site.btaDraft Bill Revising Cadastre and Property Register Act Approved

Bulgaria's Council of Ministers on Wednesday approved a draft Bill to Amend and Supplement the Cadastre and Property Register Act, the Government Information Service said.

The revisions ease the administrative burden on individuals, businesses and various institutions using cadastral services. Less time, lower expenses and fewer interactions with the administration will be required thanks to e-services for search in specialized cadastral databases and remote access to services provided by the State Geodetic, Cartographic and Cadastral Archive (Geokartfond). The draft legislation also provides for the gratuitous provision of services to administrative and judicial authorities, persons performing public functions, and organizations providing public services. 

In this way, individuals and organizations will cease "ferrying" paperwork from one administrative authority to another, saving time and money both on the issuing of documents and on transport in case they have to travel to the regional capital for an in-person visit to an office of the Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre Agency in order to apply for and collect the document they need. End users will not have to pay stamp duty for the documents issued by the Agency because they will be transferred at no charge through official channels to the authorities that require them. This is a radical change of the administrative service provision module, shifting the focus to e-documents.

Municipal administrations will have to afford utility companies gratuitous access to spatial-planning maps and registers when they need such data for the performance of their duties in the area of development-project planning.

The draft bill will now go before Parliament and will enter into force three months after the enacted law has been gazetted.