Bulgaria's Consumer Protection Commission to Become Executive Agency

Veselin Zlatev, Chair of the Commission for Consumer Protection, photo by BGNES

Bulgaria's Commission for Consumer Protection is to be converted into an executive agency under the umbrella of the Ministry of Economy and Energy.

The reform is part of a set of amendments to the Consumer Protection Act which were approved Wednesday by the parliamentary economic committee.

The legal changes, which were proposed by the Ministry of Economy and Energy, were submitted by Rumen Gechev, MP from the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP).

Under the proposal, the consumer protection watchdog will keep its current functions. It will be headed by a director and a deputy director, to be appointed by the Minister of Economy and Energy.

The current Chair of the Commission, Veselin Zlatev, suggested that the motive behind the change was a change in leadership.

Zlatev told Capital Daily that he had been invited to resign in December 2013, adding that he had refused, saying that his term in office expired in mid-2015.

The allegations were rejected by Krasin Dimitrov, Deputy Minister of Economy, who said that consumer protection was a responsibility of ministerial departments in countries like Sweden, England and France.

Under a previous proposal of Yordan Tsonev, MP from liberal party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), the consumer protection commission was to be merged with the competition protection watchdog.

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