On September 13, the Cabinet approved a draft Arms and Dual-Use Items and Technology Export Control Act, providing for relaxed requirements for companies trading in dual-used items and technology exports.

Ivelina Bahchevanova, the head of the international-controlled trade and security department in the Ministry of Economy and Energy, presented the draft.

The draft aims at fully harmonising Bulgaria's legislation with the European Union acquis communautaire. It will introduce a public register of licensed companies and registered arms dealers.

The draft legislation replaces the current licensing and permit requirements by registration or authorisation requirements depending on the type of goods and the country of final destination.

Deputy Economy and Energy Minister Kornelia Ninova told journalists that "the permit requirements for the EU are lifted, except for a limited category of sensitive good," according to a report by Bulgarian news agency BTA.

The bill proposes the introduction of an individual, global and general authorisation depending on the type of the goods and the seller's country. Instead of permit requirements, registration requirements will apply to import of specific dual-use items from non-EU-member states. Transit of dual-use items will no longer be controlled. Regarding control of arms, the administrative procedures in respect of the validity periods of the authorisations issued are to be relaxed, extending these periods from the current six months to one year.

Brokering is redefined in full compliance with the EU Common Position on the Control of Arms Brokering. The licensing requirements remain in effect for arms exports, import and transfer. Licences will be issued by the Cabinet's Interdepartmental Council for the Military-Industrial Complex and National Mobilisation Readiness.

Just as under the current framework, a licence will be issued for an initial period of one year, after the lapse of which, each successive licence will be valid for three years. The bill provides for the establishment of a public register at the Interdepartmental Council to record the holders of issued, modified, suspended, withdrawn and terminated licences. The new law will come into force when Bulgaria joins the EU. It will supersede the Foreign Trade in Arms and Potential Dual-Use Goods and Technologies Act, which was adopted in 1995 and was amended and supplemented in 2002 and 2004.

According to Bahchevanova, more than 60 companies were currently licensed to trade in arms and dual-use items. The revisions relax substantially the operation of companies, especially considering potential dual-use goods and their intra-Community movement. Relaxed requirements are also introduced for a limited number of non-EU-member states: the US, Japan, Canada and Norway.

The volume of arms imports to and exports from Bulgaria has been relatively unchanged for a couple of years now, Bahchevanova told BTA. Exports approximate 120 million euro, and imports 90 million euro. Arms are exported to traditional partner countries of Asia and Africa, while export to the US and the EU is growing at the same time. These figures will be made public for the first time this year, and as from next year they will be disclosed in the EU as well.

Dual-use items is not a new issue in Bulgaria. The country has inherited a large-scale weapons manufacturing industry from its days under communism, which since the advent of democracy has proven a difficult point in Bulgaria's accession to Nato and the EU. 

In 2002 a large-scale scandal broke out involving the state owned Terem company, based in the city of Targovishte, northern Bulgaria. In November that year, trucks transporting reducing gears manufactured by Terem were stopped at the Bulgarian-Turkish border. The goods of possible dual use were bound to embargoed Syria. The investigation revealed that the goods had been declared as "items produced for agricultural machines" but it turned out that they were suitable for repairing some military vehicles as well. The scandal erupted days before Bulgaria was to receive official an invitation to join Nato. In June 2006, Sofia City Court suspended proceedings against former defence minister Boiko Noev in connection with the Terem case. The court decided that previous breaches of procedure for which the case was returned by both Sofia City Court and the military and supreme courts, were still in effect, and there had been further breaches.

In 2003 there was another scandal, involving the Beta factory in the western town of Cherven Bryag. At the time, Beta specialised in producing 122 mm self-propelling cannons. In 2000, Beta started exporting its cannons to Sudan, which was completely legal. In 2001, the UN imposed sanctions and a full-scale embargo on military trade with Sudan, and Bulgaria as a UN member, fully supported the embargo. However, Beta continued its exports tor Sudan, disregarding the embargo, declaring its goods at customs as "spare parts for construction vehicles". According to BTA, Beta managed to export goods worth half a billion US dollars. An investigation was launched in Beta's former executive directors Luydmil Georgiev and Ruslan Ivanov and Nikolai Kratounov, head of RIK-Kazanlak company who was the middle man in the deal.

In June this year, Russia's ambassador to France, Alexander Avdeev, made statements to the media criticising Bulgaria's Arsenal weapons manufacturer for manufacturing Kalashnikov-type assault rifles without the proper licence.

According to Avdeev, any problems with the manufacturing of Russian weapons without a licence should be dealt with at a government level.