Bulgaria

Recent Articles

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  25/04/2024

  Europe

  Cheers! New EU rules to strengthen GI protection for wine, spirit drinks and agri-food products come into force on 13 May 2024

  On 23 April 2024, a new EU regulation aimed at enhancing the protection of geographical indications (GIs) for wine, spirit drinks and agricultural products, and other quality schemes for agricultural products was published in the Official Journal. The new rules, that enter into force on 13 May 2024, provide for a streamlined registration procedure, a strengthened role of producer groups, and improved provisions on GI protection (both online and offline) and sustainability.Background on Geographical Indications (GIs) for wine, spirit drinks and agri-food productsGIs are intellectual property rights...

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  24/04/2024

  Bulgaria

  Bulgaria considers introducing Contracts for Difference

  Currently, Bulgaria is among a small number of EU member states that lacks the concept of contracts for difference (CfD). So far, the country had a feed in tariff as a mechanism to subsidise renewable energy producers who meet legislative requirements. Given that feed in tariffs are an outdated tool, contracts for guarantees were introduced.  Having in mind, the current realities of the renewable energy market, including anticipated offshore renewable energy projects, Bulgarian lawmakers came to the conclusion that the country needs CfDs to:Secure the viability of a project;Monitor the...

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  23/04/2024

  Bulgaria

  Bulgaria passes Ordinance offering international trade with guarantees of origin

  Following the development of the EU legislation and reflecting market needs and increasing interest in trading with guarantees of origin, the Bulgaria’s Ministry of Energy adopted new Ordinance No. Е-РД-04-2 of 2 April 2024 on guarantees of origin of energy from renewable sources. The new Ordinance was promulgated in State Gazette No. 32 on 9 April 2024.This new Ordinance repeals Ordinance No. РД-16-1117 of 14.10.2011, which until now regulated the conditions and procedure for creating, maintaining, and using a system for issuing guarantees of origin.By definition,...

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  18/04/2024

  International

  Transforming the Legal Landscape? The Impact of LLMs

  Large Language Models (LLMs) are a branch of artificial intelligence (AI) that can generate human-like text based on deep learning techniques. LLMs are trained on massive amounts of textual data, such as books, articles, and websites, and learn to recognise patterns, structures, and relationships within the data. By doing so, they develop the ability to produce text on various topics. The presence of LLMs in the legal sector is increasing and, with this, the ability of lawyers to understand and use LLMs in providing quality advice to their clients is becoming more important. CMS have a dedicated...

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  17/04/2024

  Europe

  CMS data protection update (04/2024)

  I. The latest from the data protection authorities and current topics1. EDPB: Launch of coordinated enforcement on the right of accessThe European Data Protection Board (EDPB) selected the right of access under Article 15 GDPR as the focus of the third coordinated enforcement action of the data protection authorities. Coordinated enforcement has now begun and aims to help assess how the right of access is implemented in practice and to what extent adjustments or clarifications are needed in the EDPB's Guidelines on this topic. Last year’s results of the coordinated enforcement action on the...

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  17/04/2024

  EU

  EU Commission enforces obligation to provide correct and complete information in merger control proceedings

  EU merger control law provides for an obligation of the parties to provide correct and complete information in merger control proceedings. This obligation has a very high relevance for the European Commission, as latest enforcement activities demonstrate. On 19 March 2024, the European Commission sent a Statement of Objections to an insulation panels maker alleging that the company provided incorrect, incomplete and misleading information during merger control proceedings for the company's planned acquisition of a mineral fibre sandwich panel producer.These investigations of the European Commission...

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