Bulgaria Now 'Unable to Connect' to Its Trade Registry

There is no online access to Bulgaria's Business (Trade) Registry for a second day in a row, Bulgarian media alarmed Friday.

A new message has emerged on the Registry's website, public.brra.bg, saying "unable to connect". On Thursday, the message read "due to an upgrade of the systems, the access to the website of the Trade Registry will be temporarily unavailable."

The problem with the online access is happening just a month and a half after a controversial move on behalf of the ruling majority in parliament, which decided that the currently unrestricted public access to the Registry, a part of Bulgaria's Registry Agency, would be limited and paid as of the beginning of 2012.

This is envisaged by amendments to the Trade Registry Law, which parliament conclusively adopted in the middle of April in a highly controversial move with the votes of the MPs from the ruling centrist-right GERB and their allies from the nationalist party Ataka.

There are two types of business databases in Bulgaria - one contains general company data and the second stores contracts, protocols, shareholders' decisions, etc. While the former will remain open to the public, the latter will be restricted, under the adopted amendments.

Information pertaining to business and company cases will be accessible only at the very Registry Agency after producing a request in writing and an ID card. Bulgarians, who want online access to the full information of a company, will be able to do so only after obtaining a digital certificate, issued by the agency, or an e-signature.

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