Fiches Belges

Due to Article 31 (1) a European Investigative Order may be issued in order to obtain information covered by banking secrecy about specified bank accounts and about banking operations which have been carried out during a defined period through one or more accounts specified therein, including the details of any sending or recipient account. In these cases, the court shall order disclosure of the information according to the procedure established by Chapter Eight of the Credit Institutions Act.

Directive 2014/41/EU on EIOs (Art 26, 27, 28(1(a) Law of EIO

According to Article 9 of Law of EIO the following authorities in the Republic of Bulgaria shall be competent to recognise a European Investigative Order issued by a competent authority of another Member State: 1. in a pre-trial proceeding: a prosecutor of the relevant district prosecution office or military district prosecution office within whose judicial district the relevant investigative measure or other procedural measures are requested to be carried out. 2. in a trial proceeding: the relevant district court or military court within whose judicial district the investigative measure concerned or other procedural measures are requested to be carried out.

Bulgarian and English languages

According to the Article 14 of Law of EIO competent authority has 30+30 days to take a decission on the recognition and the execution of the EIO and 90 days for carrying out the investigative measure.

In the European Investigative Order, the issuing authority shall indicate the reasons why the said authority considers the requested information relevant for the purpose of the criminal proceeding. A European Investigative Order may also be issued with regard for gathering information about financial operations conducted by non-banking financial institutions. The recognition and execution of a European Investigative Order may be refused, in addition to the grounds referred to in Article 16 herein, also if the execution of an investigative measure and other procedural measures is prohibited by Bulgarian legislation in similar cases. The national rules in respect of cooperation outside the EU are different and apllicable are articles 471-477 of Criminal Procedure Code. For cooperation within EU an EIO must be issued and for cooperation outside the EU - request for MLA.