RULES ON THE ORGANIZATION AND ACTIVITIES OF THE SOFIA MUNICIPALITY LOCAL CIVIC MEDIATOR
Adopted by Decision No. 10 of May 23, 2001, of the Sofia Municipal Council

General Provisions
Principles
Election and Term of Office of the Local Civic Mediator
Procedure for Lodging Complaints with the Local Civic Mediator
Complaints
Financial Conditions
Reporting and Accountability
Transitional and Concluding Provisions

General Provisions

Art. 1. (1) These Rules shall be adopted on the grounds of Art. 2, Par. (1), Art. 136, Par. (1) of the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria, Art. 3 of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, Art. 21, Par. (2) and Art. 22, Par. (1) of the Law on Local Self-Government and Local Administration.
(2) The Local Civic Mediator shall function on experimental basis on the territory of Sofia Municipality pending the establishment of the institution by a specific Law.

Art. 2. The Local Civic Mediator shall defend the rights and interests of citizens and contribute to the effective operation of local government by supervising its acts and actions.

Art. 3. (1) The activities of the Local Civic Mediator shall be performed by addressing proposals and signals to the local authorities, which have issued the disputed acts or to their senior authorities.
(2) The activities of the Local Civic Mediator shall aim to improve the quality of administrative services and raise the legal awareness of citizens.

Principles

Art. 4. (1) In his/her activities the Local Civic Mediator shall be guided by the principles of the rule of law, independence, justice, transparency and publicity, humanism and tolerance.
(2) The Local Civic Mediator:
- shall provide equal opportunities to citizens to defend their rights and legitimate interests, irrespective of gender, race, nationality, ethnicity, social position, age, material status, political affiliations, religious creeds;
- shall treat each case objectively by hearing both parties' arguments and giving them opportunity to reconsider and reconcile their positions.

Election and Term of Office of the Local Civic Mediator

Art. 5. (1) The Local Civic Mediator in Sofia Municipality shall be elected by Sofia Municipal Council through competition procedure.
(2) The competition shall be publicly announced through the electronic and print media.

Art. 6. (1) Shall be elected Local Civic Mediator a Bulgarian national who has come of age, is sane and has not been sentenced, who is not a party in pending court proceedings and resides permanently in Sofia Municipality, holds a university degree and has 5 years of relevant professional experience.
(2) ЗThe application papers due for participation in the competition shall be:
- a letter of motivation;
- a curriculum vitae;
- a university diploma;
- an employment record.

Art. 7. (1) The candidates shall appear for an interview conducted by a 9-member commission comprising:
- 5 Municipal Councilors;
- 3 representatives of Sofia municipal administration;
- 1 representative of the Center for Social Practices.
(2) The interview shall check the candidate's knowledge of law and the relations between citizens and local authorities.
(3) The commission shall make a proposal to the Sofia Municipal Council to elect one of the two most competent candidates.

Art. 8. (1) The Sofia Municipal Council shall elect the Local Civic Mediator with a single secret voting by a majority of two thirds of all Municipal Councilors.
(2) If none of the candidates proposed is elected, a second voting shall take place under the procedure specified in Paragraph (1) and the candidate who has received 50% plus one of the votes of all Municipal Councilors.

Art. 9. The Local Civic Mediator shall be elected for a term of two years and shall not be elected more than twice successively.

Art. 10. The Local Civic Mediator may not be member of political party or of managing bodies of commercial companies.

Art. 11. (1) The Local Civic Mediator shall be removed from office in case of:
- resignation submitted to the Sofia Municipal Council;
- expiration of the term for which he/she was elected;
- continual inability or permanent failure to carry out his/her duties for a period longer than two months;
- sentencing of imprisonment by virtue of an effective verdict;
- death.
(2) In case of removal of the Local Civic Mediator from office because of expiration of the term for which he/she was elected, he/she shall continue to carry out his/her powers until the next Local Civic Mediator takes office.
(3) The Local Civic Mediator may be removed for failure to carry out his/her duties under the procedure pertinent to his/her election.

Procedure for Lodging Complaints with the Local Civic Mediator

Art. 12. Citizens and their organizations shall lodge complaints with the Local Civic Mediator in cases of:
- violation of requirements for legitimacy and accuracy of administrative acts and local authorities' actions;
- failure to comply with the procedure for issuing administrative acts and providing administrative services;
- transmission of incorrect or insufficient information about the exercise of rights and duties of citizens and the terms and conditions for conducting administrative services;
- acts of incompetence, unfairness, delay and disrespect of citizens' dignity.

Art. 13. The powers of the Civic Defender shall not extend to:
- interrelations between the local administration units;
- privatization and activities of municipal commercial companies;
- matters concerning citizens' private life;
- court proceedings.

Art. 14. The Local Civic Mediator cannot represent the persons who have addressed him/her in court or other public institution.

