Bulgarian school documents and diplomas: Ordinance No. 8

Ordinance No. 8 of 11 August 2016 on the Information and Documents for the System of Preschool and School Education is the state educational standard (ДОС) that underlies every issuing, keeping and storing of a document in the kindergarten and the school. With the latest amendment and supplement (State Gazette (ДВ) No. 65 of 8 August 2025, with key texts in force from 1 October 2025), Art. 50а was repealed, a new Art. 44а appeared for correcting obvious factual errors in recognition documents, and the registration through the National Centre for Information and Documentation (НАЦИД) and the rules for cancelling erroneous documents were rearranged.

In the following analysis we set out the whole ordinance in force, chapter by chapter, from the information and the НЕИСПУО (the national electronic school information system), through the types of documents and the general requirements, to the documents with factory numbering, and we separate out exactly what changed from 1 October 2025. The aim is a single professional reference for education lawyers, headteachers, the Regional Education Directorates (РУО) and school administrators, which the raw legal text and the government portals do not offer.

What Ordinance No. 8/2016 regulates and its place in the system (ЗПУО)

The ordinance is a piece of subordinate legislation, issued by the Minister of Education and Science on the basis of Art. 22(4) in conjunction with Art. 22(2), item 10 of the Preschool and School Education Act (ЗПУО). The precise legal basis matters: item 10 of the list in Art. 22(2) ЗПУО refers precisely to the information and documents, whereas item 8 relates to a different standard (civic, health, environmental and intercultural education). The reference is confirmed both by the list in the ЗПУО itself and by the preamble of the ordinance.

The subject matter of the ordinance is outlined in Art. 1. It includes five large groups of issues: the types of documents, the requirements for their form and content, the conditions and procedure for keeping the information registers, the receipt, accounting and destruction of documents with factory numbering, and the creation of electronic documents and the keeping of the National Electronic Information System for Preschool and School Education (НЕИСПУО).

The scope as to persons is wide. Under Art. 2, the standard applies not only to kindergartens and schools but also to vocational training institutions as regards the issuing of documents to persons aged 16 or over. The language requirement is set in Art. 5: documents are completed in standard Bulgarian (български книжовен език), with expressly listed exceptions (the topic of a foreign-language lesson and the documents under Art. 133(3) ЗПУО). The version in force was published in State Gazette No. 66 of 2016, last amended and supplemented in State Gazette No. 65 of 8 August 2025.

НЕИСПУО: modules and registers (Arts 7-9)

The information in the system is organised through the НЕИСПУО. Under Art. 7 (amended by State Gazette No. 105 of 2024) the system consists of three electronic modules, each with a clear purpose. The structure of the first module also includes the Register of Institutions under Art. 345(1) ЗПУО, as well as the section for the institutions’ seals under Decree No. 612 of 1965. An important clarification for practice: the section for seals is created in Art. 7, item 1, letter “в”, while the keeping of the modules is governed by Art. 8.

The modern regime for entering and processing data is set out in Art. 9. Data is entered in the system with a qualified electronic signature under Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 (eIDAS) and the Electronic Document and Electronic Trust Services Act (ЗЕДЕУУ). The processing of personal data is subject to the General Data Protection Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR), the Personal Data Protection Act (ЗЗЛД) and the Ordinance on the minimum requirements for network and information security, adopted by Council of Ministers Decree (ПМС) No. 186 of 2019.

Types of documents: for the activity of institutions and for children and pupils

Chapter Three structures the documents into several sections: documents on the activity of the institutions, documents for children and pupils, and other documents. For the practising lawyer, the documents for children and pupils are the most often applicable; their types, purpose, content in main elements (реквизити) and time limits for issuing are set out in Annex No. 4 (Art. 31). The annexes to the ordinance tie each document to its required elements, issuer and retention period.

Documents for the recognition of education obtained abroad deserve separate attention. Under Art. 32(1) (amended by State Gazette No. 65 of 2025), the Regional Education Directorates (РУО) and the National Centre for Information and Documentation (НАЦИД) issue the recognition documents under Annex No. 4. The National Diploma under Art. 34 has a special status: it is issued for an excellent (6.00) result in all school subjects, is an honorary distinction and has moral value.

Legal information, not legal advice.

General requirements for completing, keeping and issuing (Arts 37-44)

Chapter Five governs how documents are created, kept and issued in practice. Under Art. 37 documents are created on paper and/or electronic media. For the expert assessment and selection, each institution appoints a standing expert commission under Art. 42 of the National Archive Fund Act (ЗНАФ) (Art. 38). The organisation of storage is personalised: under Art. 39 the headteacher determines by order, for each type of document, the official responsible, the place of storage and the procedure for handover, storage and use in the archive.

The regime for electronic documents is detailed in Art. 40: they are printed with numbered pages and certified with the signatures of the official and the headteacher, with a seal affixed, while the class registers are closed and signed with an electronic signature and kept in PDF for the periods in Annex No. 2. Retention periods run from the date the books and class registers are closed (Art. 41(4)). The same article sets two procedural time limits that are often confused in practice.

The requirements for technical completion are strict. Under Art. 42 blank lines and pages are cancelled with a “Z” sign, and under Art. 43 handwritten entries are made with a blue ballpoint pen, and erasing or correcting with correction fluid is not allowed. Diplomas, certificates and attestations are completed on a computer and certified with a blue seal (Art. 44). A duplicate is issued on the form of the original document with the inscription “ДУБЛИКАТ” (duplicate) in the upper right corner (Art. 44(4)), and the documents issued are registered in registration books under Annex No. 2 (para. 5) and entered in the Register as basic data and colour scanned images (para. 6).

Documents with factory numbering: accounting and destruction (Chapter Four)

Some educational documents carry a heightened control regime because they have a series and number printed at the factory. Under Art. 51 these are the documents with factory numbering (документи с фабрична номерация). For them the ordinance provides for an annual accounting and a strict procedure for destruction, which sets them apart from ordinary documents and prevents misuse of forms.

What changed from 1 October 2025 (State Gazette No. 65/2025)

This is the added value compared with the raw text and the out-of-date portals: the distinction between what applies now and what came into force later. The amendment in State Gazette No. 65 of 2025 introduced several real novelties, whose key texts come into force on 1 October 2025. The most significant is the new Art. 44а, which governs the correction of obvious factual errors in recognition documents, ex officio or on application by an interested person.

In parallel, Art. 50а was repealed (State Gazette No. 65/2025, in force 1 October 2025), and with it the practical application of the related Annex No. 7 falls away, a circumstance to be taken into account when describing the annexes after 1 October 2025. The regime for recognition through НАЦИД was also refined: НАЦИД was added to Art. 32(1), and the new para. 3 introduces registration of the documents issued by НАЦИД and their duplicates.

Practical checklist for the institution

We reduce the analysis to an operational check. A large part of the risk in working with educational documents comes not from complicated legal questions but from missed orders, commissions and time limits. The following list brings together the obligations from the separate chapters in one place.

Ordinance No. 8/2016 remains a relatively stable but detailed legal act, whose weight lies in the detail: which document, who issues it, with what elements, in which book it is registered and how long it is kept. Tracking the amendments (most recently State Gazette No. 65/2025) is key, because competing portals often stop at an older version. For the neighbouring regulation, see our analyses of Ordinance No. 10 on the organisation of activities, Ordinance No. 15 on the status and professional development of teachers and the Higher Education Act.

This material is legal information, not legal advice. For a specific case, consult a licensed lawyer or the competent Regional Education Directorate.