site.btaAmendments to Cadastre and Property Register Act Adopted on First Reading

Parliament voted, 168-2, with 14 abstentions, to adopt on first reading amendments to the Cadastre and Property Register Act, submitted by the Council of Ministers.

The bill establishes a new regulatory approach to the provision of services related to cadastral, geodetic and specialized data, according to the reasoning. Some of the changes are aimed at reducing the administrative burden on citizens and businesses by strengthening the role of electronic documents and providing free services to administrative and judicial bodies, public function holders and organizations offering public services, as internal electronic administrative services.

The bill introduces centralized task allocation for the employees of the Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre Agency, regardless of the location of the property. The territorial scope of the local offices of the Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre Agency will no longer apply in maintaining the cadastral map and registers up to date, as well as in administrative services.

The amendments were presented by Regional Development Minister Ivan Ivanov, who said that electronic documents will become the leading form. For end users, there will be no financial burden to pay state fees for documents issued by the Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre Agency, as they will be provided free of charge to the authorities that need them.

A separate bill amending the Cadastre and Property Register Act, proposed by Bozhidar Bozhanov MP of Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria and a group of MPs, was rejected by a vote of 65-63, with 48 abstentions. Bozhanov said the proposal aimed to reduce property fraud: "We are offering several tools: one of them is automated risk assessment, which can detect potentially risky transactions in real time." The bill also provided for notification upon any changes to an individual's property record, and the creation of a consultative council with stakeholders to help transition to a genuine property register. "At present, we do not have a real property register but an information system in which some data are entered, while the property register exists on paper," he commented.

During the debate, Konstantina Petrova MP of Vazrazhdane said her group would support both bills, but would propose changes to ensure clear guarantees for the protection of owners, transparency, accountability and real access to timely and quality cadastral services for people in small settlements. Regarding the Council of Ministers' bill, Petrova said Bulgaria's cadastre is not yet fully digitized. A large portion of the data sets are electronic, but the processes are not. She noted that data between the cadastre and the property register are not fully integrated, and there are thousands of discrepancies and errors in area, identifiers and ownership. Petrova emphasized the need to make sure that the content is accurate. "If we are not careful, we will end up with electronic chaos instead of electronic governance," she added.

Vladimir Dimitrov MP of BSP-United Left said his parliamentary group is firmly in favour, especially since the bill reduces administrative burdens and simplifies procedures for individuals and businesses. There will be no financial burden either, because various agencies will receive official information from the property register automatically. Dimitrov noted that the bill was submitted by the Council of Ministers to address delays in both the cadastre and the property register.