Reform of Enforcement and Order for Payment Proceedings

These amendments approved the new forms for orders of payment and applications for orders of payment, as well as other documents used in order for payment proceedings.

Shortly after the new provisions came into force, Article 410(5) of the CPC was amended (see §13 of the Act amending and supplementing the Civil Procedure Code, SG No. 55, 08/07/2025). This amendment clarifies who is obliged to submit an electronic application for an order for payment by removing the reference to other CPC provisions. Regarding the filing of applications by persons represented by a lawyer, the amendment to Article 410(5) of the CPC will take effect on 10 September 2025 (see §19 of the Act amending and supplementing the Civil Procedure Code, SG No. 55, 08/07/2025). The rest of the persons listed in Article 410(5) are already subject to this obligation.

The new provisions of the CPC establish electronic forms as standard for issuing a writ of execution and for initiating and conducting order for payment proceedings. A significant novelty is the centralised distribution of applications for an order for payment, based on random selection from among all regional judges in the country who have been appointed to hear this type of case. An electronic record of the writ of execution is to be created on the Single e-Justice Portal (SEJP), where the enforcement agent must enter details of the initiation, forwarding, termination and closure of the enforcement case; the service of the writ of execution to the debtor; accession; and the result of the enforcement, including the amounts paid to the creditor. The aim of making these proceedings electronic is threefold: to ensure the efficiency and speed of enforcement and order for payment proceedings; to facilitate access to justice for citizens and businesses by creating effective rules for remote access to electronic files and accounts; and to alleviate uneven court workloads for order for payment proceedings.

The latest updates on enforcement proceedings are as follows:

1. Regardless of the grounds, an order for payment or any of the grounds for enforcement under Art. 404 of the CPC, the writ of execution is issued electronically and signed by a judge from the relevant court; and
2. If it is impossible to issue it electronically, the writ of execution shall be issued in paper form.
3. The enforcement agent proceeds with enforcement at the request of the interested party, who must provide the case number and the unique register number generated by the SEJP when issuing the electronic writ of execution or another enforceable document. To this end, the enforcement agent should gain access ex officio to the unique code of the writ of execution through the SEJP.
4. When initiating an enforcement case, the enforcement agent immediately makes a note of this in the relevant electronic file via the SEJP.
5. Until this note has been deleted, or until it is reflected that the noted enforcement case has been completed or terminated, a subsequent enforcement case on the basis of the same writ of execution cannot be initiated.

The changes to the initiation and conduct of order for payment proceedings stipulate the following:

1. All court actions in order for payment proceedings, including orders for payment, are issued electronically, unless the CPC states otherwise.
2. All procedural actions in order for payment proceedings are carried out electronically.
3. The applicant and the debtor may perform procedural actions in writing on paper, unless Chapter Thirty-Seven of the CPC expressly provides otherwise (see items 5. and 6. below).
4. An application for the issuance of an order for payment and its annexes shall be submitted either in writing on paper or electronically via the electronic form available on the SEJP website.
5. When an application is submitted electronically, all subsequent procedural actions by the applicant must be carried out electronically, except for actions appealing against acts under Chapter Thirty-Seven of the CPC, or in proceedings relating to a claim for receivables, or an objection before the appellate court, or a claim contesting receivables (Arts. 422–424 of the CPC).
6. Commercial entities, state institutions, municipalities, notaries and private enforcement agents, as well as persons represented by a lawyer, must submit an application for the issuance of an order for payment only in electronic form.
7. Applications for an order for payment, when not filed by the entities referred to in item 6. above, may also be filed in paper form at any regional court in the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria, subject to certain exceptions expressly provided for by law (see item 9. below).
8. The application for the issuance of an order for payment proceedings is distributed centrally on the principle of random selection among all regional judges in the country who have been appointed to hear such cases, in accordance with the distribution rules in force in the individual courts (Article 9, paragraph 3 of the Judiciary Act).
9. When the receivable is based on a notarial deed, an agreement or contract with notarised signatures, a pledge agreement, a mortgage deed, a promissory note, a bill of exchange or equivalent documents (Article 417, paragraph 1, items 3, 6 and 10 of the CPC), the application for payment proceedings shall be submitted to the court at the applicant’s current address or registered office. If there is no current address, it shall be submitted to the court at the applicant’s permanent address. Within seven days, the applicant shall submit the original document under Article 417, paragraph 1, items 3, 6 and 10 of the CPC to the court. 1, items 3, 6 and 10 of the CPC, as a condition for the validity of the application.
10. The cases initiated on applications under Art. 417, para. 1, items 3, 6 and 10 of the CPC shall be distributed centrally by random selection. They shall be examined by a judge of the regional court at the applicant’s current address or registered office. If the applicant does not have a current address, the examination shall take place at their permanent address. Where the applicant has no current or permanent address or registered office within Bulgaria, the application shall be submitted at the permanent or current address or registered office of the debtor.
11. The debtor may object to the order for payment proceedings in writing on paper at any regional court or electronically via the SEJP form. In such cases, the applicant may file a claim to establish their rights, and the court that issued the order for payment proceedings will monitor the filing of the claim ex officio.
12. The jurisdiction of claims to establish receivables, as well as other claims initiated in connection with order for payment proceedings, remains unchanged. The court, which has made a positive decision on the claim for establishing the receivable, issues a writ of execution.

By Meglena Konstantinova, Senior Associate, Boyanov & Co