I. The General Five-Year Period
The general limitation period under Article 110 of the Obligations and Contracts Act is five years. It applies to all civil claims for which a shorter or longer special period is not prescribed by law. In practice, the five-year period is the residual rule and governs the majority of contractual and tortious claims in Bulgarian civil and commercial practice, including claims for unpaid purchase price, claims under loan agreements, claims for damages for breach of contract, and claims arising from tort where no special period applies.
The limitation period begins to run from the date on which the claim becomes actionable — that is, from the date on which the creditor could first have brought proceedings to enforce the right. For claims arising from a contract, this is generally the date of breach or the date on which the obligation became due and payable. For tort claims, the period runs from the date on which the claimant knew or ought to have known of the damage and the identity of the tortfeasor, subject to an absolute long-stop period of ten years from the date of the tortious act regardless of knowledge.
II. Special Shorter Periods
Several categories of claim are subject to shorter limitation periods that reflect the legislature's policy of promoting the prompt resolution of certain types of dispute. The most practically significant are:
- Three years: Claims for periodic payments (rent, interest, maintenance, salary, pension); claims for compensation for non-performance of a contract; claims arising from the commercial sale of goods and services between traders; claims under insurance contracts; and claims for unjust enrichment.
- Two months: Claims by an employee to challenge a dismissal order (Labour Code, Article 358(1)(1)) — one of the shortest limitation periods in Bulgarian law, and one whose consequences are severe and irreversible.
- Six months: Claims for defects in sold goods under the commercial sale rules of the Commercial Act, running from the date of delivery.
- One year: Claims arising from transport contracts; claims under bills of lading; and certain claims arising from hotel and catering services.
III. Interruption and Suspension
Limitation is interrupted — that is, the accrued period is extinguished and a new period begins to run — upon: the filing of an application for an order for payment or the commencement of court or arbitration proceedings in respect of the claim; the taking of an enforcement act against the debtor's assets; and an explicit acknowledgment of the debt by the debtor, whether in writing, by part payment, or by requesting a deferral of payment. After interruption by commencement of proceedings, the limitation period does not resume until the proceedings are finally concluded.
Limitation is suspended — that is, the running of the period is paused without extinguishing the accrued time — in circumstances where the creditor is legally incapable of bringing proceedings: where a legal action would be between spouses during the marriage; between parents and children during minority; between persons under guardianship and their guardians; and where the debtor has fraudulently concealed the existence of the claim from the creditor. Suspension also applies during any court-approved moratorium or similar measure preventing the commencement of proceedings.
IV. Limitation as a Defence
Under Bulgarian law, limitation does not extinguish the underlying right: it merely provides the debtor with a defence against enforcement. A claim that is statute-barred remains valid as a natural obligation — a debt of honour — but cannot be enforced through the courts. The debtor must raise limitation as a defence in court proceedings; the court does not apply limitation of its own motion. A debtor who fails to raise limitation as a defence in the first instance proceedings loses the right to rely on it on appeal.
Practically, this means that a creditor whose claim has become statute-barred is not entirely without remedy: if the debtor voluntarily pays a statute-barred debt, the payment is valid and cannot be recovered as unjust enrichment. And a debtor who acknowledges a statute-barred debt — for example, by making a part payment or by requesting a rescheduling arrangement — may be found to have waived the limitation defence, though the courts apply this analysis with care in order not to penalise debtors for good-faith attempts at settlement.
V. Limitation in Commercial Practice
Commercial creditors operating in Bulgaria — including banks, suppliers, and service providers — must maintain rigorous systems for monitoring the limitation periods applicable to their outstanding receivables. The transition from the five-year general period to the three-year period applicable to periodic payments and commercial sale claims is a source of frequent error: a creditor who applies the five-year period to a claim governed by the three-year rule may find its claim barred two years earlier than anticipated. Where doubt exists as to the applicable period, the safer course is to act on the basis of the shorter period and to interrupt limitation promptly by filing an application for an order for payment or commencing proceedings.