Contributed by Schoenherr.

Tsvetkova Bebov Komarevski has changed its name to Tsvetkova Bebov & Partners, following the departure of Ilya Komarevski. Aside from the new name, the firm announced that Victoria Tzonkova and Damyan Leshev were elevated to Partner, while Eleonora Mateina was appointed to Head of Competition and Pharmaceuticals. 

Former Tsvetkova Bebov Komarevski Partners Ilya Komarevski and Venelin Dimitrov have established a new firm in Sofia – Komarevski Dimitrov & Partners.

Former Kambourov & Partners Founder and Partner Mitko Karushkov opened a new law firm in Sofia – Karushkov Legal solutions.

In February 2021, the Bulgarian Parliament adopted a major amendment to the Law on Protection of Competition (LPC). More than a hundred provisions were amended or newly introduced, making this change arguably the largest since the initial adoption of this law in 2008.

Antoniya Markova, Daniela Petkova, Yoanna Ivanova, and Kostadinka Deleva have been appointed as Partners with Gugushev & Partners in Bulgaria.

In recent years, as a result of the global political and economic environment and the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, the e-commerce has become a preferred method for trading goods and services for both businesses and consumers. More and more online trading platforms are emerging, where platform operators connect sellers and buyers using different business models and payment mechanisms.

 In “The Corner Office” we ask Managing Partners at law firms across Central and Eastern Europe about their backgrounds, strategies, and responsibilities. With summer having just passed, the question this time: What is your one favorite yearly activity to disconnect?

Bulgaria is just a stone’s throw away from completing the electricity market liberalization that has been in progress in recent years. The main goal of the Bulgarian Government is to gradually eliminate regulated electricity prices by the end of 2025 and to fully transition to market conditions by promoting market competition.

Тhe current political atmosphere in Bulgaria is turbulent and hectic, as the country faces an unprecedented situation of running its third extraordinary Parliament elections in a row within a single year, according to Kolev, Angelov & Miteva Law Firm’s Partner Nikolay Kolev.

In its judgment on 14 July 2021 in Case T-399/20, the General Court assessed whether there is likelihood of confusion between figurative trademarks that depict two letters from different foreign alphabets.

At the beginning of 2021 the Bulgarian Competition Protection Act (CPA) was amended, among others, with the implementation of ECN+ Directive. This brought hope that the antitrust activity of the Bulgarian Competition Protection Commission (CPC) may increase.

With the country still helmed by an interim government, it would appear that Bulgaria remains in a position to grow and prosper and is a fruitful target for investors, according to Boyanov & Co Partner Damian Simeonov.

On June 23, 2021, CEE Legal Matters reported that DGKV had advised Internet Corporated Networks on the sale of its hosting and domain business to Superhosting.bg. CEE In-House Matters spoke with Julian Borislavov, CEO and Co-Founder of ICN to learn more about the deal.

On December 31, 2020, CEE Legal Matters reported that CMS had advised contractor Arkad on the completion of the Balkan Stream Gas Pipeline project. We reached out to CMS Sofia Managing Partner Kostadin Sirleshtov for more information about the deal.

Bulgaria’s accession to NATO in 2004 challenged the country’s army to modernize its armaments and replace obsolete military equipment. This is a multi-stage process, based on a series of political decisions and a consistent implementation of a long-term strategy. Bulgaria must catch up with the other CEE members of the Alliance, which have already completed or are in an advanced stage of modernizing their armies and are already in the capacity-building process. What Bulgaria is planning, how that plan is being executed, and what opportunities we should look forward to in the near future are critical considerations.

A year ago, Bulgaria took its first steps into a new world after several months of almost total lockdown following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The July 17, 2021 deadline for implementing Directive (EU) 2019/1023 of the European Parliament and of the Council of June 20, 2019, on preventive restructuring frameworks, on discharge of debt and disqualifications, and on measures to increase the efficiency of procedures concerning restructuring, insolvency, and discharge of debt, and amending Directive (EU) 2017/1132 is quickly approaching, leaving little time for EU Member States to adjust their national legislations to its requirements.