Bulgaria
Current national procurement legislation/standards
from the project-relevant fields
• IT - no
• household appliances - yes
• lighting - no
• green power - no
• vehicles - no
• building components - yes
• other (that could serve as a relevant example) - no
• general/universal - yes
Transposition of EU labeling and MEPS directives
The energy efficiency policy of Bulgaria is based on the national priorities and is in conformity with the new positive sustainable policy and economic trends, as well as with the requirements of the European directives and market-based economic principles. The main energy efficiency policy instruments are the Energy Strategy from 2002; the Energy Act adopted in 2003; the Energy Efficiency Act, adopted in March 2004 and the National long term energy efficiency programme till 2015. In fact till now there isn't any program targeted towards energy efficiency appliances and procurement, though the government officials are generally aware of the usefulness in the development of such activities.
The harmonization of the Bulgarian legislative framework with the European one in the field of appliances has been conducted through the introduction of the European acts of the acquis communautaire by the Law on Technical Requirements with Respect to Products and the Law on Consumer Protection. An Ordinance concerning the requirements for labeling of appliances with respect to their consumption of energy and other resources has been worked out by the Ministry of Economy (currently Ministry of Economy and Energy) and has been in force as of 1 September 2004. The Ordinance transposes in full the requirements of the Framework Directive and all implementing Directives. The Law on Technical Requirements with respect to products lays down the provisions for determination of the most substantial requirements concerning the products sold on the local market and the procedures for performing the assessment compliance and market supervision. Directives 96/57/EEC, 92/42/EEC and 2000/55/EEC are transposed by virtue of sub law ordinances.
Current national practice
All market players have shown fairly high level of awareness of the existence of Bulgarian legislation related to the relevant national and EU standards. It is the same for manufacturers, importers and retailers. Contrary to that most of them do not comply with the existing legislation and labels are still not very often present in the selling points and they are not part of the procurement procedures. All retailers explicitly support the introduction of energy efficient products, especially in the home appliances segment but this is not a component of the procurement policy. However in none of the retailer's chains no special training is provided for the salesmen, especially for the energy efficiency labels and characteristics of the appliance sold, neither those standards are widely promoted in the procurement procedures.
Recognised barriers
The obstacles to the introduction of green procurement comprise of:
• There is no legislation in place;
• The introduction of green procurement will require capacity building in the relevant stakeholders;
• Energy efficient (green) appliances and installations usually are more expensive compared to the conventional ones, although the investment is paid back in reasonable terms;
• The verification and enforcement procedures are not well in place.
Opportunities
A variety of financial mechanisms and incentives have been applied in the country in the recent several years for promotion of energy efficiency improvements in all sectors.
The Energy Efficiency Act introduces fiscal preferences for physical persons/legal entities, engaged in energy efficiency activities through appropriate amendments to the Law on Local Taxes and Charges and the Law on Corporate Income Taxation.
By virtue of the Energy Efficiency Act an Energy Efficiency Fund has been set up for the purposes of financing activities for promotion of energy efficiency.
Description of Implementation of Appliances Energy Efficiency Label Regulation
