The Parliament adopted at a second reading amendments to the Maritime Space, Inland Waterways and Ports Act of the Republic of Bulgaria. The amendments establish conditions at a national level for the implementation of the EU Port Services Regulation and common rules on the financial transparency of ports. The division of the public transport ports into national and regional ports is abolished.

The harbour dues will be paid only by those owners of the territory and infrastructure of the ports who have deployed within the port aquatory floating hydro-technical port facilities for connection between ships and the shore or for protection against winds or waves. This amendment is foreseen to take effect from 1 January 2021. The amount of the tax shall be determined by the Council of Ministers and shall be collected by the Executive Agency “Maritime Administration”.

Ships calling at a public transport port, with the exception of military ships, and ships operating at such a port will be subject to port charges for the use of port infrastructure, as well as for the reception and treatment of waste resulting from shipping activities. The taxes shall be determined and collected by the State Enterprise “Port Infrastructure” or by the owners of the territory and port infrastructure of the public transport ports.

The prices for port services provided within a public transport port shall be determined, made public, and collected by the port operators providing the services.

The new texts provide that the territory and port infrastructure of public transport ports, with the exception of access infrastructure, may be owned by the state, municipalities, natural and legal persons.

The public transport port access infrastructure is public state property. When the landside access to a public transport port is carried out through the existing road network, the road approach to the port shall be a public municipal property.

Public state property is also the common technical infrastructure of a public transport port, where at least one terminal is owned by the state. It was also added by the lawmakers to the Act that the infrastructure, which serves more than one terminal, is common.