MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND WATER REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA

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MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND WATERREPUBLIC OF
BULGARIA

• Bulgaria and the Basel protocol on liability and
  compensation

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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.

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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, industrial and
  hazardous waste) 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

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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 (???) 259/93 on
  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

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• 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.

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

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• 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 domestic legislation of
  the country. They shall supersede any domestic
  legislation stipulating otherwise.

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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.

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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.
• .

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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 EU shall be directly implemented in our
  country. So Bulgaria shall observe the opinion of
  the European Commission concerning the
  ratification of the Protocol.

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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.

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• FINANCIAL LIMITS AND
• INSURANCE

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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 50 000 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 200 000 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.