Kalvis Vītoliņš, Lawyer and LCCI Representative in Uzbekistan.
I occasionally post notes about the business environment. This story is about Bulgaria, which will fully join the Schengen Zone on January 1, 2025.
Years ago, when I was checking the AML compliance of our Bulgarian partners, I noted that it is not entirely correct to write names in contracts in Latin letters, because everything in the Bulgarian register is in Cyrillic. Hmm. If you want to operate in this region and be recognised in the register and online, there is a simple solution. When establishing a company, choose a name which has letters that are in common in the Cyrillic and the Latin alphabets. This will make it easier for banks and clients to find you online and in official registers during the KYC process.
Thus, for instance, if the name of your company contains capital letters A, C, M, T or O, that will be the same in English and Bulgarian. If your company’s name is “MOTAC Ltd” in English, that will appear the same in Bulgarian. This will ensure that people can find your company via international and Bulgarian search engines, and it will also be easy to find it in registers. Yes, there may be slight differences in pronunciation, but the main thing is that your customers will be able to find you easily.
OK. But suppose your company is called “AS PriceWater.” In that case, the name in Bulgarian would be “AO ПрицеВатер,” which is in Cyrillic. This means that people who speak languages that are in the Latin alphabet will have problems in finding your enterprise, and that will cause confusion for your partners every time that they’re expected to sign a contract.
Here’s my advice. If you’re going to be establishing a company in Bulgaria, choose a name that will work equally across the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets. To be sure, the registration system may change in future, but if it doesn’t, this approach will save you time and effort. Such a system has been in place in Russia for three decades and more, and it remains relevant in other large markets, as well.
There is also the fact that people who wish to maintain a low profile may try to hide behind the Cyrillic version of the name. Bulgaria allows one to change the person’s name and the company’s name. This, however, ignores the fact that it is harder than ever to hide in today’s digital world, and reducing your company’s visibility online is simply not a good idea.
I hope that this information will encourage marketing specialists to help new companies to enter new markets more easily. Bulgaria is country the size of all three Baltic States taken together, and it is important to have information about how to do business here.
Welcome to Bulgaria, which will fully join the Schengen Zone in 2025. While passport controls haven’t been in place for some time already, the fact is that now? Anything goes!