site.btaHealth Minister to Monitor Processing Methods of Natural Mineral, Spring Drinking Waters, Parliament Votes at First Reading

The Health Minister will have the authority to approve processing methods of natural mineral and spring drinking waters, the Parliament decided on Wednesday, approving at first reading amendments to Food Act proposed by the Council of Ministers. 

It is envisaged that the approval of the methods will be based on an expert opinion on the need to apply the relevant treatment to the water and on the impact of that treatment on the qualities of the water which give it its characteristic properties.

Another group of amendments relates to the infringement procedure against Bulgaria for failure to fulfil obligations under European Union legislation, since Bulgaria has not prohibited the marketing of natural mineral water and spring water from the same spring under more than one sales description. In this respect, for the purposes of the ‘same source - one commercial description’ principle, the additional provision of the draft law creates legal definitions of the terms ‘spring’ and ‘deposit’ and clarifies the definition of ‘groundwater body’.