The Law Reform and Comparative 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, the
International Development Law Institute - Rome, 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. It now holds its own seminars and works
on substantive legislative reform projects attracting its own
expert resources. Today, the Program is developing two draft laws
for the Government and is preparing the ground for expanding its
law development role.
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/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.
- I. Draft
Laws
- II. Training
Workshops
- III. Publications
and Commercial Law Library
- IV. Formation of
Working Groups
- V. CEELI
Executive Board Meeting
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The main objectives of the Law Reform and
Comparative Law Program in 1994 were:
- to establish working groups on which the
legislature could rely for information and substantial support in
drafting legislation. The philosophy of this approach is that most
substantive legislation should be planned and developed in a
grass-roots effort and then, at a later stage, the government
should participate in the process;
- to create a computer database of the Program's
contacts in Bulgaria and abroad to enable access to Law Program
friends, supporters and experts;
- to work with the Central and East European Law
Initiative of the American Bar Association (CEELI) which continued
to provide expert assistance to working groups, consisting of
Members of Parliament and legal experts in drafting reformed
commercial laws;
- to help create and maintain other non-governmental
organizations that will contribute to Bulgaria's economic and legal
development and reform;
- to hold seminars and workshops on relevant
commercial law topics in order to aid in the drafting and
implementation of laws on franchising, leasing, private sector
development and the protection of intellectual property.
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I. Draft Laws
Bulgarian Draft Law on Bankruptcy and
Protective Concordat
CEELI and CSD's Law Reform Program continued their
expert assistance to the bankruptcy draft law working group which
was formed by the Bulgarian Parliament and consisted of Members of
Parliament and legal experts. Mr. Mark Beesley, CEELI's commercial
law liaison, conducted research and provided answers to issues
submitted by the working group regarding bankruptcy and
reorganization proceedings under US laws. The Law Reform Program
prepared a translation of Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code
dealing with reorganization for the working group. Additional
materials on commercial banks and insurance company insolvency were
drafted by the Program staff and submitted to the working
group.
Draft Law on Non-Profit Organizations
The Law Reform Program formed a working group on the
Bulgarian draft law on non-profit organizations in the beginning of
1994. The working group held bi-monthly meetings in which its
members discussed the framework for future regulation of the
non-profit sector in Bulgaria, and prepared provisions of the draft
law. The working group coordinated with representatives of major
Bulgarian non-governmental organizations whose comments were
incorporated into the final version of the draft law. To obtain
support from the Bulgarian legal community, non-profit
organizations and policy-makers for its project, the Law Reform
Program organized, jointly with the Information and Documentation
Centre of the Council of Europe in Sofia, a two-day seminar in
March 1994. As a result of the working group efforts, a final draft
was completed by the end of 1994.
The draft law was presented at a number of local and
international seminars including:
International conference "Regulation of the Civil
Society", held in Sinaia, Romania. This conference was supported
and organized by the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law in
Washington, D.C., the C.S. Mott Foundation and the Open Society
Fund, Bucharest;
Seminar "Management Control And Auditing of
Non-Profit Organizations", organized by CSD and the International
Development Law Institute, Rome;
International Charity Law Conference in the UK,
organized by the National Council for Voluntary Organizations.
Draft Law on Secured Transactions
The Law Reform Program is developing a secured
transactions project to facilitate changes in Bulgaria's secured
transactions law. A set of relevant documents was collected by the
Program and translated into Bulgarian, including the Polish Draft
Law on Secured Transactions, the European Bank for Reconstruction
and Development Model Law on Secured Transactions and Article 9 of
the US Uniform Commercial Code. A working group that will create
the Bulgarian draft law is in the process of being formed. The
first meeting of this group will be held in January 1995. The Law
Reform Program worked with the Institutional Reform and the
Informal Sector (IRIS) project in response to a comprehensive
survey on the status of secured transactions law in Bulgaria.
Draft Bylaws
At the request of the Board of Directors of the
American Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria, Law Reform Program and
CEELI drafted and filed the Chamber's bylaws and other documents
necessary to establish the organization. This activity was in
keeping with the Program's objective of helping to create and
support organizations that will contribute to Bulgaria's economic
and legal development and reform. CEELI and the Program's lawyers
also offered technical advice and expertise to numerous groups
referred by international financial institutions, by US Agency for
International Development (USAID) and the US Department of
Commerce, by Bulgaria's Ministry of Trade, and the European
Union.
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II. Training Workshops
The Legal Aspects of the Purchase and Sale of an
Ongoing Business, January 24-28, 1994, Assenovgrad
This seminar was organized by CSD and IDLI with the
support of USAID. It was attended by 26 participants, including
private attorneys, advisors to governmental agencies, bank
consultants and judges.
Practical Legal Aspects of Negotiating a
Franchising Agreement,April 11-12, 1994, Sofia
The training workshop, organized by CSD and CEELI,
was attended by 26 participants including private attorneys and
legal counsels to private companies. The seminar introduced
franchising as a new form of doing business in Bulgaria. It was
repeated in Varna on April 14-15.
Training of Trainers,April 25-29, 1994,
Velingrad
This seminar was organized by CSD and IDLI with the
support of USAID and the Open Society Fund, Sofia. The objective of
the seminar was to prepare the groundwork for indigenous,
self-sustainable, long-term programs for continuing legal education
in Bulgaria. The seminar was attended by 22 participants, including
private lawyers, judges, and officials from the Privatization
Agency.
