Legislation

There is no individual specific leasing law in Bulgaria. The leasing activity is regulated in several acts, which clearly define almost all aspects of the industry. The provisions of all of these form the leasing legislation framework of Bulgaria.

Law on Credit Institutions

This law governs the terms and conditions for registration, conducting the activity and supervision of all forms of credit activity, including financial leasing. The law also provides for the creation and maintenance of a public register by the Bulgarian National Bank of all credit institutions, which operate on the territory of Bulgaria.

Ordinance 22 of the Bulgarian National Bank for the Central Credit Register

All leasing companies in Bulgaria submit information about their activity to the Central Credit Register, which is set up by the Bulgarian National Bank. The CCR contains information on all financial obligations and credit performance in the country. leasing companies use the information from the CCR in their process for analysis of the creditworthiness of each future lessee.

Value Added Tax Act

Leasing is a form of credit service. At the same time, it differs from the standard bank credit with the fact that the leasing company acquires ownership over the leasing asset. From here stems the huge importance of the VAT Act over the leasing activity.

IFRS 16

The International Financial Reporting Standard 16 is the new international standard for leasing, which replaces IAS 17, and which comes into force on 01.01.2019. The differences between the two standards are mainly focused on the reporting of operational leasing by lessees. IFRS 16 gives all major definitions in leasing, as well as prescriptions for reporting each leasing operations. IFRS 16 has been approved by the European Commission and included in a Regulation, which means that it is compulsory for application in the EU. IAS 17 and IFRS 16 respectively are applied by all leasing companies in Bulgaria.

Consumer Credit Act

Last revision June 2016. Part of the leasing contracts are made with individual lessees. This law regulates commercials, pre-contract communication and contract closing with individual customers.