Summary: State Party Bulgaria ratified the convention on 6 April 2011 and enacted implementing legislation in November 2015. Bulgaria has participated in almost every meeting of the convention and has condemned the use of cluster munitions in Syria. Bulgaria was a lead sponsor on and voted for a key UN resolution promoting implementation of the convention in December 2016.

In its initial transparency report for the convention provided in 2012, Bulgaria confirmed that it has never used or produced cluster munitions. It has reported a stockpile of 6,909 cluster munitions and 173,161 submunitions and does not intend to retain any for research and training. Bulgaria is preparing to destroy its stockpiled cluster munitions by the October 2019 deadline. It has also reported cluster munition stocks transferred to Bulgaria for the purposes of destruction from Cyprus in 2014 and Slovenia in 2011.

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.

Bulgaria’s parliament adopted implementing legislation for both the Convention on Cluster Munitions and the Mine Ban Treaty on 24 November 2015, which took effect on 8 December 2015.[1] It also amended Articles 337–339 of the Penal Code in June 2016 to establish penal sanctions for violations of the new implementation law on the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[2]

The coordination of Bulgaria’s implementation of and compliance with the Convention on Cluster Munitions, including the preparation of a stockpile destruction plan, is the responsibility of an interim National Authority established in January 2012.[3]

Bulgaria submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 27 March 2012 and has provided annual updated reports since then, most recently on 30 June 2017.[4]

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.[5]

Bulgaria has participated in every Meeting of States Parties of the convention, except in 2014. It attended the convention’s Sixth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2016. Bulgaria also participated in the convention’s First Review Conference in 2015 and intersessional meetings in 2011–2015.

Bulgaria voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution promoting implementation of the convention in December 2016.[6] It was also a lead sponsor on a previous resolution on the convention in 2015.[7]

Bulgaria has condemned the use of cluster munitions in Syria on several occasions since 2013.[8] It has voted in favor of UNGA resolutions expressing outrage at the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2016.[9]

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 several important issues relating to the interpretation and implementation of the convention.[10] 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.”[11]

Bulgaria has reported that there “are no programmes for the conversion or decommissioning of production facilities for cluster munitions in the Republic of Bulgaria.”[12] In 2008, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official stated that “Bulgaria does not and has not produced any type of cluster munitions.”[13]

Stockpiling and destruction

Bulgaria has reported a stockpile of 6,909 cluster munitions and 173,161 submunitions, as detailed in the following table.

Cluster munitions stockpiled by Bulgaria (June 2017)[14]

Bulgaria initially declared a stockpile of 6,874 cluster munitions and 149,398 submunitions.[15] It increased that number to 6,909 cluster munitions and 157,664 submunitions after discovering additional stocks in March 2013.[16] In 2014, Bulgaria reported another 15,497 submunitions, making an overall total of 173,161 stockpiled submunitions.[17]

The cluster munition stocks have been decommissioned and separated from the munitions that are retained for operational use and “the entire Bulgarian stock of cluster munitions is marked for destruction.”[18]

Bulgaria has also reported on cluster munition stocks transferred from Cyprus and Slovenia to Bulgaria for destruction (see section on foreign stocks below).

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 the cluster munitions stockpile “well in advance” of the convention’s deadline, but had not started as of 30 June 2017.[19] In September 2016, Bulgaria informed the Sixth Meeting of States Parties that the adoption of national implementation legislation delayed its implementation of the destruction timetable, but affirmed its intent to meet the deadline.[20] Bulgaria’s implementing legislation requires the destruction of the stockpile and established a commission to solicit and process tenders from companies to destroy the cluster munitions.[21]

In June 2017, Bulgaria also reported that a stockpile destruction program by the Bulgarian Armed Forces, managed by the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA), was suspended in January 2017 because EXPAL Bulgaria, the contractor selected, “could not meet the criteria for authorization under the Bulgarian legislation.”[22] It reported that Bulgarian authorities are exploring “new options for the destruction of the cluster munitions under jurisdiction or control of the Republic of Bulgaria…A National Plan for the destruction of the cluster munitions is in a process of preparation. Once all financial and technological modalities are cleared, it will be finalized. More information will be provided upon adoption.”

Bulgaria initially hoped to begin the stockpile destruction in 2011.[23] Since 2012, it has engaged in an extensive process to prepare the destruction plan and budget.[24]

Stockpile and destruction of foreign stocks

In May 2016 and June 2017, Bulgaria reported that 41,825 PAT794 submunitions transferred by Convention on Cluster Munitions State Party Slovenia in 2011 are still awaiting destruction in Bulgaria.[25] In 2012, Slovenia reported the completion of the destruction of its stockpile of 1,080 PAT-794 Long-Range/Base Bleed (LR/BB) 155mm artillery projectiles and 52,920 submunitions on 29 July 2011.[26] Bulgaria also reported Slovenia’s transfer in 2011 of cluster munitions for the purposes of stockpile destruction.[27]

However, in May 2016 and June 2017, Bulgaria reported that 41,825 PAT794 submunitions transferred from Slovenia to Bulgaria for destruction are still on Bulgarian territory at EXPAL Bulgaria.[28] In the report, Bulgaria explained that “The submunitions are parts of artillery shells, previously owned by the Armed forces of the Republic of Slovenia, which were decomposed in 2011. The submunitions were not destroyed due to wrong interpretation of the CCM [Convention on Cluster Munitions] provisions by the private company. The submunitions are in process of destruction (41 825 left out of 52 900 found).”

Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Slovenia is required to ensure the destruction of all its stockpiled cluster munitions as soon as possible, but not later than 1 August 2018.

Cyprus is a signatory to the Convention on Cluster Munitions and has not provided a voluntary Article 7 report or otherwise provided information on its stockpiled cluster munitions. But in June 2017, Bulgaria that it has 3,760 4.2-inch OF projectile for mortar GRM 20 and 2,559 M20G submunitions on its territory, which Cyprus transferred to Bulgaria in 2014 for destruction.[29] Bulgaria reported that “During the import process these CM and submunitions were declared as conventional munitions and submunitions. In order to destroy them, ‘EXPAL BULGARIA’ JSC should apply for and obtain a permission for destruction of CM, under the Law.”

Retention

Bulgaria reports that it does not intend to retain any cluster munitions for training or research purposes.[30]