Bulgaria

Bulgaria's Timeline

I. Overview
GATT application received	08/09/1986	L/6023
- revised	17/10/1986	L/6023/Add.1
GATT Accession Working Party established	05/11/1986	C/M/204
GATT Terms of reference & accession Working Party membership	20/02/1990	C/M/239
- updated	10/04/1990	L/6667 (rev.1; rev.2; rev.3; rev.4;)
WTO application received & WTO accession Working Party established	11/04/1995	WT/L/58 (Request to transform the Working Party on the Accession of Bulgaria to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1947 into a WTO accession Working Party. As per document WT/L/58 of 11 April 1995, the Working Party on the Accession of Bulgaria to the GATT 1947 was transformed into a WTO Accession Working Party, in accordance with the decision adopted by the General Council on 31 January 1995. Document WT/L/58 also reproduced the name of the Chairperson and the terms of reference of the Working Party.)
WTO terms of reference & accession Working Party membership	05/08/1996	WT/ACC/BGR/4
Chairperson of the Accession Working Party
2nd	11/1990 - 12/1996	Ambassador Erik CARLSON SELMER (Norway)
1st	04/1990 - 10/1990	Ambassador Michael LILLIS (Ireland)
Formal Meetings of the Working Party	Date of the meeting	Convening notice	Statement(s) by the Head of the Delegation	Statement(s) by Working Party members	Delegation list	Other documents for the meeting	News item
1st (GATT)	15/07/1991	GATT/AIR/3201	—	—	SPEC(91)72	—	—
2nd (GATT)	12/07/1993	GATT/AIR/3454	—	—	—	—	—
3rd (GATT)	04/11/1993	GATT/AIR/3469	—	—	—	—	—
4th (GATT)	28/03/1994	GATT/AIR/3558	—	—	—	—	—
5th (GATT)	07/07/1994	GATT/AIR/3601	—	—	—	—	—
6th (WTO)	05/07/1995		—	—	—	—	—
7th (WTO)	10/07/1996		—	—	—	—	—
8th (WTO)	29/07/1996		—	—	—	—	—
9th (WTO)	17/09/1996		—	—	—	—	—
Informal Meetings of the Working Party	Date of the meeting	Convening fax	Statement(s) by the Head of the Delegation
—	—	—	—
Plurilateral Meetings	Date of the meeting	Convening fax	Statement(s) by the Head of the Delegation
—	—	—	—
II. Multilateral Negotiations
Memorandum on the Foreign Trade Regime (MFTR)	22/06/1988	L/6364 (+ addendum & corrigendum)
- updated	01/07/1993	L/7244
Initial cycle(s) of Questions and Replies, following the circulation of the MFTR	04/05/1990	L/6673
	26/06/1991	L/6867
	26/06/1991	L/6867
	12/07/1991	L/6880 (+ addendum 1; addendum 2; addendum 3; addendum 4; addendum 5;)
Factual Summary of Points Raised	—	—
Additional Questions & Replies	28/10/1993	L/7309 (+ addendum & revision)
Elements of a Draft Report of the Working Party	—	—
Draft Report of the Working Party	31/05/1994	SPEC(94)20  (+  revision)
Agriculture-specific (WT/ACC/22/Add.1), Questions and Replies	12/06/1995	SPEC(95)4/Add.1
SPS Checklist (WT/ACC/22/Add.2)	—	—
TBT Checklist (WT/ACC/22/Add.2)	—	—
TRIPS Questionnaire (WT/ACC/22/Add.2)	—	—
Import Licensing Procedures Questionnaire (WT/ACC/22 + revisions)	—	—
Customs Valuation Checklist (WT/ACC/22 + revisions)	—	—
State-Trading Questionnaire (WT/ACC/22 + revisions)	—	—
Draft Subsidies Notification (WT/ACC/22/Add.2)	—	—
Comprehensive Legislative Action Plan (LAP)	08/06/1989	L/6512
Rule-specific Action Plans	—	—
Legislation and implementing regulations	Click for details Hide details	Legislation notice		Notified legislation
	05/11/1987	L/6250		Decree No. 2242 on Free Trade Zones  Decree No. 33 on Restructuring the Banking System, Regulations on Banks  Regulations on the Economic Activity of Self-Managing Economic Organizations with Foreign Investment Participation in the People's Republic of Bulgaria  Regulations on the Procedures of Supervision and Control on Self-Managing Economic Organizations' Economic Activity Carried out with Foreign Investment Participation in the People's Republic of Bulgaria
	14/06/1989	SPEC(89)30		Decree No. 56 on economic activity and of the regulation for the application of Decree No.56
	22/07/1991	L/6888		Constitution (not yet officially published) (in Bulgarian)  Law on Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land (in Bulgarian)  Law on Aaccountancy (in Bulgarian)  Law on Statistics (in Bulgarian)  Law on Turnover Tax and Excise Tax (in Bulgarian)  Law on Protection of Competition (in Bulgarian)  Commercial Law (Trade Act) (in English)  Law on Foreign Investment (in Bulgarian)  Law on the Central Bank (in Bulgarian)  Draft Law on Privatization (in Bulgarian)
