Summary: State Party Bulgaria ratified the convention on 6 April 2011 and enacted implementing legislation for the convention in November 2015. Bulgaria has participated in nearly all of the convention’s meetings and has condemned the use of cluster munitions in Syria. Bulgaria was a lead sponsor on a UN resolution on the convention in December 2015.

In its initial transparency report for the convention provided in 2012, Bulgaria confirmed it has never used or produced cluster munitions and stockpiles 6,909 cluster munitions and 173,161 submunitions. It is preparing a plan to destroy the stockpile by the April 2019 deadline. Bulgaria is not retaining any cluster munitions for research and training.

Policy

The Republic of Bulgaria signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008, ratified on 6 April 2011, and the convention entered into force for the country on 1 October 2011.

On 24 November 2015, Bulgaria’s parliament adopted implementing legislation for both the Convention on Cluster Munitions and the Mine Ban Treaty. The law took effect on 8 December 2015 and “prohibits any activities with cluster munitions and antipersonnel mines on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria, except those permitted by the Convention...[and] regulates the conditions and procedures for transfer, transportation, and destruction.”[1]

The new law incorporates several positive obligations from the Convention on Cluster Munitions and applies them to both cluster munitions and landmines. It requires destruction of stockpiles, clearance of cluster munition remnants or landmines that may affect Bulgaria, and risk education.[2] The law includes victim assistance provisions that entitle victims of the weapons to social assistance.[3] Finally, it obliges the state to submit their transparency reports for the two conventions and respond to any requests for clarification about compliance.[4]

In June 2016, Bulgaria also amended Articles 337–339 of its Penal Code to establish penal sanctions for violating the prohibitions in the new implementation law on the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The sanctions, which apply to activities involving cluster munitions and landmines, are generally greater than those for other weapons, including explosive, firearms, and ammunition. The amendments impose prison sentences of: one to 15 years for developing, producing, storing, or transferring these weapons; two to 15 years for failing to take relevant safety measures or transferring the weapons to persons under the age of 18; and three to 12 years for acquiring, possessing, or transferring the weapons without a permit.[5]

An interim National Authority established in January 2012 coordinates Bulgaria’s implementation of and compliance with the Convention on Cluster Munitions, including the preparation of a stockpile destruction plan.[6]

Bulgaria submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 27 March 2012 and has provided annual updated reports, most recently on 14 April 2015.[7] As of 21 July 2016, Bulgaria had not yet submitted the annual update due by 30 April 2016.

Bulgaria played a notable role in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, including hosting a regional conference in Sofia in September 2008. It was among a handful of states to announce a unilateral moratorium on the use of cluster munitions prior to the creation of the convention.[8]

Bulgaria participated in the First Review Conference of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015. In an address to the high-level segment of the meeting, Bulgaria affirmed its commitment to destroy its stockpiled cluster munitions by the convention’s deadline and committed to enact national implementation legislation for the convention.[9]

Bulgaria has participated in all of the convention’s annual Meetings of States Parties, except in 2014, and attended intersessional meetings in Geneva in 2011–2015.

Bulgaria was a lead sponsor on and voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on the convention, which urged all states not party to the convention to “join as soon as possible.”[10] A total of 139 states voted to adopt the non-binding resolution on 7 December 2015, including many non-signatories.

Bulgaria has condemned the use of cluster munitions in Syria on several occasions since 2013.[11] In September 2015, Bulgaria shared its “deep concern about the use of cluster munitions in different regions of the world, which causes suffering and harm to civilians.”[12] It has voted in favor of UNGA resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2015.[13]

Bulgaria is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Interpretive issues

In 2009, Bulgaria elaborated its views on a number of important issues related to the interpretation and implementation of the convention.[14] Bulgaria interprets Article 1 of the convention to mean that “transit” of cluster munitions across the territory of States Parties is prohibited, as is the stockpiling of foreign-owned cluster munitions. Bulgaria has noted that while a ban on investment in cluster munition production is not explicit in the convention text, it would need to be “considered in light of the general prohibition on the development and production of cluster munitions.”

With respect to “interoperability” and the prohibition on assistance during joint military operations with states not party, Bulgaria has stated that it “will fully observe the regulations of Article 21 of the Convention…Par. 4 of Article 21 stipulates that participation in such military operations ‘shall not authorize a State Party’ to engage in acts prohibited under the terms of the Convention and contains an exhaustive list of such acts.”

Use, production, and transfer

In 2009, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs representative said that “cluster munitions have never been used by the Bulgarian Armed Forces.”[15]

Bulgaria has declared that there “are no programmes for the conversion or decommissioning of production facilities for cluster munitions in the Republic of Bulgaria.”[16] In 2008, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official stated that “Bulgaria does not and has not produced any type of cluster munitions.”[17]

Stockpiling and destruction

Bulgaria had reported a stockpile of 6,909 cluster munitions and 173,161 submunitions of Soviet Union origin, including:

• BKF cartridges containing PTAB-2.5 and AO-2.5RT submunitions used in KMG-U dispensers;
• RBK-250 and RBK-500 air-dropped bombs containing AO-1SCh, PTAB-2.5M, AO-2.5RT, and ShAOB-0.5 submunitions; and
• 9N123K warheads for OTR-21 Tochka (NATO designation SS-21 Scarab) short-range tactical ballistic missiles.

Cluster munitions stockpiled by Bulgaria (April 2015)[18]

Bulgaria initially declared a stockpile of 6,874 cluster munitions and 149,398 submunitions.[19] It increased this number to 6,909 cluster munitions and 157,664 submunitions after discovering additional stocks in March 2013.[20] In April 2014, Bulgaria declared a stockpile of 6,909 cluster munitions of the same types and an additional 15,497 submunitions, making a total of 173,161 submunitions.[21] In May 2014, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the Monitor that the reason for the difference with the previously recorded information was a “new method adopted by the Bulgarian Armed Forces for theoretical calculation of the submunitions.”[22]

In 2014, Bulgaria confirmed that all stockpiled cluster munitions “have been decommissioned and separated from the munitions that are retained for operational use” and confirmed that “the entire Bulgarian stock of cluster munitions is marked for destruction.”[23]

Stockpile destruction

Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Bulgaria is required to destroy all its stockpiled cluster munitions as soon as possible, but not later than 1 October 2019.

Bulgaria has committed to destroy its stockpile “well in advance” of the convention’s deadline, but was believed to have started as of 21 July 2016. In May 2016, Bulgaria informed the Monitor that the adoption of national implementation legislation has delayed the destruction timetable, but affirmed its determination to meet the deadline.[24] The law established a commission to process tenders from companies to destroy the cluster munitions.[25]

Bulgaria initially hoped to initiate the stockpile destruction process in 2011.[26] Since 2012, Bulgaria has engaged in an extensive process to prepare its stockpile destruction plan and budget.[27]

In its initial Article 7 report, Bulgaria declared Slovenia’s transfer of its stockpile of 1,080 cluster munitions to Bulgaria for the purposes of destruction.[28]

Retention

Bulgaria has declared several times that it does not intend to retain any cluster munitions for training or research purposes.[29]