Key changes to the Law on the Introduction of the Euro in the Republic of Bulgaria (ZVERB) have been promulgated, significantly easing the burden on Bulgarian businesses. With the entry into force of the amendments in the State Gazette, the deadline for converting share capital is extended from 12 to 36 months, and the requirement for the mandatory simultaneous submission of updated articles of association is completely eliminated.
The changes take effect immediately upon their promulgation and aim to resolve the serious practical difficulties faced by both businesses and the Registry Agency.
The original text of the ZVERB obliged all capital commercial companies (AD, OOD, KDA) to bring their articles of association, partnership agreements, and constitutive acts into line with the euro requirements within 12 months from the introduction of the new currency.
- The new change: The deadline for fulfilling this obligation is extended from 12 to 36 months.
- Why was this necessary? Statistics from the practical application of the law showed that by mid-2026, only about 90,000 companies (approximately 10% of all 936,367 obligated entities in the country) had managed to initiate the procedure. This new three-year extension gives businesses the necessary breathing room to plan the changes without unnecessary pressure.
Until now, the law required certified copies of the new constituent documents to be submitted for filing in the Commercial Register simultaneously with the submission of the first subsequent application for entry, deletion, or announcement (regardless of its nature).
- The new change: The obligation to automatically present an updated article of association or partnership agreement at the first subsequent step is completely dropped.
- When must a new document still be submitted? An article of association or constitutive act updated due to the currency conversion will only be required when the company changes its constituent document on another, completely different legal ground. If no other changes are made to the company, there is no need to purposely submit new articles of association.
In recent months, serious concerns arose within business circles and accounting organizations that without the explicit presentation of amended articles of association or partnership agreement, the Registry Agency would refuse to publish companies' Annual Financial Statements (AFS).
- The solution: With these legislative corrections, those concerns are resolved. Since the Registry Agency has already officially and automatically converted the capital of companies in the register, the absence of a physically corrected articles of association in the company file will not be an obstacle to the normal publication of AFS and other ongoing documents.
Apart from businesses, the changes bring immense relief to the Registry Agency itself. The expected avalanche of hundreds of thousands of applications threatened to block the institution's work and lead to drastic delays in processing all types of commercial filings. Reducing this administrative pressure will allow the Commercial Register to issue decisions within the regular deadlines prescribed by law.