Law for the biological diversity

§ 1. In the context of this law:

1. "Favourable state of the species" exists when:

a) the data for the dynamics of the populations of the species show that this species will remain a vital element of the natural habitat;

b) the natural region of habitation of these species is not decreasing and there is no tendency toward decreasing;

c) present is sufficient habitat providing the living of the populations of these species.

2. "Favourable state of a natural habitat" exists when:

a) the area of its natural size is permanent or expanding;

b) its structure and specific functions provide its long-term existence;

c) the state of the species characteristic of it is favourable.

3. "Botanical garden" is an institution keeping collections of live plants for the needs of the experimental botanical studies, the natural scientific and nature protecting education and training and which is open for visits in a period longer than five months during the year.

4. "Vivarium" is an artificial place of raising wild animals.

5. "Species" is a group of morphologically similar organisms of common origin, which are potentially capable of exchanging genetic material in natural conditions.

6. "Humid area" is a region including lakes, marshes, bogs, peat-bogs or other water areas, regardless of whether they are natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water which is static or flowing, fresh, semi-salted or salted, including sea water whose depth or ebb-tide does not exceed 6 m.

7. "Import" is the introduction to the customs territory of the Republic of Bulgaria of a specimen, including specimen caught in the sea, which is not under the jurisdiction of either country.

8. "Water areas" are the territories of the forest fund, the land fund and the continental shelf and of the exclusive economic zone flooded with water.

9. "Restoration" is the recreation in natural conditions of cohabitations of organisms, ecological systems and complexes of them according to a model of the naturally existing or creation of conditions for repeated generation or increase of the number of the natural populations.

10. "Genetic material" are materials of vegetation or animal origin containing functional units of heredity.

11. "Genetic resources" are a genetic material of real or potential value.

12. "Forests" are the forests and the lands of the forest fund in the context of the Law for the forests.

13. "Date of obtaining" is the date on which the specimen taken from the wild nature, born in a closed premises or artificially reproduced, obtained by trade relations or exchange.

14. "Dendrarium" is a live collection of trees and bushes on a definite territory, organised in schematic, geographic or other scientific principle.

14a. (new – SG 88/05) "Small leather articled" are small industrial articles of leather such as belts, straps, seats for velocipedes, cases for documents, ear-rings, pockets for keys, notebooks, cases for tobacco, cigarette cases, wallets and strings for watches and other of similar type.

15. "Specimen" is every animal or plant, dead or living, every easily distinguishable part of the body or every product obtained from the animal or plant, as well as any other commodity which, on the grounds of an accompanying document, packing, marking, label or other circumstance, can be identified as a part or derivative of an animal or a plant.

16. "Specimen raised in closed premises" is a specimen of an animal species born, hatched and raised in closed premises, or a specimen of a vegetation species artificially reproduced. Artificially reproduced specimen is the one obtained by reproduction in an environment created or modified by people and under their control which, regarding the animals, is at least second generation raised by people without adding a genetic material of the wild nature.

16a. (new – SG 88/05) "Specimen in helpless status" is alive specimen of animal species, physically weak or immobilized as a consequence of long starvation or parasites presence.

17. "Ecological system" is a dynamic complex of vegetation, animal and micro-organism cohabitations and their environment, which interact as a functional unit of specific interrelated processes and specific general aspect.

18. "Endemic species" is the one met only in a definite geographic region.

19. "Endangered species" are those which are threatened of extinction in their entire aril or to its great extent.

20. "Lands" are the agricultural lands in the context of the Law for the ownership and tenure of agricultural lands.

21. "Zoo garden" is a permanent establishment where animals of wild species are kept for the purpose of showing them to the public during more than 7 days throughout the year, with exception of circuses, pet shops and other establishments which do not show to the public a considerable number of animals or species.

22. "Export" is taking out of the customs territory of the Republic of Bulgaria of a specimen.

23. "Collection" is a collection of specimens of vegetation or animal species (including seeds or other reproductive materials), raised or stored in conditions controlled by man, and designated for scientific and educational purposes or for the purposes of preservation and restoration of the species.

24. "CORINE place" is a territory described by the standard international methodology of the Council of Europe "CORINE biological types".

