Notice of freezing and confiscation orders in accordance with the Regulation (UE) 2018/1805

Part 1. Registry requirements

1. What is the procedure to lodge or present these judicial orders in the Land Register? Particularly electronic.

At the moment the Bulgarian Land Register is on paper so the only possible way regulated in the Bulgarian legislation for lodging judicial orders in the Bulgarian Land Register is on paper. They are hand delivered by a state official or by a courier whose identity is checked and registered when the documents are accepted by the officials in the Registry Agency.

2. Possibility of registering these orders in the event that who appears as the owner of a property according to the land registry («A») is a different person from the defendant (or person «B») who is issued a freezing or confiscation order against

According to Bulgarian law (the Act on the recognition, execution, confirmation and transfer of freezing deeds and the Act on the recognition, execution and transfer of confiscation deeds or forfeiture deeds and decisions on the imposition of financial sanctions), competent authorities in the Republic of Bulgaria to recognize and order the execution of freezing orders or confiscation orders, issued in another Member State, are the district courts.
Any interested party, including a third person in good faith, may appeal the decision of the Bulgarian district court to recognize the freezing deed before the court of appeal within 14 days of knowing of its ruling. An appeal does not suspend execution. The aforementioned parties may appeal also the actions on the execution of the freezing order within 14 days of the notification.
The freezing deed is executed by the relevant competent authorities in accordance with the procedure provided for in the Bulgarian Civil Procedure Code.
Any affected person, including a third person in good faith, may appeal the decision of the Bulgarian district court to recognize the confiscation deed before the court of appeal within 7 days of knowing of its ruling. The appeal does not suspend the execution of the decision. The decision of the court of appeal is final. The recognized confiscation deed is sent to the Bulgarian National Revenue Agency (NRA) for execution.
So in case the judgement (freezing/confiscation deed) is recognized and the competent authorities undertake steps for its execution, the judgement will be registered in the Land Register, regardless of the fact who is the owner of a given property. According to Art. 280, para. 1, item 1 of the Bulgarian Act on the Judiciary Power, in connection with Art. 7 of the Regulations for entries, entries, markings and deletions in the land register are carried out by order of the entry judge. The entry judge carries out a comprehensive check of the submitted documents, assesses their completeness and compliance with the legal requirements and by resolution orders or refuses entry, marking or deletion in the land register. The employees of the Registry Agency only carry out the administrative and technical actions of registration, marking or deletion in compliance with the order of the entry judge.
When the freezing/confiscation order is registered, the owner is not called or taken to the procedure. However, the Land Register is public and the owner could easily check if there are registered orders concerning his or her property. Then the owner, if he/she is not the person against whom the freezing/confiscation order has been issued, has the right to appeal the Bulgarian district court decision to recognize the act before the court of appeal.

3. Type and duration of the registration of these orders

• A freezing order and a confiscation order are considered different; each one of them leads to a different registration or notice.
• A confiscation order can only lead to indefinite registrations.
• A freezing order may lead to a provisional or temporary registration or notice and also to registrations for an indefinite period. (Clarification: The freezing order is valid until its deletion at the request of the competent authority. If the competent authority does not undertake any actions for its deletion, the freezing order leads to indefinite registrations)

Part 2. Registry effects

1. Effects of the freezing order once registered

• A warning to third parties
• It involves the possibility of a forced sale of the property.
• According to Art. 1 of the Regulations for Entries, the entry consists in giving publicity to the acts subject to entry. The entry has a notification effect, the entered circumstance is considered known and countervailable to third parties.

2. Effects of the confiscation order once registered

• A warning to third parties
• According to Art. 1 of the Regulations for Entries, the entry consists in giving publicity to the acts subject to entry. The entry has a notification effect, the entered circumstance is considered known and countervailable to third parties.

3. What is the registry proceeding and moment in which the opening procedures of freezing or confiscation are applied for registration?

The Recognition, enforcement, ordering and forwarding of freezing orders on property act regulates the conditions and procedure for the recognition and execution of acts for the freezing of property that have been issued in a member state of the European Union, as well as for the issuance and sending by a Bulgarian authority of freeze property order, which are subject to execution in another member state of the European Union. Recognition, enforcement and forwarding of orders for confiscation or deprivation and judgments imposing financial sanctions act regulates the conditions and procedure for recognition, execution and sending of decisions on deprivation or confiscation that have entered into force and decisions on the imposition of financial sanctions issued in a member state of the European Union.
Pursuant to the Recognition, enforcement, ordering and forwarding of freezing orders on property act, the competent authorities in the Republic of Bulgaria to recognize a deed for property freeze are the district courts. The freeze order for immovable property is recognized by the district court of the location of the property. If more than one property is included in the order, it is recognized by the district court at the location of the property with the highest tax assessment. After recognizing the property freeze order, the court sends it within 24 hours to the relevant competent authority for execution.
Competent authorities in the Republic of Bulgaria to recognize orders for confiscation or deprivation and judgments imposing financial sanctions issued in another member state of the European Union are the district courts according to the Recognition, enforcement and forwarding of orders for confiscation or deprivation and judgments imposing financial sanctions act. The competent authority for sending orders for confiscation or deprivation and judgments imposing financial sanctions, issued by a court in the Republic of Bulgaria, is the district or municipal court that first issued the order. The recognized order is sent to the National Revenue Agency for implementation in accordance with the Law on the National Revenue Agency and the Tax-Insurance Procedure Code. The National Revenue Agency immediately notifies the relevant court of the actions taken to implement the decision.

4. What are the executing authorities of these orders in this national system and what is the role of the land registers?

The recognized seizure or confiscation order is sent to the National Revenue Agency for execution in accordance with the Law on the National Revenue Agency and the Tax and Insurance Procedural Code. The National Revenue Agency shall immediately notify the relevant court of the actions taken to implement the decision.

Part 3. National land registry experience

These kinds of judicial orders are not very common in the Bulgarian land registration system. They are rarely submitted to the Land Register. Usually they do not lead to problems with their registration. In some cases, however, the description of the property in the freezing/confiscation order is not detailed enough.