It is reported that in Bulgaria, there are no restrictions for domestic or foreign private entities to establish and own businesses. The Offshore Companies Act (not accessible online) prohibits companies in offshore jurisdictions with more than 10% foreign ownership from engaging in 28 specific activities, including banking and insurance. However, these companies may operate if the physical owners of the parent company are publicly known Bulgarian citizens if the parent company's shares are listed on a stock exchange, or if the parent company is registered in a jurisdiction with a double tax treaty with Bulgaria.

Art. 3 of the Act on Patents and Registration of Utility Models requires applicants that are not established in the EU, the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland to act before the Patent Office through a lawyer or an industrial property representative.

Bulgaria is a signatory of the Patent Cooperation Treaty.

There is no general principle for the use of copyright-protected material comparable to the fair use/fair dealing principles. Directive 2001/29/EC defines an optional but exhaustive set of limitations from the author´s exclusive rights under the control of the “three-step test” in line with the Berne Convention that establishes three cumulative conditions to the limitations and exceptions of a copyright holder’s rights. The Directive has been transposed by Member States with significant freedom.
Art. 23 of the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act specifies a series of exceptions, including scientific research, educational uses, analysis and comment and news coverage. Art. 25 provides an exception for private copies.

It is reported that Bulgaria exhibits inadequate prosecution efforts, lengthy and inefficient procedures, and a lack of deterrent criminal penalties, particularly in the area of online piracy. Stakeholders have expressed concerns about notorious online piracy sites reportedly hosted in or operated from Bulgaria.

Bulgaria and the European Union have adopted the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty. Bulgaria acceded to the Treaty on 29 March 2001, with its provisions coming into force on 6 March 2002. Subsequently, the European Union ratified the Treaty on 14 December 2009, and it entered into effect on 14 March 2010.

Bulgaria and the European Union have adopted the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Performances and Phonograms Treaty. Bulgaria acceded to the Treaty on 29 March 2001, with its provisions coming into force on 20 May 2002. Subsequently, the European Union ratified the Treaty on 14 December 2009, and it entered into effect on 14 March 2010.

The Directive 2016/943 on the protection of undisclosed know-how and business information (trade secrets) is key in harmonising national laws concerning trade secrets. In Bulgaria, the Trade Secret Protection Act introduces a comprehensive protection framework for business secrets.

It is reported that passive sharing is mandated and practised in both mobile and fixed sectors based on commercial agreements. The Communications Regulation Commission may impose on undertakings with significant market power an obligation to provide access to and use of necessary network elements and/or facilities, inter alia, in situations where the denial of access or setting of terms and conditions having a similar effect to denial, would hinder the emergence of a sustainable competitive market of retail services or would be detrimental to end-users. Additionally, with the Electronic Communication Networks and Physical Infrastructure Act (ECNPIA), which transposed Directive 2014/61/EU into national law, obligations for access to physical infrastructure are imposed on all electronic communications network operators and utility companies.
In addition, Directive 2014/61/EU (Art. 3.2) establishes that Member States shall ensure that, upon written request of an undertaking providing or authorised to provide public communications networks, any network operator must meet all reasonable requests for access to its physical infrastructure under fair and reasonable terms and conditions, including price, with a view to deploying elements of high-speed electronic communications networks. Such written request shall specify the elements of the project for which the access is requested, including a specific time frame.

Bulgartel (established in November 2004) is a wholly state-owned telecommunications company. The company's shares are divided between Bulgartransgaz EAD (50%) and Electricity System Operator EAD (50%), both of which are also state-owned entities in Bulgaria.

Bulgaria does not mandate functional separation for operators with significant market power (SMP) in the telecom market. However, by Decisions No. 356 and No. 357, the Communications Regulation Commission (CRC) imposed account separation obligations on three operators (BTC, Telenor, and A1) in the relevant markets. The CRC determines the format and methodology for introducing and implementing accounting separation by Decision No. 1882.

The "Act on the Economic and Financial Relations with Companies Registered in Preferential Tax Regime Jurisdictions, the Persons Related to Them and Their Beneficial Owners" stipulates that companies registered in the jurisdictions listed in §1 No. 64 of the "Supplementary Provisions of the Corporate Income Tax" may not participate in public procurement procedures. This includes a closed list of countries and territories, as well as all jurisdictions with which Bulgaria has no effective double taxation treaties and where taxes are lower than 40% of the taxes in Bulgaria. The ban includes "related parties" – notably shareholders. This restriction is waived when the owners of the company in question are "Bulgarian citizens and known to the public" if the company is publicly traded or if the parent company is a media publisher and declared its owner.

Art. 85 of the Utilities Directive (2014/25/EU) contains provisions allowing contracting public entities to reject foreign goods not covered by any EU international commitments from its tender procedures. In these cases, a tender submitted for the award of a supply contract may be rejected where the proportion of the products originating in third countries exceeds 50% of the total value of the products constituting the tender (Art. 85.2). Additionally, in cases of equivalent offers, the provisions provide for a preference for European tenders and tenders covered by EU's international obligations. In practice, this possibility has rarely been used.
In 2019, the Directive has been transposed with the Implementing Rules of the Public Procurement Act, as well as by the Public Procurement Act.