25. "Landscape" is a territory whose specific appearance and elements have occurred as a result of actions and interactions between natural and/or human factors.

25a. (new – SG 88/05) "Innuite nations" shall be ethnic groups populating the border north territories of Canada, Alaska, Scandinavia and Siberia, known also as Eskimos, part of main living of which is the tulle hunting .

26. "Habitat of species" is the region determined by specific abiotic and biotic factors where these species are to be found permanently or temporarily in some of the stages of their life cycle.

26a. (new – SG 88/05) "Non-selective traps" shall be the step-, bait-, the pressing traps and the loops.

26b. (new – SG 88/05) "Museum" shall be a scientific and cultural-educational institution, established in accordance with the Law of the monuments of culture and the museums.

26c. (new – SG 88/05) "Mutation" shall be a natural or obtained through selection change of the characteristics of the individuals of a definite biological kind, upon which the colour ot the form of body is changed.

27. "Organism" is every live body consisting of coordinated active organs and existing independently. The organism is an individual of a population of individual species.

28. "Ornithological important place" is a territory of international importance for preservation of the birds, described by the standard international methodology of Bird Life International.

29. "Population" is a territorially separated combination of individuals of the same species which can freely exchange genetic material.

30. "Potentially endangered species" are those for which the latest transition to the category of the endangered species is possible, if the factors causing the danger continue to exist.

31. "Natural habitat" are the natural or close to the natural land or aquatic regions characterised by a characteristic geographic, abiotic and biotic particularities giving them specific appearance.

31a. (new – SG 88/05) "Object of protected zones" shall be the natural habitats and the habitats of the species which shall be protected in the concrete protected zone.

32. "Primary public interest" is the one related to the public health, the national security, exceptionally favourable effect on the environment, as well as to specific publicly important obligations regarding transport, energy and communication systems.

33. "Ramsar place" is a humid area which meets the criteria of the Convention for the humid areas of international importance, especially as habitats of water abiding birds (Ramsar Convention) (SG 56/1992).

34. "Rare species" are those whose populations are small in number, scattered or dependant on specific factors and, if not directly, than indirectly is endangered or potentially endangered in the context of item 19 and 30.

35. "Rescue centre" is a corporate body or individual appointed by the Minister of Environment and Waters caring for confiscated live specimens.

36. "Preservation" is all measures necessary for preservation or restoration of the natural habitats and populations of wild vegetation and animal species in favourable state.

36a. (new – SG 88/05) "World – wide endangered species" shall be species, included in the categories "disappeared in the nature", "critically endangered", "endangered" or "vulnerable" of the updated Red List of the International Union for Protection of the Nature.

37. "Tacson" is the general name of the classification units related to which are the sub-species, species and the higher units of the species level.

38. "Sustainable management" is a management of the using, development and preservation of the natural resources in a way and in degree enabling the present generations and habitations to provide social, economic and structural and cultural wealth without:

a) reducing the possibility for the future generations and cohabitations to satisfy social, economic and cultural needs;

b) violating the ability of the ecological systems to fulfil their soil protecting and climate regulating functions;

c) reducing considerably the biological diversity.

38a. (new – SG 88/05) "Tutorial collection" is a collection of compounds, herbariums and stuff animals in schools, which shall serve education of puiples, students and PhD students.

39. "Fauna" are all species of animals in a definite region.

40. "Flora" are all species of plants in a definite region.

41. (new – SG 88/05) "Floristically important place" is a territory of international significance for preservation of plant species, described as per the standard method of the Plant Life International.

Transitional and concluding provisions

§ 3. Within 6 months from the enactment of this law the Minister of Environment and Waters shall present to the Council of Ministers a draft ordinance of art. 66, para 6.

§ 4. Within one year from the enactment of this law all individuals and corporate bodies possessing specimens of species of art. 70, item 1 and 2, shall register them by the order of chapter four, section IV.

§ 5. Within one year from the enactment of this law all individuals and corporate bodies of art. 60, para 1 shall submit the necessary information for entry in the registers of art. 63.

§ 6. Within one year from the enactment of this law the persons of art. 96, para 1 shall present the lists of art. 96, para 2.

