Since October 1, 1998 a free Notary organization began opperate in Bulgaria. From this date 327 free Notaries Public began work in their private offices.
On October 24, 1998 the first General Assembly of the Notarial Chamber was held . The General Assemby has elected a new Board of Notaries Public, and has passed the Statute of Notarial Chamber and two resolutions.With the first resolution the establishment of Notarial Cnamber’s Regional Associations was adopted, which correspond with the five regions of the Courts of Appeal in Bulgaria: Varna, Burgas, Plovdiv, Veliko Tarnovo, and Sofia-Region. The Regular General Assembly held on January 30, 1999 decided to establish an independent regional association for the city of Sofia, because of the large number of notaries public.
With the second resolution the basic principles of the International Union of Latin Notary were adopted. The desire of the Notary Chamber of Bulgaria is to joint the family of the Latin Notary.
On 29 and 30 January 2000 the next regular General Assembly of the Notary Chamber took place, which voted and adopted a Code of Ethics of Notaries Public in the Republic of Bulgaria.
From October 1999 the Notary Chamber began publishing a Notary Bulletin.
At the end of 1999 a second competition for Notaries Public was held and another 120 persons were merged into the ranks of free notaries public in Bulgaria.
The Notary Chamber of the Republic of Bulgaria maintains contacts with Notary Chambers in Europe, North, Central and South America, Asia and Africa, with members of the International Union of Latin Notary, as well as with members of International Union Commissions. Already in 1998 in the Secretariat of the Union the application of the Bulgarian Notary Chamber’s membership in the International Union of Latin Notary was lodged. In 2001 it was agreed that representatives of the Bulgarian Notary will participate as observers in the work of the Commission on EU affairs.
In 2004 a third competition for Notaries Public was held which resulted in increasing the number of Notaries Public in the Republic of Bulgaria to 530.
By Resolution № 42 of the General Assembly of Notaries members of the International Union of Latin Notary, on October 19, 2004, the Notary Chamber of Bulgaria was accepted as a full union member.
During the Union’s General Assembly held in Rome on November 8, 2005 to the sound of the national anthem of the Republic of Bulgaria, the applause from the delegates at the meeting, the Bulgarian flag was officially brought and placed alongside the other flags of Notaries-members of the Notary’s International Union.
In 2001 in Thessaloniki, Greece on the initiative of the Notaries in Greece, Bulgaria and Romania the first Balkan forum was organized. The second was held in Istanbul two years later, and in 2005 the Notary Chamber in the Republic of Bulgaria hosted the third Balkan forum.
On March 2, 2007 the Bulgarian Notary was officially accepted as a full member of Notaries’ Union from EU.
Representatives of Notary Chamber of the Republic of Bulgaria are members of various councils, commissions, working groups, of the International Union of Notary, and the Council of Notaries in EU.
From 23 to 25 October 2008 on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the free Bulgarian Notary the first congress of Bulgarian Notaries Public was held.
The Bulgarian Notary continues to develop and modernize. In 2009, the Notary Chamber acquired the rights to the software "Note Register 2008" from "Ciela soft and publishing" JSC fully and uncondiontally. The product name was changed to "Notary Futurum" and in 2011 was patented.
By amending the Law on Notaries and Notarial Practice, an Information System "Unity" was established at the Notary, which contains a database - part of the Notaries Public’official archives The right of access to the information system and data to be entered are specified in the Regulation on official records of notaries public and notary's offices.
Notary Chamber’s electronic records are:
- Register of powers of attorney, and
- Register of wills.
By the amendments to the Regulation an obligation for the Notary Public to enter and send electronically and immediately for Notary Chamber information system purposes extract from was initiated:
- powers of attorney for disposition, acquisition and creation of real rights or real estates;
- notary certified documents which withdraw powers of attorney.
Another obligation was introduced too for sending data, concerning handwritten wills, performed by the Notary Public notarial wills, deeds of revocation of wills or announced handwritten wills, stored in Notary Public office.
Information System "Unity" was patented in 2011 too.
The Notary Chamber of the Republic of Bulgaria is a full member of the Association of European Network of Registers of wills, and in 2012 the Bulgarian register of wills will be linked to the European Network of Registers of wills.
The Bulgarian Notary Chamber came to an agreement regarding the cooperation with the Supreme Council of the French Notary, the Notary Chamber of Republic of Germany and the Notary Chamber of the Russian Federation. The Chamber maintains contacts with both Notaries from the neighboring Balkan countries, and those from Europe, North and Latin America, Asia and Africa.
