Several foreign law companies operating in Bulgaria have complained to the European Commission, saying that Bulgaria's Bar Act is preventing them from practising law in Bulgaria on equal terms with local firms - and that the legislation does not comply with European rules.

DLA Piper Weiss-Tessbach, CMS Cameron McKenna, CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz, Wolf Theiss and CHSH Cerha Hempel Spiegelfeld Hlawati say that the Bulgarian Bar Act breaches both the EC Treaty and Directive 98/5/EC by violating the rights of European Union lawyers to practice and set up branches in Bulgaria and prevents the foreign firms from operating under their own names. The foreign lawyers say that these are all breaches of the right to freedom of establishment, the right to provide legal services and the competition rules of the EU, and say that they have asked the EC to ensure that Sofia starts implementing European law correctly.

"Bulgarian Parliament did implement changes to the Bar Act in 2006, but it currently only partly complies with EU law. What we're asking for is to make it fully compliant," Richard Clegg, who runs the Sofia office of Wolf Theiss, told The Sofia Echo, adding that there had been similar problems in other EU countries.

The foreign lawyers say that they decided to approach the EC only after unsuccessful attempts to resolve the problem with the Bulgarian Government, Justice Ministry, Parliament, Supreme Bar Council and Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC).

Ironically, in July 2008 the CPC imposed a 150 000 leva fine on four of the five current claimants, Wolf Theiss being the exception, namely because of unfair commercial practices. The fines resulted from a complaint by Bulgarian law firms that alleged that the foreign law firms were registered and were operating in the country as commercial enterprises, while, according to the Bar Act, they needed to be registered specifically as law firms. Furthermore, to comply with the law, the names of the law firms can be composed only of the names of the partners registered in one of Bulgaria's bar associations - something the foreign lawyers fiercely oppose, because, to them, being able to operate under the names by which they are internationally recognised is vital for the success of their businesses.

At the time, the foreign lawyers slammed the move by their Bulgarian colleagues as an attempt to drive them out of the country, sparked by a fear of competition. The Bulgarian law firms rejected these statements and said that good or bad, the law needed to be observed by all. The four companies that were fined said that they would appeal against the CPC decision in Bulgaria's Supreme Administrative Court. They also hinted they were ready to go to Brussels in order to protect their EU legislation incorporated rights, which they felt were violated by the Bar Act.

Now that their complaint to the EC has been filed, the foreign lawyers feel confident that the final outcome will be satisfactory to them. "With everything that has been going on between Bulgaria and the EU lately, we feel positive about the EU approach to the country," Peter Valert, partner at DLA Piper, told The Sofia Echo.

The EC is going to study the complaint and contact the Bulgarian authorities for their position. If it decides there is a violation, it is likely to make an informal suggestion that Sofia amends its legislation. If Bulgaria does not do so, the EC can go as far as the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.

"Bulgaria's Bar Act is fully compliant with European standards and this has been established by the EC in a review of the Act," is all Daniela Dokovska, head of the Supreme Bar Council, would tell The Sofia Echo.