THE VALUE OF THE CONTRACT AS A CRITERION FOR THE INADMISSIBILITY OF EVIDENCE UNDER ART. 164, PARAGRAPH 1, ITEM 3, SECOND PROPOSAL OF THE CPC

Author

Mihaela Atanasova

Annotation

This article analyzes the "contract value" criterion under Art. 164(1)(3), second clause of the Bulgarian Civil Procedure Code (CPC), which bars witness testimony as evidence for informal contracts exceeding BGN 5,000. The author traces the threshold's historical evolution—from the 1930 Civil Procedure Act, through numerous amendments to the repealed CPC, to its fixing at BGN 5,000 under the current CPC adopted in 2007, a figure unchanged since despite inflation. Various scholarly reform proposals are examined, including a suggestion to align the threshold with the BGN 10,000 cash-payment limit under the Cash Payments Restriction Act, which the author rejects due to the differing legislative purposes of the two laws. As an alternative approach, the criminal law practice of tying thresholds to the minimum wage—rather than a fixed absolute sum—is proposed. The article concludes that legislative reform is needed to bring the threshold in line with the country's current economic conditions.

Keywords

witness testimony; contract value; Civil Procedure Code; inadmissibility of evidence; inflation and procedural thresholds; Cash Payments Restriction Act