The Council of Ministers' Religious Confessions Directorate, formerly responsible for the registration of religious groups, provides "expert opinions" on registration matters upon request of the court. The Directorate also issues guidance to ensure that national and local authorities comply with national religious freedom legislation. Within its discrete authority, the Directorate was generally responsive to denominations' concerns.

To receive national legal recognition, denominations must apply for official court registration, which was generally granted. All applicants have the right to appeal negative registration decisions to the Court of Appeals. Some local branches of nationally registered denominations continued to experience problems with local authorities who insisted that the branches be registered locally, despite the fact that the 2002 Denominations Act does not require local formal registration of denominations.

The Government observes Orthodox Christmas and Easter as national holidays. In addition, the Government respects the holidays of non-Orthodox religious groups, including Muslim, Catholic, Jewish, Evangelical, and Baha'i, and grants their members nonworking days.

The Constitution prohibits the formation of political parties along religious lines, but there were concerns that some parties exploited religious issues for political purposes.

Military law prohibits religious groups from conducting any activity on military premises and prohibits ministering at any level within the armed forces; however, military personnel may attend religious events outside military property.

For most registered religious groups, there were no restrictions on attendance at religious services or on private religious instruction.

Schools offer an optional religious education course that covers Christianity and Islam. The course examines the historical, philosophical, and cultural aspects of religion and introduces students to the moral values of different religious groups. All officially registered religious groups can request their religious beliefs be included in the course's curriculum. While the Ministry of Education provides the course material for free to students, religious education teachers participating in the program are funded directly from municipal budgets.

A number of religious groups broadcast radio programs: the Orthodox Radio Sion and the Christian Radio Svetlina air via Internet; the Seventh-day Adventists broadcast a daily one-hour program in Bulgarian on their world radio "Voice of Hope"; the Evangelical Trans-World Radio network also broadcasts a daily program in Bulgarian.

The Office of the Chief Mufti also supports summer Qur'anic education courses.

Restrictions on Religious Freedom

The Government generally respected religious freedom in practice; however, it did not apply existing laws on religious issues consistently.

On January 22, 2009, the Sofia City Court rejected the Jewish Center Chabad Lubavitch's application for registration. The court consulted with the Religious Confessions Directorate, which cited opposition from the registered Jewish denomination. Article 27 of the Denominations Act requires all nonprofit legal entities seeking to promote an already registered denomination to receive the consent of that denomination. The court stated that the Jewish Center Chabad Lubavitch had violated this provision by operating a synagogue and a kindergarten. Shalom, the administrative organization of Jews in the country, also submitted opinions to the court opposing the registration.

On April 21, 2008, the court registered Mustafa Alish Hadji as Chief Mufti after he was reelected at a Muslim conference convened by more than 1,000 members of the community's local branches. The conference followed competing court decisions, which ultimately reinstated rival Islamic leader Nedim Gendzhev. Gendzhev appealed the 2008 registration, alleging judicial corruption and document forgery. The court decision on this case was pending, as well as another case against him alleging embezzlement of approximately 2,000 (800,000 leva) when the court temporarily reinstated him to the Chief Mufti's Office.

Some "nontraditional" groups continued to face discrimination and prejudice from local authorities in certain localities, despite obtaining a national registration from the Sofia City Court. Article 19 of the 2002 Denominations Act states that nationally registered religious groups may have local branches. The law requires notification, although some municipalities claimed it requires formal local registration. Some municipal regulations prohibited the distribution of religious literature by groups that were not locally registered. There were renewed reports of enforcement of these local regulations in Burgas, Gabrovo, Plovdiv, and Pleven. On October 8, 2008, the Plovdiv municipal police stopped a member of Jehovah's Witnesses and issued her a warning not to distribute religious literature.