The new Unified Commercial Register will begin operations on January 2 after two previous delays to the project, the deputy director of the Justice Ministry's Registry Agency Daniela Miteva told BTA on Friday.

Agency executive director Emil Stankov said the creation of the Register is extremely important for Bulgaria, as the system's unified status increases transparency and the efficiency of registration. It eliminates the risk of the creation of "ghost firms", and any such companies already in existence will be erased from this register, Stankov explained.

The Commercial Register's project coordinator Ivailo Filipov outlined the steps companies must take to register online. The procedure takes a mere 6-7 minutes at www.brra.bg. There, the various procedures such as initial registration, changes in circumstances and re-registration are all explained in detail.

There is also a list of firms with identical names at the Agency's site, where companies can check on whether their name does not coincide with anyone else's.

At the system's trial run in seven cities, 7,000 applications were received in three months. More information on the Agency and its regional offices can be found at www.registryagency.bg.