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New regulation for the categorization of accommodation and registration of guest rooms and apartments

On July 3, 2020 in the State Gazette was published the new ordinance on the requirements for the categorized accommodation and catering establishments, on the procedure for determining of category, as well as the terms and conditions for registration of guest rooms and guest apartments.

It regulates the terms and conditions for registration of guest rooms and guest apartments, registration refusal, termination of registration and invalidation of the issued certificate.

Unlike hotels, guest rooms and suites are not categorized, but go through a registration procedure.

It is important to note that in order to carry out hotel activities in guest rooms and apartments, the site must be registered with the mayor of the municipality where the site is located.

The circumstances regarding the registered sites – guest rooms and guest apartments, are entered in a separate section in the electronic register kept by the mayors of municipalities. The mayor of the municipality or an official authorized by him shall issue an order for the entry, respectively for the deletion, of the circumstances in the National Tourist Register.

Registration procedure

The registration must be done for each site by the person who will carry out the activity in it. An application-declaration must be submitted containing the following information:

a) the name of the person who will provide the services in a guest room or in a guest apartment (written in Bulgarian and Latin letters);

b) UIC / BULSAT or PIN, or equivalent identifier, when the person is established in a Member State of the European Union or in a State Party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area or the Swiss Confederation;

c) an identifier of the real estate, which is registered in the sense of art. 26, para. 2 of the Law on Cadastre and Property Register;

(d) details of ownership of the apartment in which the guest room / guest apartment is located;

e) data on the right to carry out hotel business in a guest room / guest apartment, where applicable – rental agreement, contract for established right of use or other.

f) capacity of the site – number of rooms, number of beds.

We have to submit the following documents to the application:

a) a copy of the document for use of the site, if it is not its own and is not subject to entry in a public register;

b) an explicit power of attorney, when the application-declaration is submitted by a proxy.

The term for consideration of the application and issuance of an order for registration and certificate is 7 days.

The registration order is enter in the National Tourist Register, noting the following circumstances:

(a) serial number of the certificate;

b) type, name and address of the site containing ECATTE;

(c) name, UIC / PIN, tax or registration code or other identification used in the relevant EU Member State, registered office and address of management for the legal entity / natural person operating at the site;

d) number and date of the act of the registration body;

e) capacity of the site – number of rooms, number of beds;

f) date and certifying signature of the issuer.

The registration certificate is indefinite and is issued for hotel business in a guest room or a guest apartment.

There is a registration fee as per the tariff for fees collected under the Tourism Act. Under the current tariff, the fee for guest rooms/ guest apartments is determined by the number of beds, and for 1 bed the fee is BGN 10.

There are no requirements for the furniture, the area or the service in the guest rooms and apartments. This is a significant difference from other accommodation facilities that are subject to categorization.

After registration

Persons who perform hotel activities in a guest room or in a guest apartment keep a register of accommodated tourists in the same way as hotels.

The data on foreign tourists, which are entered in the Unified Tourist Information System, should be filled in in full, and the names of the registered persons should be entered in Latin as they are written in the national identity document.

Termination of activity

If at some point we want to cease to carry out the activity, we must submit an application for termination of the activity to the mayor of the municipality of registration. Within 3 days from the submission of the application, the mayor of the municipality shall delete the entries in the register and invalidate the certificate.

It is not envisaged to enter a change of circumstances in case of replacement of the person performing activity in the place of accommodation, in the cases when the person, who actually performs activity in the site, is different from the one entered in the registration certificate. In such cases, the new person who actually performs the activity “hotel business” in the guest apartment or guest room, submits an application-declaration for registration.

When it is established that the register does not reflect the termination of the registration of the previous hotelier under his request, and in the meantime for the same site an application-declaration has been submitted by another person, an official entry shall be made for the terminated registration and the issued certificate shall be invalidated.