Resources Company management Opening of a Bulgarian Trade Representative Office (TRO)

Opening of a Bulgarian Trade Representative Office (TRO)

In the last few years more and more people decide to open a Trade Representative Office (TRO) in Bulgaria. The most common reasons are:

• If you want to investigate the business climate in Bulgaria
• If you want to get a visa and/ or residency permission

The TRO is not a legal entity under the Bulgarian law, which makes it not very good for business purposes. In case you want to operate your business in Bulgaria you should consider incorporation limited liability company or joint stock company.

What do I need to open a TRO in Bulgaria?

First of all, you will need to have an active company in your home country with history of at least 1 year. The company should not have any public debts, such as taxes.

Next, you will need to choose a domestic manager for the TRO. This could be the manager of the mother company or any other person. In case it is not the manager you should prepare special power of attorney, which indicates all the rights and powers of the domestic manager.

You will also need to prepare a set of documents from the institutions of your home country. Bear in mind that all official documents need the certified. For the country, which signed the Hague Convention you can get an apostille. For all other countries there is a special procedure. Please note, that without the apostille the documents cannot be translated and legalized in Bulgaria, therefore you cannot open the TRO.

Once you have all the documents, they have to be submitted to the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI).  If everything is alright with the documents, they register the TRO and afterwards it has to be registered also in Bulstat registrar.

The article was first published at Advokatami.bg