§ 7. Within 4 years from the promulgation in the State Gazette of the ordinance of art. 61, para 1 the owners of zoo gardens shall be obliged to bring them in compliance with the requirements of the ordinance and to file applications for issuance of licence.

§ 8. (1) The buffer zones around reservations and maintained reservations, without those included in national parks declared by the order of the revoked Law for protection of the nature, shall retain their boundaries and regimes, unless they have been changed by the order of chapter two, section IV of this law.

(2) The buffer zones around reservations included in national parks shall be deleted by this law.

(3) The venerable trees declared protected by the order of the revoked Law for protection of the nature shall retain their regimes unless they are deleted by the order of chapter five of this law.

§ 9. This law revokes the Law for protection of the nature.

§ 10. The following amendments are introduced to the Law for the hunting and preservation of the game in the appendix to art. 5, para 2, item 1 and para 5:

1. item 6. bear (Ursus arctos L.) is revoked.

2. item 23. Phalacrocorax carbo L. is revoked.

§ 11. The following amendments and supplements are introduced to the Law for the protected territories:

a) in para 1, item 5 the words "over 25 percent" are deleted;

b) added in para 4 at the end is "and a positive decision of the National Council for Biological Diversity.

2. The following supplements are introduced to art. 38:

a) in para 3, after the work "taken" is added "by a common majority";

b) created are para 4 and 5:

"(4) Members of the commission who do not agree with the taken decision for accepting the proposal and have signed the records with reserves shall motivate it in writing within 3 days. The reserves shall be attached to the records.

(5) In the cases of para 4 the Minister of Environment and Waters shall take the final decision for declaring the protected territory or for rejection of the proposal."

3. In art. 39, para 1 the words "according to the proposal of the commission of art. 38" are replaced by "upon positive decisions of art. 38, para 3 and 5".

4. Para 6 is created in art. 42:

"(6) By an order according to para 5 and without observing the procedures of para 1 can be updated the area of the protected territory when the correction ensues from a more precise measuring and it is not related to a change of the determined boundaries of the protected territory."

5. Para 3 is created in art. 67:

"(3) The guarding of individual reservations and maintained reservations outside the boundaries of the national parks can be conceded by the Minister of Environment and Waters to other bodies of the executive authority or to municipalities."

6. The following amendments are introduced to art. 74:

a) in para 1, item 1 and 4 are revoked;

b) in para 3 the words "approved by the Council of Ministers" are replaced by "determined by the Minister of Environment and Waters".

7. Art. 75 is revoked.

8. In art. 79, para 3, after the word "forestry" is added "and the directorates of natural parks".

9. Art. 86 is revoked.

10. In appendix No 1 the fourth column of the table and the text after the table are deleted.

22. In appendix No 2 the fourth column of the table is deleted.

§ 12. In the Law for the forests, in art. 3, para 2 at the end is added "except in the cases of art. 67, para 3 of the Law for the protected territories".

§ 13. The fulfilment of the law is assigned to the Minister of Environment and Waters, the Minister of Agriculture and Forests, the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works, the Minister of Finance and the mayors of the municipalities.

The law was adopted by the 39th National Assembly on July 10, 2002 and on August 2, 2002 and was affixed with the official seal of the National Assembly.

Transitional and concluding provisions

§ 70. The prohibition for hunting with nets shall enter one year after this law enters in force.

§ 71. Paragraph 12 regarding Art. 31 shall enter in force from the date of the Agreement on accession of the Republic of Bulgaria to the European Union enters in force.

§ 72. (1) Till entering into force of §12 regarding Art. 31, at conduction of procedures of AIE of investment offers and of AE of plans and programmes as per the Law of Preservation of the Environment, concerning potential protected zones, about which at the Ministry of Environment and Waters documentation under Art. 8, Para 1 is submitted, the competent body may set also other specific requirements to the assigner regarding the range of information related with the subject and purposes of the respective protected zone.

(2) In the cases of Para 1, where the information regarding the degree of damaging of the potential protected zone is not sufficient or contradictive, the competent body under the Law of Preservation of the Environment shall terminate the procedure of AIE or EA, about which shall notify the assignor.

