Bulgaria. Updated: Regime of cargo transportation in terms of COVID-19* pandemic as of 20 May 2020

The Order contains below provisions.

I. It is introduced a temporary ban of entry on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria, from 14 May 2020 to 14 June 2020 as follows:

1. Temporary is prohibit the entry on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria of all nationals, regardless of their nationality through all border-crossing points by air, sea, rail and road transport.

2. The prohibition under pt. 1 shall not apply to:

a) Bulgarian citizens, family members of Bulgarian citizens, persons with permanent, long-term or continuing residence status on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria and members of their families;
b) medical professionals, medical scientists and social workers, when the purpose of their travel is linked to the profession, practiced by them;
c) transport personnel, engaged in international carriage of passengers and goods, aircraft crews, engaged in commercial air transport and other transport personnel, if necessary, including crews of vessels and persons engaged in vessel maintenance;
d) foreign officials (Heads of State, Government members, etc.) and members of their delegations, as well as diplomats, officials of international organizations, military personnel and humanitarian workers in the performance of their duties;
e) persons traveling for humanitarian reasons;
f) nationals of Member States of the European Union and the Schengen Agreement (including San Marino, Andorra, Monaco and the Vatican) and third-country nationals, directly involved in the construction, maintenance, operation and security of strategic and critical infrastructure of the Republic of Bulgaria, implementation of projects, certified according to the Law on Investment Promotion, project analyses of potential investors and other activities of importance for the economy of the country, certified by a letter from the Minister of Economy or another minister, responsible for the respective activity;
g) seasonal farm workers and workers in the field of tourism;
h) frontier workers;
i) workers, participating in the supply of medical products, medical manufacture and personal protective equipment, medical hardware, including in its installation and maintenance. 

3. Exception from the prohibition under point 1 and the transit across the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria shall be allowed to:
a)  nationals of EU Member States and member states of the Schengen agreement (including San Marino, Andorra, Monaco and the Vatican) and their family members wishing to return to their country of residence;
b) third country nationals holding a long-term residence permit issued for another EU Member State or Schengen country (including San Marino, Andorra, Monaco and the Vatican) and their family members wishing to return to their country of residence;
c)  Nationals of Serbia, Republic of North Macedonian, Montenegro and Turkey wishing to return to their country of residence;

4. Transit shall only be allowed in the cases where immediate departure from the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria can be guaranteed. Foreign nationals allowed to transit across the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria, with exception to the persons referred to in point 2(c), shall be obliged to submit a prior notification to their diplomatic mission or consulate accredited for the Republic of Bulgaria before transit takes place. The said mission or consulate shall liaise with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to have a transit route coordinated with the Ministry of Interior.

5.  Any person entering the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria shall be placed in quarantine for a period of 14 days either in their place of residence or in the accommodation facilities in which the said person has stated that they would reside using a prescript issued by the director of the respective regional health inspection or an official authorized by him, with the exception of the persons under point 2, letters “b” and d”, and for the persons under point 2, letter “c” the special rules under items 7-14 applies. The relevant regional health inspectorate provides information to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the quarantined foreign nationals (names, date of birth, document number, citizenship).

6.   The persons referred to in point 2, letters “h” and „i” shall not be placed under quarantine after presentation of the following documents to the bodies of the border health control:
a) for persons referred to in point 2, letter “h”:(aa) a statement from the person, certifying that the person has not had symptoms of acute respiratory disease over the past 14 days, had no contact with someone, who had a respiratory disease, has a need to return to the place of residence on the territory of another country at least once a week and indicate the address at which the person will temporarily reside on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria outside working hours. Self-employed persons also declare the place of performance of their activity.
 bb) the persons who are not self-employed also present a document certifying employment (employment contract or an official note from the employer).            
b) for the persons referred to in point 2, letter “i“:
(aa) a statement from the person certifying that the person has not had any symptoms of acute respiratory disease over the past 14 days, had no contact with a person with respiratory disease and shall indicate an address at which the person will temporarily reside in the territory of the Republic Bulgaria outside the time for delivery of the goods, their installation or maintenance;
bb) a document, certifying a negative result from a conducted molecular test, made up to 3 days before entering the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria.

