The Certificate of Force Majeure is a document on absolving an entity from responsibility for the non-execution or late execution of a specific commercial Contract caused by force majeure - an unpredictable and/or insurmountable event of an extraordinary nature, which occurred after concluding the Contract and prevented its execution within the time limit, stipulated in the Contract, such as: natural disasters (torrential rains, floods, snow drifts, blizzards, hailstorms, earthquakes, landslides, etc.), blockades (of roads, borders, etc.), fires, industrial accidents, wars, governmental bans and strikes, among others.

There is a definition of the term ‘force majeure’ in Article 306 of the Commercial Law.

Civil legislation contains a definition of force majeure in the Law on Obligations and Contracts (LOC) - Article 81, which lays down the following: "the fact that the debtor has no financial resources at their disposal to cover their financial obligations does not absolve them from responsibility."

Therefore, for an "insurmountable force" /force majeure/ to be a fact, the following indications shall be present:

• circumstances/events, occurring after the conclusion of a specific Contract, within the time limit to execute that Contract - fix precisely the periods, in which these circumstances occurred and were present, i.e. their start and end dates;
• these circumstances are unpredicted or unpreventable, have an extraordinary nature and also, there shall be a causal relationship between them and the objective continuing impossibility to fulfil the contractual obligation; they shall be proved by the relevant documents;
• they shall not be connected with any lack of financial resources.

In order to issue a Certificate of Force Majeure, it is necessary to submit BCCI a written Application /no fixed form needed/, to which the following documents shall be attached:

• a Copy of the concluded Contract, certified to be true to the original with the signature and stamp of the trader’s legal representative, in order to identify the Parties to the Contract, its subject matter and the time limit for its execution;
• to establish the causal link between the occurring force majeure events and the objective impossibility to fulfil the contractual obligation, the relevant substantiating documents shall be attached, which have been issued by an independent body / organisation / institution, and they shall prove irrefutably the force majeure circumstances that have occurred – the date of their occurrence, their duration and their end date.

Depending on the type of the force majeure event, these can be documents, issued by a meteorological service, investigation authorities, fire services, other governmental authorities; also, Findings reports on inspections made and findings recorded; insurance documents, orders, instructions, expert opinions, etc.

• a copy of the Notification Letter sent to the Contract counterparty with information about the occurring force majeure circumstance, preventing the Contract execution within the agreed time limit.
• a Declaration from the legal representative of the trader to declare the extent of execution / non-execution of the Contract at the time of occurrence of the force majeure event; the extent shall be expressed as a percentage or in another way, depending on the specifics of the Contract.
• specifying the language in which the Certificate shall be issued.

By its very nature, the Force Majeure Certificate, issued by the BCCI, is a substantiating document, certifying unpredictable /force majeure/ circumstances /with the beginning and end of these circumstances/, which occurred and caused difficulties of an extraordinary nature in the period of execution of a specific Contract / Agreement and which were proved by the relevant documents.

The Force Majeure Certificate is not a document for renegotiation of contractual clauses and/or termination of contractual relationships. These shall be done under the conditions, envisaged and laid down in the concluded contracts, or by the Court in accordance with the stipulated statutory regulations.

The BCCI issues Certificates of Force Majeure mainly for occurrences which took place on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria, since they can be verified.

If the difficulties are connected with any event(s), which have occurred abroad, it is necessary that an independent institution abroad (usually this is the Chamber of Commerce) submits substantiating documents to certify the occurring unpredicted circumstances, the period of their duration, etc.

The Certificate of Force Majeure shall contain information on:

• the Parties to the Contract,
• the Contract number and the date and place of its conclusion;
• the deadline for its execution;
• identifying the circumstances which have prevented or delayed its execution, the place and time of their occurrence, the period of their duration, other information which makes it possible to establish the causal link between these circumstances and the complete or partial failure to execute the Contract;
• the Certificate shall contain only the factual circumstances presented, without their legal appraisal.

The Force Majeure Certificate shall be issued on a BCCI headed model notepaper in Bulgarian, English, French, German or Russian or in another language, depending on the Client request. It shall be signed by the BCCI President or by a person, authorised by him, and shall be stamped with the BCCI stamp in Bulgarian or English.

With the issued Force Majeure Certificates, the Chamber effectively helps companies and saves them from paying penalties.

The Certificates of Force Majeure, issued by BCCI, are internationally recognised and are accepted as evidence also by the International Arbitration Institutions due to the strict compliance with the unified rules for issuing such Certificates, the positions of the Chambers of Commerce around the world and the existing common practice.

The Chamber offers the Bulgarian traders a recommendable Force Majeure Clause to include in their foreign trade contracts: https://www.bcci.bg/tradereg-FMsertif-prep-es.html

The absence of a Force Majeure Clause in the relevant Contract is not a reason for BCCI to refuse to issue a Force Majeure Certificate as long as there is evidence of a force majeure event.

Tariff of rates of services (Art. 3, item 6)

The amount can be paid:

• in cash at the Chamber cash desk
• remitted by bank transfer:
      BIC: UNCR BGSF
      IBAN: BG 25 UNCR 7630 1000 3081 19
      BANK: UNICREDIT BULBANK
      7 Sveta Nedelya Square, Sofia
• remitted electronically:
  • for a fixed-price service, please go to the tariff of the respective position and click on Pay;
  •  for no fixed-price service, please give information by email about the special features of the service. After the details are made clear, you will be notified of the next steps by email.

If you want to receive the ready certificates/references from BCCI by post, please inform us about that and, in addition to the price for the service, pay extra BGN 6.00 /VAT incl./ to cover postage.

Contact details:
Zdravka Georgieva, Rossitsa Spassova, I. Stoyanov  tel.: (+359 2) 8117 476, 8117 551, 8117 402    fax: (+359 2) 987 32 09   Z.Georgieva@bcci.bg,  R.Spassova@bcci.bg, I.Stoyanov@bcci.bg