New Ethical Codes in Judiciary in Bulgaria

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New Ethical Codes in Judiciary in Bulgaria

Radoslav Angelov

a judge in the SRS

 

 

The judiciary of Bulgaria includes magistrates: judges, prosecutors and investigators. The judiciary was led by one collegial body – the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) until 2023, SJV carried out activities on the appointment, dismissal of magistrates, determination of bodies of the judiciary and implementation of policies in the field of the judiciary. The SJC sat in a Judicial College, a Prosecutorial College and a Plenum, which had different powers.

Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria (State Gazette № 106 of 2023) was changed in 2023 and the Supreme Judicial Council was transformed by creating the Supreme Judicial Council and the Supreme Prosecutor’s Council. The two new councils de facto have the competence of the former collegiums of the ex SJC. Together, the Supreme Judicial Council and Prosecutor’s Council form a General Assembly, which has competence in: budget in judiciary, real estate management, makes general decisions about the organizational power of the judicial system in Bulgaria.

At the same time, the Code of Ethical Conduct of Bulgarian Magistrates, adopted in 2009, was canceled and two new codes of ethics were adopted in its place – Code of Ethical Conduct of Bulgarian Judges and Code of Ethical Conduct of Bulgarian Prosecutors and Investigators. The Code of Ethics for Judicial staff (2009) remains in force.

There are three codes of ethics in the Bulgarian judicial system from 30.10.2023:

 

The new codes of ethical conduct for magistrates come into force and apply from 30.10.2023.

 

More information about the History of Codes of Ethics in the Bulgarian judicial system and which body is competent to adopt a Code of Ethics, expect in the News section of the website at www.judicialethicsplatform.nij.bg

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