Structure and Practical Use of Equipment
Leasing Agreements,October 18-19, 1994, Sofia
The seminar, organized by CSD and CEELI, was
attended by more than 60 participants, including executives from
the leading leasing companies in Bulgaria, consultants to banks and
financial institutions, private lawyers, government officials and
judges. The seminar was repeated in Varna on October 20-21.
Management Control And Auditing of
Non-Governmental Organizations, October 27-28, 1994,
Velingrad
The workshop was organized by CSD and IDLI. Mr.
Pasquale Ferraro, Deputy Director of IDLI, was visiting instructor
at the seminar. The seminar was attended by 20 participants from
Bulgarian NGOs, leading foundations and associations.
Commercial Framework for Private Sector
Development Conference
The Law Reform Program participated in the
organization of this conference held on October 31 through November
11, 1994 in Trest, the Czech Republic. It was organized jointly
with the Economic Development Institute of the World Bank and other
institutions in the Czech Republic, Romania and the United States.
The seminar objectives were to facilitate the exchange of
information and to provide a comparative analysis of the approaches
adopted by some market economies, as well as economies in
transition. The seminar focused on crucial legal and regulatory
issues, including the advantages and disadvantages of the various
approaches used in Eastern Europe. Fifteen Bulgarian participants,
selected by CSD from a large cross-section of applicants, attended
the seminar. Stephan Kyutchukov, Coordinator of the Law Reform
Program, was a speaker at the conference on the current legal
framework in Bulgaria and expected future developments.
International Trade Policy, GATT, and the
World Trade Organization.
This series of seminars was co-organized by the
Bulgarian Ministry of Trade and the US Department of Commerce and
coordinated by CSD.
Legal Initiative for Training and Development
(PIOR)
CSD was instrumental in establishing the Legal
Initiative for Training and Development, a non-profit organization
whose main objective is the development of indigenous training
programs for Bulgarian judges and lawyers. In July 1994, thirty
distinguished representatives of the Bulgarian judicial system and
the bar met in Balchik at the first seminar for judicial training,
and decided to establish the Legal Initiative for Training and
Development. PIOR's founding meeting was held in October 1994 in
Borovetz. The Coordinator of CSD's Law Reform Program, Mr. Stephan
Kyutchukov, was elected to the Board of Supervisors of PIOR.
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III. Publications and Commercial Law
Library
In 1994, the Commercial Law Library of CSD expanded
its size and improved its organization. Currently the library
contains more than 500 volumes organized in a computer catalogue.
The library is continuously updated with new titles and all
materials are available and widely used by the public.
In 1994, the Law Reform Program began publishing a
newsletter Vesti which was designed to provide information on the
activities of the Program to the legal community in the country.
The newsletter is published in both English and Bulgarian.
IV. Formation of Working Groups
Leasing Working Group
During the seminar Structure and Practical Use of
Equipment Leasing Agreements, it became obvious that the Bulgarian
legal framework does not provide a favorable environment for
development of the leasing sector in Bulgaria. After discussions
between executives of the major Bulgarian leasing companies, and
CSD and foreign leasing experts, it was concluded that there was an
urgent need for drafting and promoting changes in the current
legislation. CSD, the Bulgarian Leasing Association and CEELI
formed a working group to assist such reforms. It included legal
consultants to leading Bulgarian leasing companies, private
attorneys and law professors. Three meetings of the group were held
between October and December 1994. The leasing working group
compiled a set of the normative acts affecting leasing in Bulgaria,
including tax and customs regulations. The group also solicited and
obtained from Bulgarian leasing companies a list of target areas in
need of reform in order to assist its drafting efforts.
Bankruptcy Working Group
Bulgaria's Parliament passed a bankruptcy law in
August 1994. The law includes provisions for debtor reorganization.
Practitioners in Bulgaria are generally familiar with insolvency
proceedings, but bankruptcy reorganization is a new concept in
Bulgaria. To facilitate the litigation that would undoubtedly
result from this new legislation CSD, District Court judges,
private attorneys and government lawyers established a bankruptcy
working group. The objectives of this working group are to study,
promote and help implement Bulgaria's bankruptcy law. The group
intends to create a bankruptcy library, design bankruptcy
reorganization training programs and develop a bankruptcy
information database.
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V. CEELI Executive Board Meeting
On July 8, CSD hosted the second annual CEELI
Executive Board meeting which gathered CEELI liaisons from 19
Central and East European countries to evaluate CEELI's legal
reform assistance. Sofia was chosen as the site for the Executive
Board meeting because of CEELI's success here. Bulgaria was also
the home of CEELI's first resident liaison in 1991.
Executive Board members attending the meeting
included former U.S. arms negotiator Ambassador Max Kampelman;
Judge Abner Mikva formerly with the U.S. Court of Appeals and now
White House Counsel; Washington, D.C. lawyer and CEELI co-founder
Homer Moyer; Mathew F. McHugh, Counsel to the World Bank; and U.S.
Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. William "Bill" Ide, the
American Bar Association President also attended the meeting along
with members of CEELI's Washington, D.C. staff.
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