Art. 15. (1) The Local Civic Mediator shall be obliged to inform citizens and representatives of their organizations within two weeks of the lodging of the complaint on the measures to be under taken in relation to the case.
(2) In case of refusal, within the time span set out in the foregoing paragraph, the Local Civic Mediator shall be obliged to explain the grounds on which the refusal is made and recommend other means for attaining the intended result.
(З) For clarification of factual circumstances the Local Civic Mediator shall collect additional information from the citizens or the authorities concerned.
(4) The complaints shall be filed into a special register.

Art. 16. (1) The legal proceedings before the Local Civic Mediator shall be free of charge.
(2) The Local Civic Mediator shall enter into contact with citizens at a time and in a place determined and publicly announced by him/her.

Art. 17. In the exercising of his/her powers the Local Civic Mediator shall:
- perform inquiries in relation to the received complaints pertinent to relations between citizens/citizens' organizations and municipal administration;
- mediate between administrative bodies and the persons concerned in order to overcome the violations committed;
- lodge signals to local authorities in case of alleged lack of conditions for exercising of the legitimate rights and interests of citizens;
- submit proposals to local authorities concerning compliance with the law and expediency of administrative practice, neutralizing the consequences of its disrespect and removing the causes thereof;
- make a public statement on the findings of his/her activities.

Art. 18. The Local Civic Mediator shall be obliged not to disclose any circumstances constituting State, official or commercial secret, as well as any personal secrets of which he/she has become aware in relation to the exercising of his/her powers.

Art. 19. (1) In carrying out his/her activities related to requests and complaints of citizens addressed to the Sofia Municipal Council, the Local Civic Mediator shall work in cooperation with the Sofia Inspectorate and the Permanent Committee on Requests and Applications of Citizens with the Sofia Municipal Council.
(2) The Sofia Municipal Council shall send the Local Civic Mediator all legislative acts it has adopted.

Art. 20. (1) Local self-government authorities shall be obliged to collaborate with the Local Civic Mediator in identifying violations of law and expediency by virtue of complaints made by citizens or their organizations.
(2) Local self-government bodies shall provide all necessary information and data to the Local Civic Mediator in compliance with legal requirements for access to information.

Art. 21. In the exercising of his/her powers the Local Civic Mediator shall be assisted by a technical office appointed by virtue of decision of the Sofia Municipal Council.

Complaints

Art. 22. All Bulgarian and foreign nationals, and stateless persons, all legal persons and organizations performing activities within the territory of Sofia Municipality, may address the Local Civic Mediator by means of complaints.

Art. 23. The complaint shall contain particulars about the complainant, the offender and the circumstances in which the violation was committed.

Art. 24. The Local Civil Mediator's assistants shall take minutes in all cases of verbal complaints.

Financial Conditions

Art. 25. The funding of the experimental stage in the activities of the Local Civil Mediator is secured by the Open Society Foundation within a project of the Center for Social Practices through financial support to the Sofia Municipal Council budget.

Reporting and Accountability

Art. 26. (1) The Local Civic Mediator shall prepare an analysis of the filed complaints and his/her opinion on them every three months and shall present it to the Mayor of Sofia Municipality and the Sofia Municipal Council.
(2) The analysis shall be circulated in congruence with the legally defined scope of confidentiality.

Art. 27. The Local Civic Mediator shall present an annual report on his/her activities during the previous year by January 31.

Art. 28. The annual report shall contain:
- information about the cases solved;
- information about the cases where his/her intervention has had no consequences and the reasons for that;
- general information about the complaints lodged, the checks in relation to which have not been concluded;
- information as to the proposals and signals made and the measures taken as a result;
- an opinion on the application of instruments for defending the legitimate rights and interests of citizens.

Art. 29. (1) The Mayor of Sofia Municipality, the Sofia Municipal Council and the Center for Social Practices shall draft opinions concerning the annual report.
(2) The annual report shall be submitted for discussion at a Sofia Municipal Council session by March 31 of the calendar year.
(З) The Sofia Municipal Council shall approve the Local Civic Mediator's annual report by a simple majority voting.
(4) In case the Sofia Municipal Council conclusions diverge from those of the annual report, the Council shall adopt a decision under the conditions set out in Art. 11, Par. (3).

Art. 30. (1) The annual report of the Local Civic Mediator and the decision of the Sofia Municipal Council shall be published.
(2) Copies of the report shall be deposited at the Local Civic Mediator's office and the Sofia Municipality at disposal of citizens and their organizations.

Art. 31. The Local Civic Mediator shall be accountable to the Sofia Municipal Council for:
- not conforming with these Rules;
- disrespect of the rights and interests of citizens;
- disrespect of confidentiality requirements;
- acts of negligence and partiality.

Art. 32. The Center for Social Practices and other human rights non-governmental organizations shall provide ongoing monitoring over the activities of the Local Civic Mediator.

Transitional and Concluding Provisions

§ 1. To all particulars of the Local Civic Mediator activities that have not been provided for shall be applicable the regulations of the Law on Administrative Procedure.

§ 2. These Rules shall enter into force after their adoption by the Sofia Municipal Council.