Effective 1 August 2025, Bulgaria introduced significant amendments to its arbitration law, retitled from the International Commercial Arbitration Act (ICAA) to the broader Arbitration Act (AA). While the reform includes two welcome developments – the reinstatement of public policy as a ground for setting aside of arbitral awards and the removal of burdensome formalities in […]

The Supreme Court of Cassation has ruled more than once that the arbitration agreement shall constitute a specific and explicit demonstration of the parties’ will to refer their dispute to arbitration. Presumed agreement is not acceptable except for the case when the respondent appears and participates in the proceedings without challenging the jurisdiction of the […]

Even before we could find out what it is, it turned out there is no ground for mandatory mediation in our country. As of 01.07.2024, the amendments to the Civil Procedure Code and the Mediation Act, which made a mediation meeting a mandatory step in certain litigation, were to come into force. However, on the […]

On 1 July 2024 the amendments to the Civil Procedure Code will come into force, according to which mediation will become a mandatory phase of court proceedings in some claims related to co-ownership or company disputes. When filing such a claim, the parties should attempt to resolve their dispute through an independent mediator and only […]

The Supreme Court of Cassation (SC) has recently heard a one-of-a-kind case for setting aside an arbitral award. DHL Express Bulgaria (DHL) filed a motion for setting aside an arbitral award rendered by an ad hoc arbitrator. DHL claimed that it had never been notified of the arbitration procedure and found out about it upon […]

On 24 February 2023 the Young Arbitration and ADR Forum at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC YAAF) and Dimitrov, Petrov & Co. brought together distinguished arbitration practitioners from around the world in Sofia for an insightful event on the fundamentals of arbitration. The aim of the event was to promote arbitration and to present […]

On June 20th, 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) issued a judgement on case C‑700/20, London Steam-Ship Owners’ Mutual Insurance Association Limited v. Kingdom of Spain which focuses on the interpretation of the provisions[i] of Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 (“the Brussels I Regulation”) regarding recognition and enforcement or foreign judgments. According […]

A court panel of the Bulgarian Supreme Court of Cassation (SCC) has recently asked the Constitutional Court whether the revocation of the public order as one of the legal grounds for setting aside arbitral awards contradicts the Constitution. The said revocation was made in 2017 via the major changes in the local International Commercial Arbitration […]

The Bulgarian Supreme Court of Cassation has issued an important ruling[i] on the issue whether a general arbitration clause in a contract covers rights and obligations of the parties which stem directly from the law. At first sight, the matter seems quite clear – the arbitration clause applies only to disputes arising out of the […]

As a result of amendments introduced in the Bulgarian International Commercial Arbitration Act in 2017, the contradiction to the Bulgarian public policyi was removed as legal basis of claims for set aside of arbitral awards. But what if the arbitral award is contrary to the EU public policy? Could it be set aside? The recent […]