abstract

Bulgaria belongs to a group of Central and East European (CEE) countries, which until only recently were commonly referred to as ‘transition economies’. As is well known, for several decades after the end of World War II, Bulgaria was part of the Soviet sphere of influence and was characterised by command economy and authoritarian rule. Following the demise of state socialism, the country embarked on a difficult path of reforms towards building democracy, rule of law and a social market economy. Importantly, already in the early 1990s the country made clear its aspirations to join the European institutions. Indeed, in 1992 Bulgaria was accepted as member to the Council of Europe and in 2007, after lengthy negotiations and years of monitoring, technical assistance and preparation, acceded the European Union (EU). These processes of transition and integration in the European institutions have been decisive for determining the direction of Bulgarian consumer law and policy, as well as for shaping the modalities of consumer law enforcement. As a result of sustained efforts, the country now has in place detailed consumer legislation, closely following EU consumer law instruments, and a full-fledged institutional framework of consumer law enforcement with a variety of public and private bodies and enforcement avenues. This development has certainly contributed to improving the position of Bulgarian consumers. Nevertheless, the system of enforcement still suffers of serious weaknesses, related foremost to limited resources and institutional capacity, and to imperfect implementation and application of consumer law.