The Law Program was established in the early spring of 1991. It started out as a facilitator of the law reform process in Bulgaria and focused its efforts mainly on establishing and supporting the contacts between the government and foreign assistance groups, such as the American Bar Association Central and East European Law Initiative (ABA CEELI), the International Development Law Institute - Rome (IDLI), the German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation - Bonn, and others. The initial focus of the program was constitutional law reform. With the enactment of the new Constitution in the spring of 1991, the focus was shifted to commercial law reform. During the years from 1991 through 1993, the program gradually developed from a facilitator of the law reform process into a legal reform agent with a standing of its own by holding its own seminars and works on substantive legislative reform projects attracting its own expert resources.
1991-1993 Highlights
- two constitutional law seminars with the participation of foreign experts and members of the Grand National Assembly, which facilitated the process of enactment of Bulgaria's new Constitution;
- expert comments on more than thirty draft laws provided to the government, in the following areas: copyrights, patents, commercial transactions, bankruptcy, privatization, commodity exchanges, trade, chambers of commerce, judicial structure, administrative justice, the bar, waste, protection of sea waters, criminal code, special investigative means, protection of information, etc.;
- five concept papers provided to the government, containing leading world and international concepts on drafting laws on money laundering, investment funds, foreign trade regulation, government procurement and securities regulation;
- four policy oriented legal seminars and discussions involving government officials and representatives of the public, covering bankruptcy, copyrights, lawyers' code of ethics and accreditation of law schools;
- four educational legal seminars on international sale of goods, franchising, joint ventures, alternative dispute resolution, commercial arbitration, and purchase and sale of an on-going business;
- initiation and support of a successful effort to draft a new law on non-profit organizations for Bulgaria;
- five publications on topical legal issues including foreign investment law, in-kind contributions in commercial companies, privatization, government structure and operations.
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