Employment 2025

BULGARIA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Diana Milkova and Victoria Penkova, Penkova & Partners Law Firm

Employment register and unified electronic employment record In September 2023 significant amendments were adopted in the Labour Code, effective as of 1 June 2025, by virtue of which the employee labour book has been replaced with the Employment Register maintained by the National Revenue Agency which contains the unified electronic employment records of the employees. The unified electronic employment record is an electronic document that contains data and circumstances related to the labour activity of the employee, and is an official identification document. The employee has the right of access to his/her unified electronic employment record, as well as the right of receiving information about the access history, which contains data, at least, about the employer, the state authority or the third party who made the access. Employers have the right to information about their employed employees, entered by previous employers, with the exception of the amount of the wages and benefits that the worker or employee received from previous employers. The unified electronic employment record can be used to certify the existence of work experience, when such is required in a competition for holding a position, after obtaining consent from the candidate, as described in the applicable legislation. The unified electronic employment record contains data on: • the names of the employee; • the personal identifier of the employee; • the employer’s identifier and name; • the basis of the employment contract; • the date of conclusion of the employment contract and the beginning of its implementation; • the term of the contract, when such is agreed; • the date of conclusion of additional agreements; • the date and reason for termination of the employ - ment relationship; • the amount of the base salary; • the code of the position held according to the National Classification of Professions and Posi - tions;

• the code of the main economic activity in which the person is employed, according to the Classification of economic activities approved by the National Statistical Institute; • the code of the place of residence of the worker or employee according to the Unified Classifier of Administrative-Territorial and Territorial Units; • the duration of working hours; • the duration of the time that is recognised as work experience, as well as the time that is not recog - nised as work experience; • compensation paid upon termination of the employment relationship; • distraint notices provided for in the Civil Procedure Code; • the agreed paid annual leave; and • the days of used paid annual leave due for the year of termination of the employment relationship. The employer shall accurately and promptly enter in the unified electronic employment record the required data and the changes that have occurred in them. Adoption of the euro as the official currency in Bulgaria The Act for Introduction of the Euro in the Republic of Bulgaria has been promulgated, by virtue of which the date of introduction of the euro in the Republic of Bulgaria is the date specified in the Decision of the Council of the European Union on the adoption of the euro by the Republic of Bulgaria – 1 January 2026. Pursuant to the Act for Introduction of the euro in the Republic of Bulgaria, the conversion of due amounts from BGN to EUR (after the introduction of the euro) shall be done automatically even if the respective document still specifies the amount in BGN. The con - version rate shall be in accordance with the already determined fixing of BGN1.95583 for EUR1. There is a specific rule for conversion of labour remunerations, compensations, social support and pensions, pursu - ant to which the formed amount (calculated with five digits after the decimal point) shall be rounded up to the second digit after the decimal point. In case the third digit after the decimal point is greater than zero, the second digit after the decimal point shall be increased by one. As of 1 January 2026, labour remuneration, benefits, cash and social benefits, and

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