Press release

Bulgaria adopts successful Protection Against Discrimination Act

2002 news

On 16 September 2003 the Bulgarian Parliament adopted a comprehensive Protection against Discrimination Act. The law was produced by the National Council on Ethnic and Demographic Issues with the active cooperation of a wide coalition of close to 40 civil rights groups led by the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee.

The law bans discrimination on a number of grounds, including race, sex, religion, disability, age, and sexual orientation. The ban applies to the exercise of any legal right or legitimate interest and is binding on any person. Any individual or entity on Bulgarian territory is protected. The Act provides for exhaustive definitions of the prohibited conduct, and of the exceptions to the prohibition, as well as for shift of the burden of proof. Special remedies are envisaged, including a specialised antidiscrimination Commission with the powers to receive and investigate complaints and signals, and issue binding rulings, finding discrimination and imposing sanctions and instructions on perpetrators. This independent Commission consists of 9 members, 5 elected by Parliament and 4 appointed by the President. It has specialised subcommittees for racial and sex discrimination. Sanctions envisaged are dissuasive. In addition, a special judicial remedy is available to victims and public interest organisations, including a possibility for any number of claimants to join the proceedings. Judicial protection includes a finding of discrimination, an order on the respondent to terminate the breach and eliminate its consequences, as well as to abstain from repeating the breach, and an order of compensation.

The Act is in line with the antidiscrimination law of the European Union, in particular Directives 2000/43, 2000/78, 2002/73, as well as with the Framework Programme for the Equal Integration of Roma into Bulgarian Society. The law consolidates Bulgarian antidiscrimination law, until now scattered and ineffective, into a single comprehensive act guaranteeing practical enforceability of the protection. For the new law to be effective, an antidiscrimination Commission, consisting of experienced individuals dedicated to human rights, must become operative without delay.

Bulgarian Helsinki Committee

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