27/08/2026 The National Assembly adopted amendments to the Higher Education Act at first reading

The National Assembly adopted amendments to the Higher Education Act at first reading. The changes introduced by the Council of Ministers are related to the fees for paid tuition for students and their scholarships.

The bill also provides for scholarships from the state budget to be provided to students studying full-time in places subsidized by the state. The proposal is not based on differences in academic requirements, which are actually the same for students, regardless of the form of study, but on the different subject of public funding, the author's reasons state.

Among the proposed changes is the possibility for academic councils to set application fees for higher education institutions, without the need for these fees to be approved by the Council of Ministers. The explanatory memorandum states that this will give higher education institutions greater freedom in planning and conducting their student application campaign. The deadlines will not depend on an administrative act that approves the application fees already accepted by the managements of the higher education institutions.

At first reading, Parliament adopted amendments to the Tax and Social Security Procedure Code, which provide that tax authorities must have information about cryptocurrency users.

The bill submitted by the Council of Ministers proposes the introduction into Bulgarian legislation of two European Union directives in the field of exchange of information for tax purposes. The provisions were to be transposed by the Member States by 31 December 2025. Their main aim is to combat tax evasion and tax avoidance, as well as to enhance the rules on transparency in the tax field by improving the functioning of administrative cooperation between Member States.

The changes aim to enable tax authorities in the EU and partner countries to exchange information on persons trading crypto assets for tax purposes, the author's explanatory memorandum states. To meet these requirements, crypto-asset companies must, for their part, register and provide information in one Member State.

Crypto-asset service providers will be required to provide information on each type of crypto-asset in respect of which the provider has carried out transactions, transfers and exchanges. This includes the total gross amount received as a result of transactions, the number of units traded, the number of transactions for the acquisition or sale of crypto-assets against fiat currencies, as well as transactions made only in cryptocurrencies. The information will have to be provided once a year electronically by 30 June of the year following the year to which it relates, the bill states.

The National Assembly ratified the Service Level Agreement, Standard Package, Service Continuation between the State Agency for National Security of the Republic of Bulgaria and the United Nations, represented by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Division for Management (DM), Information Technology Service (ITS), concerning the provision of information and communication technology services related to the continued use and maintenance of the United Nations GOAML application, signed on 11 February 2026 on behalf of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and on 16 February 2026 on behalf of the State Agency for National Security.