MONITORING REPORT BULGARIA MAY 2006

Contents
	INTRODUCTION
	POLITICAL CRITERIA
	ECONOMIC CRITERIA
	COMMITMENTS AND REQUIREMENTS ARISING FROM THE ACCESSION NEGOTIATIONS
	GENERAL EVALUATION

Bulgaria has reached a considerable degree of alignment with the acquis.

The October 2005 report concluded that Bulgaria would be ready by accession in a large number of areas. A number of other areas required increased efforts, and 16 areas gave rise to serious concern.

Since then, further progress has been made. Bulgaria should be ready by accession in the following additional areas if the current pace of progress is maintained: public procurement, mutual recognition of industrial product specifications; freedom to provide non-financial services; most agriculture Common Market Organisations; aviation; excise duties; taxation implementing structures; postal services liberalisation; regional policy legislation; chemicals and genetically modified organisms, noise legislation; visa policy; and customs preparations.
Progress has also been made in a number of areas, which no longer give rise to
serious concern but still require increased efforts to complete preparations: the insurance sector, the protection of intellectual property rights, the paying agency for agriculture, the milk common market organisation, animal diseases control measures, veterinary border inspection posts; animal welfare, trade in live animals and animal products, veterinary aspects of public health; institutional and financial management structures for regional policy, as well as Schengen preparations and the management of the future EU external borders.

Increased efforts are also needed for: mutual recognition of professional qualifications; financial services, information society services, protection of personal data; legislation to fight money laundering; agriculture trade mechanisms; the Common market organisations on wine and alcohol and on beefmeat; legislation in the veterinary and phytosanitary sector; most aspects of fisheries; sea transport; VAT, direct taxation rules; labour law, social dialogue, social inclusion, anti-discrimination policy, the European Social Fund, public health; energy market liberalisation; nuclear energy and nuclear safety, in particular the commitments to early closure and subsequent decommissioning of the reactors of the Kozloduy plant; steel industry restructuring; electronic communications; programming, monitoring and procurement capacity for regional policy; horizontal environmental legislation, water quality, integrated pollution prevention and control, waste management; consumer protection; asylum, judicial co-operation; fight against drugs; protection of the EU's financial interests; and the translation of the acquis into Bulgarian.

There remain six areas of serious concern, which require urgent action:

• setting up a proper integrated administration and control system (IACS) in agriculture, (acquis chapter 7);
• building-up of rendering collection and treatment facilities in line with the acquis on TSE and animal by-products (acquis chapter 7);
• clearer evidence of results in investigating and prosecuting organised crime networks (acquis chapter 24);
• more effective and efficient implementation of laws for the fight against fraud and corruption (acquis chapter 24);
• intensified enforcement of anti-money laundering provisions (acquis chapter 24);
• strengthened financial control for the future use of structural and cohesion funds (acquis chapter 28).