The European Commission said on October 29 that it sent Bulgaria a "reasoned opinion", the second stage in the bloc's infringement procedure, asking that Sofia amends the regulations that restrict the conditions under which law firms and lawyers from other European Union countries can practice.

"The Commission considers that some provisions of Bulgarian legislation relating to lawyers constitute a violation of the freedom of establishment of lawyers and law firms in Bulgaria as enshrined in Article 43 EC and also infringe Directive 98/5/EC, which aims to facilitate practice of the profession of lawyer on a permanent basis in a member state other than that in which the qualification was obtained," the EC said in a statement.

The requirement of Bulgarian nationality for a person to obtain the qualification of Bulgarian lawyer was not justified, nor was the fact that lawyers from the European community did not benefit from the same rights as Bulgarian lawyers for the exercise of their activity.

The ban on law firms registered in other EU member states to establish a branch in Bulgaria or use their own company name in the country was a further breach of European regulations, the Commission said.

In 2008, five foreign law firms asked EC to review the issue after their attempts to resolve the problem with Bulgarian Government, Justice Ministry, Parliament, Supreme Bar Council and Commission for Protection of Competition yielded no results. The law firms say that the 2006 Bar Act does not fully conform to EU regulations, a charge that Bulgaria's Supreme Bar Council has denied.

Bulgaria has two months to answer EC's reasoned opinion. If there is no satisfactory reply within that period, the Commission can refer the matter to the European Court of Justice.