विधि कार्य विभाग DEPARTMENT OF 
TREATY
ON MUTUAL LEGAL
ASSISTANCE
IN CIVIL AND
COMMERCIAL MATTERS
BETWEEN
THE REPUBLIC OF INDIA
AND
THE REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA
The Republic of
Bulgaria and the Republic of India, hereinafter referred to as the “Contracting
Parties”;
Attaching
importance to the development of cooperation in the field of legal assistance
in civil and commercial matters;
Have agreed as
follows:
PART
1
GENERAL
PROVISIONS
Article
1
Legal Protection and Legal Assistance
1. Citizens of one Contracting Party shall enjoy
in the territory of the other Contracting Party the same legal protection in
respect of their person and property as do the citizens of the other
Contracting Party, to the extent permitted by their laws.
2. The above shall also apply to legal persons
established in accordance with the law of either Contracting Party.
3. Citizens of one Contracting Party shall be entitled to free
and unimpeded access to the courts or other legal authorities of the other
Contracting Party having competence in civil and commercial matters, on the
same terms and conditions as its own citizens.
4. Citizens of one Contracting Party shall have the same rights
and privileges in the proceedings of a court of the other Contracting Party to
the same extent as the citizens of that Contracting Party.
5.The authorities concerned
of the contracting parties shall render mutual legal assistance within their
competence, in accordance with their national legislation.
2
Article 2
Mode of Communication
In providing
legal assistance the courts and other legal authorities of the Contracting
Parties shall communicate with each other through the Central Authorities,
which shall be:
For the
Republic of Bulgaria – Ministry of Justice, for the Republic of India -
Ministry of Law and Justice of the Government of India.
The Central
Authorities shall communicate with each other directly.
PART II
LEGAL
ASSISTANCE CONCERNING
CIVIL
AND COMMERCIAL MATTERS
Article
3
Scope
of legal assistance
Legal
assistance in civil and commercial matters includes:
1. service and dispatch of documents or summons;
2. provision upon request of information on laws, which are or
were in force in the respective States, and on their application by the
judicial authorities;
3. taking of evidence from litigants, witnesses and experts;
4. furnishing evidence;
5. obtaining expert opinions;
6. recognition and enforcement of judgments including those by
criminal courts in civil matters, arbitration awards and settlements;
7. effecting any other legal assistance.
Article 4
Request for legal
assistance
A request for legal assistance
shall be made in writing and shall contain the following:
1. the designation of the requesting authority;
2. the designation of the requested authority;
3. the specification of the case in relation to which legal
assistance is requested;
3
4. names and surnames of persons relating to the request,
information of their citizenship, occupation and permanent or temporary
residence. In case of legal persons,
their names and addresses;
5. names and addresses of the representatives of persons relating
to the request; and
6. contents of the request.
Article 5
Execution
1. In executing the request for legal assistance the requested
authority shall apply its national laws. However, upon request of the requesting authority, it may apply procedural
rules of the requesting Contracting Party as far as they are not in conflict
with the laws of the requested Contracting Party.
2. If the requested authority is not competent to execute the
request it shall forward the request to the competent authority and shall
inform the requesting authority accordingly.
3. In case of
receipt of an executable request the requested authority shall notify the
requesting authority, parties interested in, or their representatives, of the
place and time of execution of the request.
4. The
requested authority shall forward documents to the requesting authority after
execution of the request. In case legal assistance could not be provided as
requested it shall return the request and notify the reasons for inability to execute
it.
Article 6
Service of documents or summons
1.The service of documents or summons shall be affected in accordance with the laws
of the requested Contracting Party.When the documents or summons are not drawn up in the language of the
requested Contracting Party or are not accompanied by a translation, they may
be served on the addressee if he is willing to accept them.In case of non-acceptance of such document
or summons the service shall be considered as not having been effected.
2. A request for service shall contain the exact address of the addressee and the
title of the document or summons to be served.
Article 7
Proof of service
of documents or summons
The service of
documents or summons shall be proved in accordance with the rules in force in
the territory of the requested Contracting Party. The date and place of service as well as the person on whom the
document or summons was served shall be indicated in a certificate of service.
4
Article 8
Service
of documents and questionnaires to citizens through diplomatic missions or
consular offices
The Contracting
Parties shall be free to effect service of documents and questionnaires to
their own citizens through their diplomatic missions or consular offices.No compulsion shall be applied in connection
with such service.
Article 9
Summons
served upon witness or expert abroad
1. If in course of the judicial proceedings
in the territory of one Contracting Party there is need for the personal
appearance of a witness or an expert, staying in the territory of the other
Contracting Party, the request to serve summons shall be addressed to the
competent authority of that Contracting Party.
2. The summons may not entail any penalties
for failure of the summoned person to appear.
3. A witness or expert, who in response to a
summons, has voluntarily appeared before the competent authority of the
requesting Contracting Party shall not be in the territory of that Contracting
Party prosecuted, detained or punished for a criminal offence committed by him
before he enters its territory.
4. A witness or expert shall be deprived of
this immunity if he fails to leave the territory of the requesting Contracting
Party within 15 days after being informed by the requesting authority that his
presence is no longer necessary.Such
period shall not include any period of time during which the witness or expert
was unable to leave the territory of the requesting Contracting Party for
reasons beyond his control.