7. Bus drivers - Bulgarian nationals performing international transport of passengers, are allowed during the quarantine period for the purpose of performing or terminating international passenger transport operations to:
a) pass in transit through the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria;
b) stay on the bus;
c) drive the bus;
d) leave the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria before the end of the quarantine period.

8. The drivers of heavy vehicles - Bulgarian nationals, are allowed during the quarantine period in order to perform or complete international transport operations of cargo and goods to:
a) pass in transit through the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria;
(b) be located in the cab of the heavy vehicle;
c) drive the heavy vehicle;
d) perform handling and unloading;
e) leave the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria before the end of the quarantine period.

9. The following procedures shall apply for heavy goods vehicles drivers who are not Bulgarian nationals and who arrive from another country:
a) the drivers of heavy goods vehicles transporting cargo and goods to be marketed in Bulgaria, shall enter the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria, unload the transported cargo and goods, upon desire – preform loading operations, and immediately leave the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria;
b) the drivers of heavy goods vehicles, transporting cargo and goods to be marketed in other countries, shall transit through the Republic of Bulgaria following a route published by the Road Infrastructure Agency.

10. The drivers under point 9, who pass through the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria, should leave the country, not later than 24 hours from their entry.

11. Whereas drivers of heavy goods vehicles transporting goods and cargo to be marketed in other countries, who may transit across the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria but cannot leave its territory due to a ban imposed by a country neighbouring Bulgaria, shall remain at a designated place at which the heavy goods vehicle and its driver can stay until the relevant ban is lifted.

12. The following authorities shall control the observance of the requirements of items 9-11 within their respective functional competence:
(a) the bodies within the Ministry of Interior in the discharge of their statutory control competences;
b) the officials of the National Toll Management Unit in the discharge of their control competences relevant to the payment of tolls.

13. For crew members of aircrafts that fly to and from airports for public use on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria, the following special procedure shall apply: 
a) the crew members of an aircraft flying from the Republic of Bulgaria to the territory of another state, which has not stayed on the territory of that state, except on the platform (aircraft stand, passenger boarding bridge) and this stay is for the obligatory pre-flight operations, and is landing again in the Republic of Bulgaria, are not subject to quarantine;
b) the crew members of an aircraft flying to the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria from the territory of another state enter the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria, provided that they do not leave the aircraft, except for the mandatory pre-flight operations, and their stay until take-off for the next scheduled flight does not exceed their total flight duty period (FDP), but not more than 12 hours;
c) the crew members of an aircraft, which flies to the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria for the purpose of delivery of an aircraft for maintenance and its return after such, who are foreign citizens, are allowed to enter the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria, provided that they do not leave the aircraft, except for the mandatory pre-flight operations, and their time of stay until take-off for the next scheduled flight does not exceed their total flight duty period (FDP), but not more than 12 hours;
d) upon identification of a passenger with symptoms of COVID-19 on board of an aircraft that has landed on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria, the cabin crew members serving the passenger with symptoms of COVID-19 should not be scheduled for the next flight, and should be placed under mandatory 14-day quarantine, according to the instructions of the state health control authorities.

14. For the persons arriving in the specialized ports of the Republic of Bulgaria for the purpose of participation in repair of a specific ship (representatives of the shipowner, classification organizations, ship engineers), a special regime is applied, according to which the respective ship repair enterprise submits the following information to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria electronically at: sp@mfa.bg:
(a) the three names of the person;
(b) take-off / departure flight;
(c) date and time of arrival;
(d) purpose of the journey (participation in repairs, indicating the name or number of the ship);
(e) number of the car with which the person / persons will be transported between the border crossing point and the ship repair company.