This Act sets out the overarching legal framework governing public-private partnerships implemented through concessions in the Republic of Bulgaria. It establishes the overall scope of application, covering concessions for construction and for services, and articulates the core objectives of the regime: mobilising private investment, ensuring high-quality infrastructure and public-interest services, improving efficiency in the use of public funds, and safeguarding state and municipal property interests. The Act is grounded in fundamental principles such as publicity, transparency, proportionality, equal treatment and non-discrimination, while also aligning national rules with the EU threshold for the application of enhanced procedural requirements and defining sectoral and exclusion rules for activities outside its scope.
Within this framework, the Act defines several types of concessions: construction, service, and extraction (including mineral waters). It sets out the principles of openness, equal treatment, and proportionality, requiring that all concessions be awarded through a competitive and public process. The law also outlines the roles and responsibilities of the concedent (public authority) and the concessionaire (typically a capital company), as well as the financial mechanisms, such as concession payments and compensations, that underpin these agreements.
The Act assigns clear institutional responsibilities to central and local authorities, including the Council of Ministers, coordination and sectoral bodies, the Minister of Finance, municipal councils and mayors, a specialised administrative directorate, and the Agency for Public Enterprises and Control, with oversight by audit and financial inspection bodies. It establishes operational tools such as a National Concession Registry, a national concession development strategy, and state and municipal action plans identifying planned projects and financing sources, including potential EU funds. The Act also introduces control and enforcement mechanisms—prior controls for large concessions, reporting and monitoring obligations, public registers, sanctions and appeal procedures—alongside detailed rules on contract amendment, assignment, termination, remedies, liability, administrative penalties and transitional arrangements for existing contracts.