The site is ready, looks good and is already receiving enquiries. There’s one thing left that almost nobody asks about beforehand: are you compliant with the law? Here is a practical checklist of what a business website in Bulgaria needs - what is mandatory for everyone, what applies only to online stores, and which gaps are the most common.
Disclaimer: this is a practical guide from a web agency, not legal advice. Requirements depend on your line of business, and the legislation changes. For a binding opinion - especially for online retail - consult a lawyer.
Mandatory for every business website
1. Business identification
Visitors must be able to tell who they’re dealing with: company name, UIC (the Bulgarian company ID), registered office and correspondence address, email and phone. The usual place for this is the “Contact” page and the site footer. A surprising number of Bulgarian websites have nothing but a bare contact form - that’s both a legal gap and a blow to trust.
2. Privacy policy (GDPR)
If the site collects any personal data at all - a contact form, a newsletter, comments, even logs through analytics - you need a privacy policy. It describes what data you collect, on what legal basis, what you use it for, how long you keep it, who you share it with (hosting, email system, ad platforms) and what rights users have - access, rectification, erasure, portability, objection.
Copying someone else’s policy is a bad idea: it describes their processes, their providers and their retention periods. The document has to match what your site actually does.
3. Cookie consent - real, not decorative
Cookies that aren’t strictly necessary for the site to work (analytics, advertising, remarketing pixels) require prior consent. In practice, this means Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel scripts must fire after consent, not when the page loads.
This is the most widespread gap in Bulgaria - a banner that only informs (“We use cookies. OK”) while the trackers are already running. The reject button must be just as easy to reach as the accept button.
4. A working contact form with consent
The form must include a checkbox (unticked by default) for consent to data processing, plus a link to the policy. If you collect emails for a newsletter, that’s a separate consent - it can’t be taken as given from the contact form.
Additional requirements for online stores
For online sales the requirements are considerably broader, because the Bulgarian Consumer Protection Act comes into play:
Terms and conditions
Complete terms and conditions of sale: how the contract is concluded, payment methods, delivery times, warranties, complaints.
Right of withdrawal
When buying online, consumers have the right to withdraw within 14 days. The conditions and the standard withdrawal form must be easy to find.
Transparent prices
The final price including VAT and clearly stated delivery costs before the order is placed - no surprises at the last step.
Dispute resolution
Information on how to file complaints and on the European Commission’s online dispute resolution (ODR) platform.
If you’re about to launch a store, it’s best to make these part of the brief from the start - see how to write a project brief so they don’t turn up as “extras” at the end.
The five most common gaps we see
Documents copied from another site, still showing the other company’s name. A cookie banner just for show, while the trackers run from the first second. Missing company information - just a form and a phone number. A store with no terms and conditions, or with terms that don’t describe the actual delivery process. Outdated documents, written years ago, that reflect neither current tools nor current practices.
The legal side is like insurance - it costs little until you need it. The difference is that here the price of a gap is both a fine and lost customer trust.
Who does what
The split we recommend: the agency handles the technical implementation - a properly working cookie mechanism that really blocks scripts until consent is given, protected forms, SSL, pages for the documents, visible links in the footer. A lawyer drafts or reviews the content of the documents for your specific line of business. You know what data you collect and what you use it for - without that information, nobody can write an accurate document.
Conclusion
The minimum for every website: company identification, a privacy policy, proper cookie consent and protected forms. For a store, add terms and conditions, the right of withdrawal, transparent prices and information on complaints. Set aside one day for this now - it’s cheaper than any alternative.
Not sure what your site is missing? Write to us - we’ll look at the technical side and tell you what needs fixing and what’s a job for a lawyer.
