President vetoed amendments to Civil Procedure Code

President Rumen Radev vetoed the amendments to the Civil Procedure Code enacted through the Transitional and Final Provisions to an Act to Amend and Supplement The Bar Act.

On September 11, the Parliament adopted amendments to the Bar Act which also amended the Civil Procedure Code and the Tax and Social Security Procedure Code. The legal regime relating to the figure of the ad hoc representative has changed significantly. Parliament divested the court of the power to set the fees of ad hoc representatives and entrusted that power to the local bar associations.

According to the Head of State, this is in sharp contradiction with the European Union law, which prohibits associations of providers of certain services from setting prices on their own. The President urged MPs to review certain provisions that create a risk for unjustifiably undermining the principles of a fair trial within a reasonable time and the constitutional right to protection of citizens.

The President insists that the legislature should reconsider particular provisions that give rise to an unwarranted breach of the principles of fair trial within a reasonable time and citizens' constitutional right to defence.

Once again, President Rumen Radev draws the attention of MPs to the need to respect the principles of reasonableness, openness and coherence in the preparation and adoption of legislative acts.

"These are not formal requirements, but important guarantees against the introduction of lobbyist amendments," the Head of State stressed in his motives.