INTERNAL RULES ON THE ORGANIZATION OF ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES AT THE MINISTRY OF ECONOMY

Chapter One

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Section One

Subject-matter and scope

Art. 1. (1) These Internal Rules on the Organization of Administrative Services of the Ministry of Economy (ME) regulate issues, related to the administrative services, provided by the Ministry of Economy and regulate the interaction between the units in the implementation of administrative services.

(2) The rules shall be applied to all units of the Ministry of Economy, providing administrative services, unless otherwise provided by law.

Section two

Functions

Art. 2. The employees, performing administrative services:

1. Shall provide information about the administrative services in an accessible and understandable language;

2. Shall respond to inquiries of general nature and refer the questions by competence to the relevant units, as well as to other administrative bodies, competent on the matter;

3. Shall clarify the requirements to be met by the application or request for the execution of the administrative service, the claim/complaint, the protest, the signal or the proposal, according to the procedure, established by the normative documents;

4. Shall accept applications and claims, complaints and protests, signals and suggestions;

5. Shall accept applications and register verbal inquiries under the Law on the Access to Public Information (APIA);

6. Shall check the completeness of the documentation for each administrative service;

7. Shall provide information about the progress of the work on the file;

8. Shall liaise with the other units of the administration in connection with the implementation of the administrative services;

9. Shall provide the requested documents;

10. Shall make contact with the reception room for suggestions and alerts, as well as with the units, working expertly on the files, formed on the basis of signals or suggestions.

Section Three

Principles of administrative service

Art. 3. (1) When performing administrative services, the principles laid down in the Law on Administration (AA) and in the Administrative Procedure Code (APC) shall be observed, in accordance with the functions, laid down in the Ministry's Rules of Organization.

(2) The employees of the units, providing administrative services to the citizens and the business shall be obliged to:

- Shall ensure equal access to administrative services;

- Shall provide quality services;

- Shall provide complete, transparent and accurate information about the services provided;

- Shall provide information on the different forms of access to services;

- Have a user-friendly attitude towards service users, not to undermine the ministry's reputation and raise doubts about impartiality in the provision of services;

- Shall fulfil all the requirements for complex administrative service, laid down in the Administrative Procedure Code;

- Shall provide reliable feedback to users;

- Shall monitor good practices, applied in other administrations;

- Shall signal and report to the Inspectorate of the Ministry of Economy on received signals, containing allegations on corruption, corruption actions and / or conflict of interest / fraud, irregularities, abuse, etc.

Art. 4. (1) The Managers of the units, providing administrative services may request from the Minister, by a written report, agreed with the Chief Secretary and the relevant Deputy Minister, that funds or measures be provided to improve the quality of the services provided and / or to increase the the professional qualification of employees, involved in the provision of administrative services.

(2) The claims under para 1 shall be justified and supported by the necessary analyses and calculations.

Chapter Two

ORGANIZATION OF ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES

Art. 5. (1) The organization for provision of administrative services shall be provided by the directorates, the functionalities of which provide for such activity.

(2) The directors of directorates under Para. 1 shall be responsible for the distribution of activities and the tasks, related to the provision of each specific service.

Art. 6. (1) The servicing of the Ministry of Interior shall be performed by the general and specialized administration officers, designated by their directors.

(2) The administrative services shall be requested and applied for at the building of 8 Slavianska Str. In the buildings at No.4 Lege Str. and No. No.12 Knyaz Alexander I Str., where reception rooms are organised, which carry out consultations by the respective specialized units.

(3) The places, designated for administrative services have working hours every business day, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

(4) In the cases, where there are users of administrative services in the service premises at the end of the announced working hours, the work of the unit shall continue until the completion of their service, yet not more than two hours after the announced working hours.

(5) The employees under Para.1 shall perform one-stop-services, the objectives of which shall be:

a. To ensure close cooperation between the administration of the Ministry of Economy and users of administrative services by using all forms of access - ordinary and electronic mail, telephone, Internet, electronic documents, signed with universal electronic signature;

b. To facilitate the exchange of necessary information on the provision of administrative services.

Art. 7. (1) In reference to the execution of its obligations, each employee, responsible for the provision of administrative services shall have the right to receive, and the employee to whom the request is sent, shall be obliged to provide the necessary office information in good time.

(2) Any employee, refusing to provide requested information on the service shall be liable to disciplinary actions under Art. 89 and the following of the Civil Servants Act (CSA).

Art. 8. Written requests / applications, complaints, claims, protests, alerts and suggestions are registered in the Ministry's registry, regardless of the manner of their entry.

