European e-Justice Portal - Taking evidence

NB! Council Regulation (EC) No 1206/2001 has been replaced by Regulation (EU) 2020/1783 of the European Parliament and of the Council as of 1 July 2022.

Notifications made under the new Regulation can be found here!

Article 2 – Requested courts

Requests for the taking of evidence should be sent to the district court [rayonen sad] in whose jurisdiction evidence is to be taken. (Article 617(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure)

The court competent to authorise the direct taking of evidence in the Republic of Bulgaria is the provincial court [okrazhen sad] in whose jurisdiction the evidence is to be taken. (Article 617(2) of the Code of Civil Procedure)

The competent court can be found using the portal’s search engine.

Article 3 – Central body

Ministry of Justice

International Legal Cooperation and European Affairs Directorate

Cooperation in Civil Matters Unit

Tel.: (+359 2) 9237544

Fax: (+359 2) 9809223

Address: Ulitsa Slavyanska 1, 1040 Sofia

Bulgaria

Article 5 – Languages accepted for completion of the forms

Requests from another Member State for the collection of evidence and communications should be drawn up in Bulgarian or accompanied by a translation into Bulgarian. (Article 618 of the Code of Civil Procedure)

Article 6 – Means accepted for transmission of requests and other communications

The technical means for the receipt of requests available to the courts on the list pursuant to Article 2(2) are: by post, by courier service, by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt and by fax.

Article 17 – Central body or competent authority(ies) responsible for decisions on requests for direct taking of evidence

The court competent to authorise the direct taking of evidence in the Republic of Bulgaria is the provincial court in whose jurisdiction the evidence is to be taken. (Article 617(2) of the Code of Civil Procedure)

Article 21 – Agreements or arrangements to which Member States are parties and which comply with the conditions in Article 21(2)

The Republic of Bulgaria does not maintain and has not concluded any agreements or arrangements with other EU Member States which aim to facilitate the collection of evidence and must be compatible with this Regulation.

The Regulation is applicable on a priority basis to agreements concluded by the Republic of Bulgaria with other Member States to the extent that these concern the taking of evidence in civil and commercial matters.

Last update: 20/07/2022

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