§ 73. In the cases where the plan, the programme or the investment offer concern a territory, which has at the same time status of a protected territory under the Law of the protected territories and of protected zone under the Law of the Biological Diversity, Art. 31 shall be applied.

§ 74. Within one year period form promulgation of the list under Art. 10, Para 4 in the State Gazette, the Minister of Environment and Waters shall issue the orders under Art. 12, Para 6 for announcement of the protected zones, which have as a subject preservation of birds habitats, included in the Appendix No. 2

§ 75. The prohibitions under Art. 38 regarding the species "Wild goat" and "European wild cat" shall enter in force from the date on which the Agreement on accession of the Republic of Bulgaria to the European Union enters in force.

§ 76. The prohibit to possess, transport, carry, exhibit at public places and exchange specimens under Art. 38, Para 1, item 7 shall not be applied to the specimens obtained before this law enters in force, which are part of museum or tutorial collections.

(2) Exchange of specimens under Para 1 may be perofrmed anly between museums and scientific organizations or schools.

(3) The specimens under Para 1, as well as the newly obtained specimesn shall be marked and kept under report in the respective museum, scientific organizastion or school.

§ 77. The ordinance under Art. 31, Para 1 shall be issued within one year from this law enters in force.

§ 78. (1) Within one year from this law enters in force, all the buffer zones, announced under the Law of the Biological Diversity and under the Law of Protection of he Nature shall be re-categorized as protected areas under the Law of the Protected Territories and shall save their range, borders and regimes. The re-categorization shall be executed by an order of the Minister of Environment and Waters without coordination under Art. 42, Para 2 of the Law of the Protected Territories.

(2) Till the re-categorization under Para 1, for breaches of the regimes of the buffer zones, the offenders shall be punished under the Law of the Protected Territories.

(3) The procedures of announcement of new buffer zones, which are not finished to the date this law enters in force, shall be finished under the order of Chapter Three of the Law of the Protected Territories and the objects shall be announced as protected areas.

Transitional and concluding provisions

(PROM. – SG 105/05, IN FORCE FROM 01.01.2006)

§ 88. The code shall enter in force from the 1st of January 2006, except Art. 179, Para 3, Art. 183, Para 9, § 10, item 1, letter "e" and item 4, letter "c", § 11, item 1, letter "b" and § 14, item 12 of the transitional and concluding provisions which shall enter in force from the day of promulgation of the code in the State Gazette.

Transitional and concluding provisions

(PROM. – SG 30/06, IN FORCE FROM 12.07.2006)

§ 142. The code shall enter into force three months after its promulgation in State Gazette, with the exception of:

1. division three, § 2, item 1 and § 2, item 2 – with regards to the repeal of chapter third, section II "Appeal by court order", § 9, item 1 and 2, § 15 and § 44, item 1 and 2, § 51, item 1, § 53, item 1, § 61, item 1, § 66, item 3, § 76, items 1 – 3, § 78, § 79, § 83, item 1, § 84, item 1 and 2, § 89, items 1 - 4§ 101, item 1, § 102, item 1, § 107, § 117, items 1 and 2, § 125, § 128, items 1 and 2, § 132, item 2 and § 136, item 1, as well as § 34, § 35, item 2, § 43, item 2, § 62, item 1, § 66, items 2 and 4, § 97, item 2 and § 125, item 1 – with regard to the replacement of the word "the regional" with the "administrative" and the replacement of the word "the Sofia City Court" with "the Administrative court - Sofia", which shall enter into force from the 1st of May 2007;

2. paragraph 120, which shall enter into force from the 1st of January 2007;

3. paragraph 3, which shall enter into forcefrom the day of the promulgation of the code in State Gazette.

Transitional and concluding provisions

(PROM. – SG 34/06, IN FORCE FROM 01.10.2006)

§ 56. This law shall enter into force from the 1st of October, with the exception of § 2 and § 3, which shall enter into force from the day of the promulgation of the law in State Gazette.

Appendix No 1 to art. 6, para 1, item 1 (amend. SG 88/05)

The sign "*" in column 2 denotes priority types of natural habitats to be preserved.