Art. 9. (1) Verbal requests shall be recorded in the Protocol of Verbal Service Requests, which shall be filled in by an official at the unit, providing the service or an employee of the Ministry's registry office.

(2) The protocol for Verbal Service Requests shall be registered in the filing system and shall be an integral part of the file on the provision of the service.

Art. 10. (1) The examination of documents, stored at the Ministry shall be carried out by examining the originals or copies under Art. 26, Para. 1, Subpara. 1 of the Law on the Access to Public Information Act (APIA) and the unit that keeps them, shall provide a room for the documents to be reviewed.

(2) A preliminary defined employee must be present during the review of the documents at the Ministry's department, which keeps the relevant documents.

Art. 11. Access to registers and arrays of information necessary for the provision of an administrative service shall be permitted by the Manager of the unit, providing the administrative service or at the discretion of the Secretary General of the Ministry of Economy.

Art. 12. The presentation of documents, created as a result of performed administrative service (administrative decisions/acts/, notification letters, certificates, reports, etc.) shall be carried out by a designated employee of the respective directorate through a licensed postal operator, by electronic means or at the request of the applicant - personally in the places, designated for administrative services, except in cases, where no other provisions are prescribed.

Chapter Three

ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES

Art. 13. (1) The administrative services, provided by the Ministry of Economy shall be declared for entering in the Register of Services by electronic means through the Integrated Information System of the State Administration (IISSA).

(2) Upon occurrence of the necessity of entering a new administrative service, amendments to the name or deletion of an existing administrative service, the director of the directorate, providing the service shall submit a proposal within 5 days to the Secretary General, which shall assign to the Director of the Administrative Service Directorate, declaring the circumstances electronically through the Integrated Information System of the State Administration (IISSA).

(3) The application for registration shall be made within 7 days from the enactment of the statutory decision, which introduces the provision of a new service, modification or deletion of the administrative service.

(4) The entry of the required information in the Register of services, according to the Ordinance on the Administrative Register, as amended, shall be carried out by employees, appointed by an order of the Minister of Economy within 3 days from the date of entry, respectively of the amendment or deletion of the administrative service in the Service Register.

(5) The responsibility for the overall organization of updating information shall remain with the directors of the directorates, providing the administrative services and with the Director of the Administrative Services Directorate.

(6) The control over the fulfilment of the obligations under Para. 1 shall be performed by the Secretary General of the Ministry of Economy and the Director of the Administrative Services Directorate.

Art. 14. The Ministry of Economy provides the following administrative services, listed in the Services Register:

1. Drawing up opinions on the classification of dual-use items and technologies against Annex I to Regulation (EC) No. 428/2009, the List of Defense-related Products and the List of Dual-Use Items and Technologies to be controlled upon import in response to inquiries of natural and legal persons and other state bodies and institutions;

2. Publication of notices of trustees for the sales of property from the bankruptcy fund of insolvent companies, published in the special Bulletin of Sales of the Ministry of Economy;

3. Entry of a change in circumstances in the already issued registration certificates for users of acetic anhydride, a substance in subcategory 2A of Annex I to Regulation (EC) 1258/2013;

4. Validation and verification of electronic process logs;

5. Confirmation of spirit drinks with a geographical indication;

6. Issue of permits for temporary export and re-import / temporary import and re-export of defense-related products, intended for participation in trade exhibitions, in accordance with the decisions of the Interministerial Commission with the Minister of Economy for Export Control and Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction;

7. Issue of permits for transportation of defense-related products in accordance with the decisions of the Interdepartmental Commission with the Minister of Economy for Export Control and Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction;

8. Authorization for the sale, supply, transfer or export of the technologies / articles, listed in Annex II of Council Regulation (EU) No. 833/2014 of 31 July 2014 on the restrictive measures in view of Russia's actions, destabilizing the situation in Ukraine;

