In the end of May 2022, a bill for the establishment of a State Registry Agency to the Council of Ministers was submitted to the Parliament of the Republic of Bulgaria. This agency became the legal successor of the Registry Agency under the Minister of Justice and several other ministries and agencies.
The new agency aims to synchronize and unite various structures that have many statutory functions and are subordinated to various executive bodies. The bill does not envisage a change in the powers and functions of the reforming authorities and administrative structures, only aims at structural changes.
The bill meets the growing needs of the society for a fast and transparent administration to provide services adequate to modern technological progress. The reasons for the bill state that the the new agency will facilitate the establishment and maintenance of effective governance, optimal institutional framework, development of e-government and transformation of society and a fair financial burden for citizens and businesses.
The reasons for the establishment of the State Registry Agency arise also from the fact that the Concept for the construction of the Property Register has not been implemented. In 2021, the National Audit Office audited the Registry Agency and found that the parallel processes of creating the Property Register and cadastral maps and registers have not been implemented. The reason for this circumstance is that the two main institutions involved in this process - the Registry Agency and the Agency for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre are subordinate to different ministers and this requires constant efforts to ensure coordination and synchronization between them.
The registers that will be merged into the State Registry Agency are currently managed differently and with different standards, which once explains the need for a single structure uniting these registers. The bill provides that The State Registry Agency will be responsible for the creation, maintenance and development of:
- The Commercial Register and the Register of Non-Profit Legal Entities;
- BULSTAT Register
- The property register
- The cadastre
- The register of property relations of the spouses
- The Central Register of Special Pledges
- The unified system for civil registration and administrative services
- Other registers and information systems assigned to the management of the State Agency by law