Arbitration Courts Will Not Hear Consumer Disputes

On 27 January 2017 a new bill amending the Bulgarian Civil Procedure Code entered into force (the "Bill"). Among others, the Bill (i) reduces the scope of the competences of the arbitration courts and (ii) sets new requirements for the organisation of those courts' activity. Apart from the Civil Procedure Code, the Bill also amends and supplements the International Commercial Arbitration Act and the Consumers Protection Act.

In brief, the Bill provides for the following:

• Exclusion of consumer disputes from the competences of the arbitration courts with no exceptions;
• Issuance of a writ of enforcement on the grounds of an arbitration tribunal's ruling (in Bulgarian "определение") (thus supplementing the current list of grounds, such as arbitration courts' awards and settlement agreements);