9. Issue of international certificates for the import of dual-use items and technologies;

Entry of a change in the circumstances of registration certificates of producers of alcohol, distillates and spirits;
Issue of permits for the transfer of defense-related products from the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria, in accordance with the decisions of the Interdepartmental Commission with the Minister of Economy for Export Control and Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction;
Issue of export permits for goods, which could be used for the purpose of capital punishment, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
Entry of changes in circumstances in issued licenses for precursor activities;
Issue of permits for transit of defense-related products, in accordance with the decisions of the Interdepartmental Commission with the Minister of Economy for Export Control and Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction;
Issue of an investment certificate, class A & B and a priority investment project under the Investment Promotion Act (IPA);
Validation of documents, issued by the Ministry of Economy and / or the departments of which it is a successor, from the sub-delegated authorising officers with the Minister of Economy, subject to legalization and use abroad;
Change in the circumstances of issued licenses for the production of optical discs and matrices for the production of optical discs;
Issue of international import certificates for defense-related products;
Issue of certificates for the transfer of defense-related products from the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria by the Minister of Economy;
Issue of registration certificates for export and transfer of dual-use items and technologies;
Issue of certificates for the import of dual-use items and technologies;
Issue of compensatory records and service of Depository receipts for the possession of compensatory instruments to the entitled persons;
Renewal of issued licenses for precursor activities;
Issue of registration certificates for the producers of alcohol, distillates and spirits;
Issue of import permits for goods, which could be used for the purpose of capital punishment, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
Issue of registration certificates for performing activities under the Law on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and Control of Toxic Chemical Substances and their Precursors (PCWCTCSPA);
Issue of registration certificate for users of acetic anhydride, a substance in subcategory 2A of Annex I to Regulation (EC) 1258/2013;
Issue of certificates for the transfer of defense-related products for the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria, by the Minister of Economy;
Issue of registration certificates for registration of broker activities of dual-use items and technologies;
Entry of a change in circumstances in already issued licenses for registration of precursor activities;
Issue of export certificates for defense-related products by the Minister of Economy;
Issue of certificates for the import of defense-related products for the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria, by the Minister of Economy;
Issue of permits for the export of defense-related products, in accordance with the decisions of the Interdepartmental Commission with the Minister of Economy for Export Control and Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction;
Registration of applicants to participate in NATO international procedures and tenders;
Satisfaction of restitution claims and verification of the presence and / or absence of restitution claims;
Certification of technical specifications for the production of alcohol, distillates and spirits;
Issue of permits for the import of defense-related products, in accordance with the decisions of the Interdepartmental Commission with the Minister of Economy for Export Control and Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction;
Issue of permits for broker transactions with defense-related products, in accordance with the decisions of the Interdepartmental Commission with the Minister of Economy for Export Control and Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction;
Issue of permits for broker transactions with dual-use articles and technologies, in accordance with the decisions of the Interdepartmental Commission with the Minister of Economy for Export Control and Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction;
Issue of import licenses for imports of certain steel products, textiles and other products on the territory of the European Union;
Issue of permits for transfer of dual-use articles and technologies, in accordance with the decisions of the Interdepartmental Commission with the Minister of Economy for Export Control and Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction;
Issue of an international code to identify a manufacturer of road vehicles;
Issue of licenses for the production of optical discs and matrices for the production of optical discs;
Issue of permits for import of dual-use articles and technologies, in accordance with the decisions of the Interdepartmental Commission with the Minister of Economy for Export Control and Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction;
Issue of licenses for activities with precursors, category I of Annex I to Regulation (EC) 273/2005;
Issue of permits for transit of dual-use articles and technologies, in accordance with the decisions of the Interdepartmental Commission with the Minister of Economy for Export Control and Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction;
Issue of certificates for the registration of activities with precursors of the second category, as well as for the export of precursors of third category;
Issue of one-time import permits for Category I precursors, according to Annex I of Regulation (EC) No. 273/2005 and one-time export permits for precursors;
Issue of certificates for investments, made for the purpose of permitting residence in the country;
Authorization of an import quota for unprocessed wood of coniferous material, originating in the Russian Federation.

Art.15. The Ministry of Economy also provides the following services, provided by all administrations:

1. Conducting consultations, representing the legitimate interests of natural or legal entities, regarding administrative and legal provisions, which are given by virtue of a statutory act or which are related to the issue of an administrative act/decision or to the performance of another administrative service;

2. Providing access to public information;

3. Specification of differences between the issued social insurance certificate (UP2) and data about the insured person from the information system of the National Social Security Institute (NSSI);

4. Issue of a certificate of social insurance length of service (UP 3);

5. Issue of a certificate of social insurance income (UP 2);

Art. 16. (1) The deadline for responding to inquiries, received with the Ministry of Economy shall be up to 7 days, and in the cases, where an on-site inspection or an opinion of another administrative body is required - up to 14 days.

(2) The deadlines under Para. 1 shall be obligatory, except in the cases, where other legally defined deadlines are in place for the same administrative service.

Art. 17. The fees for the services, provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs may be paid by bank transfer, at the point-of-sale terminals or in cash at the Ministry's pay room/office.

Chapter Four

COMPLEX ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE

Art. 18. (1) Any applications for complex administrative services shall be processed in accordance with the provisions of the Administrative Procedure Code and the Ordinance on Administrative Services.