5. Witnesses and experts
who upon request appeared in the territory of the requesting Contracting Party
shall have the right to be reimbursed by the requesting authority their travel
expenses and costs connected with their stay in its territory.Experts shall also be entitled to
remuneration for making an examination.The request shall contain the information on reimbursements which the
requested persons are entitled to; the requesting Contracting Party shall
provide against their statement an advance payment to cover the corresponding
expenses.
6. The Contracting Parties shall render all
necessary assistance to each other for taking evidence of a witness in
accordance with the provisions of their laws or, as the case may be, on the
basis of questionnaire or otherwise, which may be admitted as evidence
in accordance with the laws of the requested Contracting Party.
5
Article
10
Recognition of documents
1. Documents
emanating from or certified by a court, any other competent authority or an
authorized person of one of the Contracting Parties shall be considered
authentic if duly sealed by it.Documents complying to the requirements hereby shall be acknowledged by
courts and other competent authorities of the other Contracting Party.
2. Documents considered
as official in the territory of one Contracting Party shall have the
evidentiary force of official documents also in the territory of the other
Contracting Party.
Article 11
Costs of legal assistance
The requested
Contracting Party shall normally not apply for the reimbursement of legal assistance
costs.However, should the estimated or
actual expenses of the requested Contracting Party be of extraordinary amount,
the Central Authorities shall consult each other and find the mutually
acceptable solution.
Article 12
Dispatching
of certificates of civil status and other documents
The Contracting
Parties undertake to dispatch to each other upon request, by diplomatic
channels, without translation and free of charge, certificates or any other
documents concerning personal rights and property interests of their citizens.
Article 13
Refusal
of legal assistance
The requested
Contracting Party may refuse legal assistance if it considers it may be
prejudicial to its sovereignty, security or public order or is in conflict with
its laws or international obligations.
Article 14
Exemption from payment of legal fees and security
1. The citizens of one Contracting Party shall be exempt in the
territory of the other Contracting Party from payment of legal fees and
security under the same conditions and to the same extent as citizens of
that Contracting Party.
2. The citizens and legal persons of one Contracting Party
shall be exempt in the territory of the other Contracting Party from deposit of
security for filing a claim before the courts or other legal authorities under
the same conditions and to the same extent as citizens and legal persons of
that Contracting Party.
6
Article 15
Issuance
of documents on personal, marital and property status
1. A document relating
to personal, marital and property status necessary to receive permission for
exemption from payment of legal fees shall be issued by a competent authority
of the Contracting Party in the territory of which the declarant resides or
stays.
2. If the declarant does not reside or stay in the territories of the Contracting
Parties the document issued or certified by a diplomatic mission or consular
office of the State, whose citizen he is, is sufficient.
3. A court passing
order for exemption from payment of legal fees may request the authority which
issued the document to furnish additional information.
PART III
RECOGNITION AND ENFORCEMENT OF JUDGEMENTS
Article 16
Recognition and enforcement of judgments on civil and commercial matters and monetary
payments awarded in criminal cases
The Contracting Parties shall mutually
recognize and enforce final and effective judgements of judicial authorities on
civil and commercial matters as well as orders awarding monetary
payments in criminal cases.
2. In the territory of the Contracting
Parties judgements of declaratory nature which do not require
enforcement shall be equally recognized without special proceedings.
3. Procedure relating to recognition and
enforcement of judgements shall be subject to the laws of the Requested Party.
Article 17
Accompanying
documents
Application for
recognition and enforcement must be accompanied by:
a copy of the judgment, certified by the court, together with
an official document stating that the judgment or decree is enforceable, if it
is not clear from the text of the judgment itself;
a document from which it follows that a summons was in due
time and form at least once handed to the defendant, who refused to accept it
or did not participate in the proceedings; and
certified translations of the application and the accompanying
documents into the language of the requested Contracting Party or the English
language.
7
Article 18
Costs
Legal costs
relating to recognition and enforcement shall be regulated by the law of
the Contracting Party in whose territory the judgment is to be enforced.
Article 19
Recognition
and Enforcement of Arbitral Awards
Recognition and enforcement of
arbitral awards passed in one of the Contracting Parties shall be made in the
other Contracting Party in accordance with the Convention on the Recognition
and Enforcement of Arbitral Awards, 1958 (New York Convention) and its national
laws.
Article 20
Languages
While complying
with the present Treaty, the Contracting Parties shall use their national language
attaching the translation in the national language of the other Contracting
Party or in English language.
PART IV
FINAL PROVISIONS
Article
21
Consultation
All matters with respect
to the interpretation or implementation of this treaty shall be settled by the
Contracting Parties through consultation between the authorities mentioned in
Article 2 of the Treaty.
Article 22
Entry into Force
1. This
treaty shall be subject to ratification and shall enter into force on the 30th
day of the exchange of instruments of ratification.
2.Either
of the Contracting Parties may denounce this Treaty at any time by giving
notice to the other Contracting Party through the diplomatic channel; and if
such notice is given the Treaty shall cease
to have effect six months after the receipt of the notice.
8
3. Under the initiative of either
Contracting Party amendments may be made to this Treaty, which shall enter into
force according to the procedure described in paragraph 1 of this Article.
Done in duplicate
at New Delhi this 12th day of September 2007 in Hindi, Bulgarian and
English languages, each text being equally authentic.In case of any interpretational difference the English text shall
prevail.
Sd/- Sd/-
