With this presentation we have the pleasure to introduce you to the activities of Arbitration Court – Sofia

 Arbitration Court – Sofia was established in 2010 by Legal Advice and Mediation Association and its aim is to improve the effectiveness of the judicial system in Bulgaria.

 Currently Arbitration Court – Sofia employs 32 arbitrators, 78 summons officers and 11 court clerks. Arbitration Court – Sofia is the only court that employs officers who deliver summons in all Bulgarian settlements.

 Since its establishment Arbitration Court – Sofia has enjoyed fast development: more than 38168 arbitration proceedings were started only in the third quarter of 2013, which makes it the largest arbitration court in Bulgaria.

 This considerable number of proceedings is due to the strong interest of citizens and legal entities for faster and more objective judicial process.

 It is no secret that the public confidence and estimation of the Bulgarian judicial system is quite low.

 Generally people don’t believe in the effectiveness of the state court.

 This lack of trust is no coincidence.

 With this presentation we will attempt to show how we have overcome the main obstacles and issues, faced by the parties in state court proceedings.

 1. Place of jurisdiction

 Before starting a lawsuit the first problem for the parties is the place of jurisdiction

 Some of the defendants have registered seat or address in Sofia, others – in different towns across the country.

 When filing a statement of claim in Sofia, the claimants face extremely slow legal proceedings.

 If the statement of claim is filed somewhere in the country, the main problem could be a biased approach to the case, due to sympathy or prejudice to one of the parties.

 Moreover, proceedings in the country are more expensive, because of the lawyers’ travel expenses that have to be covered.

 How the Arbitration Court solves this problem?

 The first and most important principle is that all proceedings are conducted only in Sofia, regardless of the permanent address or registered seat of the defendant.

 (If requested by the parties, arbitration proceedings can also be conducted in the Arbitration court branches in Varna, Plovdiv, Burgas and Stara Zagora).

 What’s more, if your defendant is a foreign person (registered in Germany, USA, Turkey or China) the arbitration proceedings will be held again in Sofia, because international jurisdiction limits do not apply to the Arbitration court.

 Thus you are spared the inconvenience your arbitration to be conducted in foreign language, by foreign lawyers and based on unfamiliar legal system.

 2. Securing the claims

 When filing a request for securing a claim at a state court, especially in Sofia City Court, the court practice shows that the requested security is either not granted by the court or is granted together with excessively high security deposit.

 Usually the security deposit, required by the state court, amounts to 10% of the material interest.

 The advantage of Arbitration Court – Sofia when allowing security claims is that on the day of filing of statement of claim, the party receives a copy of the claim with reference number and certificate for opening of arbitration case, which could be used before the respective state court.

 The Arbitration court practice until now shows that all requests for securing a claim when a party submits such certificate for opening of arbitration case, are accepted by the state courts and the respective party is not obliged to pay security deposit.

 3. Proceedings

 Proceedings in the three-instance state courts are slow, expensive and ineffective.

 A commercial case in the state courts is usually resolved with final court decision for a period of 2.5 – 3.5 years.

 Unlike the state court proceedings, the Arbitration Court is a one-instance institution.

 The decision is usually delivered within 3-4 months after filing of the claim.

 Arbitration Court can also apply accelerated procedure (for amounts of up to 25000 BGN), which are decided for less than 1 month after filing a claim.

 4. Decision

 Arbitration proceedings are closed with announcement of a decision.

 The decision of Court of Arbitration serves as a writ of enforcement, so based on it the parties can obtain a writ of execution.

 The decision is effective also for foreign citizens or legal entities if it is recognized by the competent court in the respective country, in compliance with the international treaties, signed with Republic of Bulgaria.

 5. Arbitration fee

 When filing a three-instance case in the state court, the following state fees are due:

First instance – 4% of the material interest, second instance – 2% of the material interest and third instance – 1% of the material interest.

 The total cost of state court proceedings amounts to 7% of the material interest, which does not include lawyer’s fee that parties pay on every court instance.

 As we mentioned earlier, Arbitration Court proceedings are one-instance and the arbitration fee for one procedure amounts to 3.5% of the material interest.

 Therefore arbitration procedure is not only much faster, it is also twice cheaper.

 6. Arbitration clause

 The only pre-condition for a dispute to be filed with Arbitration Court – Sofia is arbitration of disputes to be assigned with arbitration clause (agreement) or international treaty.

 Arbitration agreement must be concluded in writing.

 The arbitration agreement is valid when it is present in the correspondence between the parties.

 Recommended text of the arbitration clause:

“All disputes arising from the present contract (agreement) or related to it or to its addenda, including disputes arising out of or related to its interpretation, validity, breach or termination, shall be settled by mutual agreement. If the parties fail to reach an agreement, the dispute shall be settled by the Arbitration Court - Sofia under Association “PPM” in accordance to its Statutes.”

 In conclusion it must be noted that Arbitration Court – Sofia is the proper institution that will meet your requirements for prompt, effective, economical and transparent jurisdiction.

 You are welcomed to visit our internet site at http://arbitrationcourtbg.org where you will be able to familiarize yourself with the Arbitration Court Statutes, List of Arbitrators, Arbitration Costs and Fees Tariff, etc.