(2) The Directorate, upon receiving an application for initiation of a procedure for provision of complex administrative service shall immediately take action for registration of the application and the transfer of the necessary documents to the administration, providing the administrative service.

(3) The Directorates, providing administrative services shall be obliged to take action for the official service of documents, prepared by the Ministry or by other administrations, except in the cases, when the applicant has enclosed them.

(4) The employees, who provide the administrative service may immediately request information or documents from other units within the Ministry when this is necessary for inquiries and provision of on-site administrative services.

(5) The employees of the Ministry shall, at the request of another administration, provide as soon as possible, but not later than 7 working days, the information and documents, necessary for carrying out a complex administrative service.

Article 19. (1) In the case of an application for complex administrative services, the directorates, responsible and competent for the provision of the relevant administrative service shall check the regularity of the submitted application by checking the presence of the following details of the application:

1. The name of the administrative service and the authority competent to issue the relevant administrative decision;

2. The information and the means of proof that must be provided and sent by the Ministry to the competent authority;

3. The manner, in which the individual administrative decision is to be obtained, namely:

3.1. At the place of application;

3.2. At a specified exact and current address, if the receipt is requested through a licensed postal operator or electronically.

4. Applications:

4.1. A completed application to the competent authority, following a template form for the service concerned;

4.2. Information or documents, required by the competent authority to perform the service, if such documents are required;

4.3. Document for paid fee, if required.

(2) The directorates under Para.1 shall prepare the information and the means of proof that must be sent to the competent authority within the time limits for the execution of the respective administrative service and shall send the file on behalf of the Deputy Department Minister/the Chief Secretary of the Ministry/the Director General of Directorate General 'European Funds for Competitiveness' to the competent authority, by also informing the authority of the manner, in which the individual administrative decision is provided by the applicant.

(3) Where the application for a complex administrative service has not been signed and has raised doubts about the citizen or organization it originates from, as mentioned therein, the competent directorate requires its confirmation by hand or by electronic signature within three days of the notice to this end. If the matter is not confirmed in due time, the file (the proceeding) shall be terminated. If the application does not meet the requirements of the APC, the applicant shall be notified to remedy the deficiencies within three days of the notification, indicating that in case of failure to eliminate the deficiencies, the file (the proceedings) shall be terminated. In this case, the time period/deadline for performing the actions under Para. 2 shall start from the date of removal of the irregularities.

Chapter Five

CONTROL OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE

Art. 20. The control over the fulfilment of obligations on the part of employees with respect to the administrative services, shall be carried out by the managers of the departments, providing the administrative services (directors of directorates). The control activity shall include checking for the strict observance of the set deadlines, the quality of the provided services, as well as compliance with obligations under Art. 3, Para.2.

(2) The Directors of Directorates, providing administrative services shall be obliged to control the transfer of documents, to take appropriate measures in each case of files, which are not completed in due time by their subordinate units and employees.

Art. 21. Any violations of the obligations of employees in the implementation of administrative services shall be established by the Inspectorate of the Ministry of Interior.

Chapter six

FEEDBACK MECHANISMS AND CASE STUDIES OF SUCCESS STORIES

Art. 22. (1) In order to achieve an effective and efficient interaction between the Ministry of Economy and the users of the administration services, the satisfaction of citizens shall be evaluated by filling in a feedback questionnaire on the website or on the site.

(2) The satisfaction of citizens will also be measured by the information, obtained from user letters.

Article 23. (1) The data under Art. 22 shall be used in the preparation of periodic analyses of the existing situation and on the existence of problems, proposing solutions for their elimination.

(2) The analyses under Para.1 shall be prepared by the Directorate of Administrative Services and shall be published on a regular basis on the Ministry's website, on the information boards or in any other appropriate manner, as proposed by the Directorate of Public Relations and Protocol.

Art. 24. The information and communication channels shall be updated on a regular basis and information shall be posted on the information boards, in the Customer's charter, as well as in any other appropriate manner.

Transitional and final provisions

§ 1. The internal rules for the organization of administrative services at the Ministry of Justice are issued on the basis of Art. 1, Para.2 of the Ordinance on Administrative Services (promulgated in the State Gazette, issue 78 of 26 September 2000, as amended, SG, nos. 61 dated 28 July 2017) and comply with the Administrative Procedure Code and the Administration Act.

§ 2. Any amendments to the rules shall be made in the sequence of their acceptance.

§ 3. The internal rules were approved by Order No.RD-16-1352 / dated the 17 October 2017 by the Secretary General of the Ministry of Economy.