	09/07/1993	L/6880/Add.4		Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria (in English)  Law on the Bulgarian National Bank (in English)  Law on Banks and Credit Acitivity (in English)  Bulgarian National Bank - Ordinance of Payments (in English)  Law on the Economic Activity of Foreign Persons and on the Protection of Foreign Investments (in English and Bulgarian)  Law on the Protection of Competition (in English)  Law on Transformation and Privatisation of State-Owned and Municipal Enterprises (in English and Bulgarian)  Law on the Ownership and the Use of Agricultural Lands and Regulations on the Application of the Law on the Ownership and the Use of Agricultural Lands  Law on Commerce (in English)  Law on Veterinary Inspection (in Bulgarian)  Law on Protection of Plants from Diseases Regulation for the Application of the Law (in Bulgarian)  Decree No. 56 and the Regulation for its Application (in Bulgarian)  Law on Turnover Tax and Excise Tax (in Bulgarian)  Regulation No. 15 of the Council of Ministers for Alteration in the Foreign Exchange Regime, 8 February 1991 (in Bulgarian)  Law on Customs (in Bulgarian)  Regulation on Customs Control on Goods Crossing the Border of the Republic of Bulgaira (in Bulgarian)  Regulation No. 85 on Import and Export of Goods effected by Passangers, 29 April 1993 (in Bulgarian)
	09/08/1993	L/6880/Add.5		Patent law, dated 18 March 1993 (in English)  Copyright law, dated 16 June 1993 (in Bulgarian)
Consultation documents	Click for details Hide details	Consultation notice		Notified consultation document
	25/11/1977	MTN/NTM/R/17 (+  addendum)		Submission of Request Lists - Bulgaria
	17/07/1979	MTN/TAR/11		Communication from the European Communities on the Schedule of Tariff concessions of Bulgaria
	23/10/1986	M.TNC/W/3		Communication from Bulgaria addressed to the Chairman of the Trade Negotiations Committee
	05/11/1987	L/6250		Economic Development 1987  Techno-Scientific and Socio-Economic Development 1986-1990  Joint Ventures in Bulgaria  Bulgaria in Figures 1987  Bulgarian Presentations to the Conference "Bulgaria and the GATT", held in Washington on 14-15 September 1987
	12/07/1991	L/6880/Add.1		Information on Bulgaria's Foreign Trade Regime
	04/09/1992	L/6880/Add.2		Bulgaria's Customs Tariff
	16/10/1992	L/6880/Add.3		Information on new import tariff as of 1 July 1992 and information on changes after 12 July 1991 to Bulgaria's Foreign Trade Regime
	20/01/1995	WT/L/10		Request by Bulgaria For Observer Status in WTO Bodies
	24/05/1995	WT/ACC/BGR/1		Checklist of documents
	29/05/1995	WT/ACC/BGR/2 (+  corrigendum)		Consistency of Bulgaria's MFTR with WTO Agreements, including TRIPS and Services
	18/07/1996	WT/ACC/BGR/3		List of Bulgarian Firms Engaged in Trade with Participation in Ownership by the State
III. Bilateral Market Access Negotiations
Goods Offer(s)	30/06/1979	MTN/TAR/10
	30/06/1979	Instrument_No_160
	28/11/1979	L/4890
	21/02/1995	SPEC(95)4
additional information related to agriculture	21/02/1995	SPEC(95)4
Services Offer(s)	26/10/1994	SPEC(94)46
revised	21/02/1995	SPEC(95)4
Register of Bilateral Market Access Agreements
Draft Goods Schedule	—	—
Draft Services Schedule	—	—
Goods and Services Technical Verification Meetings	—	—
IV. Summary of Final Meeting of the Working Party
—	—	—
V. Accession Package (“Terms of Accession”, de-restricted)
Ministerial Conference/General Council Decision on the Accession	02/10/1996	WT/GC/M/14 & WT/ACC/BGR/6
Protocol of Accession	11/10/1996	WT/ACC/BGR/7
Report of the Working Party	20/09/1996	WT/ACC/BGR/5 ;  WT/ACC/BGR/5/Corr.1
Goods Schedule (Schedule of Concessions and Commitments Annexed to the GATT 1994)	20/09/1996	WT/ACC/BGR/5/Add.1
Services Schedule (Schedule of Specific Commitments Annexed to the GATS)	20/09/1996	WT/ACC/BGR/5/Add.2
VI. Accessions Commitments Database (ACDB)
Specific Accession Commitments	http://acdb.wto.org/ click on “Report by Member”, select “Bulgaria” in drop down list then click on “View Report”
VII. Instrument of Acceptance
Notification of Acceptance and Entry Into Force of the Protocol of Accession	01/11/1996	WT/LET/117
VIII. Date of Membership
	01/12/1996	130th Member				WT/MIN(96)/ST/101
IX. Since 1995, this is the…
2nd economy that joined the WTO pursuant to Article XII of the Marrakesh Agreement.

Note:
The de-restriction of documents is a key component of the transparency obligations of the Multilateral Trading System.  Paragraphs 1 and 2(e) of the Ministerial Council Decision WT/L/452 of 14 May 2002 provide that “documents relating to working parties on accession shall be restricted and shall be automatically de-restricted upon the adoption of the report of the working party” by the Ministerial Conference/General Council.  The time of completion of the de-restriction process depends on the amount and complexities of the documents involved.  Prior to 2002, the de-restriction of accession-related documents was governed by a different set of rules (i.e. General Council Decision WT/L/160/Rev.1 of 26 July 1996), which only affect documents circulated prior to 2002.