STATE AGENCY FOR METROLOGICAL AND TECHNICAL SURVEILLANCE (SAMTS) is a state surveillance authority implementing the national policy in the field of:
- Market surveillance of products placed on the market and/or put into service within the scope Directives and Regulations under the Union harmonisation legislation;
- Market surveillance of construction products; products related to the energy consumption as regards the eco design requirements; electrical and electronic equipment in relation to the restrictions of the use of certain dangerous substances and its waste;
- Technical inspection of high-risk equipment;
- Quality control of liquid fuels;
- Metrological supervision;
- Designation and supervision of conformity assessment bodies for products within the scope Directives and Regulations under the Union harmonisation legislation;
- Supervision of dam walls and related facilities;
- Quality control of solid fuels for domestic heating.
The SAMTS activities are regulated by the following 10 laws:
- Law on technical requirements for products (LTRP);
- Law on consumer protection (LCP);
- Law on ambient clean air (LACA);
- Law on measurements (LM) ;
- Law on automobile transport (LAT);
- Waste management act (WMA);
- Renewable energy sources law (RESL);
- Law on protection against harmful influence of chemical substances and mixtures (LPHICSM);
- Law on tourism (LT);
- Water Act.
The main objectives in carrying out the SAMTS activities are strategic and operational.
According to the actual Rules of procedure SAMTS has 463 employees and the following structure:
- Management (President, 2 Vice Presidents, Secretary General);
- Two financial controllers, directly subordinated to the SAMTS President;
- General Administration:
- Directorate “Financial and economic activities and project management” – D FEAPM
- Directorate “Administrative, legal and information services” – D ALIS;
- Specialized Administration:
- Directorate General “Market surveillance” – DG MS;
- Directorate General “Technical inspection” – DG TI;
- Directorate General “Quality control of liquid fuels” – DG QCLF;
- Directorate General “Quality control of solid fuels for domestic heating” – GD QCFDH;
- Directorate General “Metrological supervision” – DG MSv;
- Directorate General “Supervision of dam walls and related facilities” – DG SDWRF;
- Directorate “Designation of conformity assessment bodies” – DCAB.
The specific results of SAMTS activities in the period 2019 – 2022 as well as the target values of performance indicators for 2023 can be seen in the table below:
| REPORTED AND TARGET VALUES OF INDICATORS FOR REALIZATION | ||||||
| Program „Quality infrastructure in support of Bulgarian economy development” | ||||||
| Indicators for realization | Measuring unit | Reported value | Target value | |||
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | ||
| Information transfers regarding the notification of conformity assessment bodies to the EC | Number | 140 | 140 | 147 | 141 | 140 |
| Checks of conformity assessment bodies | Number | 356 | 306 | 255 | 277 | 160 |
| Checks of measuring instruments, planned and upon signals | Number | 16492 | 17272 | 16467 | 17584 | 15500 |
| Checks of prepackages
batches with same quantity individual packages with different quantity |
Number |
969 1772 |
820 1758 |
834 1743 |
833 1735 |
800 1700 |
| Checks pursuant to received/sent notifications under the Rapid Alert System for Dangerous Consumer Goods (RAPEX) | Number | 904 | 878 | 862 | 807 | * |
| Tested types of products for market surveillance purposes | Number | 80 | 69 | 61 | 40 | 60 |
| Checks for observation of technical legislation under LTRP | Number | 13718 | 11042 | 7078 | 5768 | 4800 |
| Technical inspections of high-risk equipment | Number | 22276 | 22276 | 20244 | 19936 | 12500 |
| Inspections of licensed and registered companies | Number | 1201 | 1319 | 1348 | 1307 | 900 |
| Control on workshops for installation and repairing of tachographs | Number | 151 | 150 | 217 | 151 | 100 % |
| Inspections of fuel supply stations | Number | 1277 | 1129 | 1222 | 1189 | 950 |
| Tested liquid fuel samples | Number | 1903 | 1932 | 1771 | 1866 | 1500 |
| Inspections of the technical condition of dam walls and related facilities | Number | 3022 | 2488 | 2853 | 3423 | 2000 |
| Inspections of stores supplying solid fuels for residential heating** | Number | – | 291 | 881 | 920 | 800 |
| Tested solid fuel samples** | Number | – | 14 | 37 | 130 | 200 |
| Inspection of persons responsible for pools exploitation and maintenance by virtue of a contract – separate or part of an accommodation facility | Number | 535 | 190 | 90 | 477 | 80 |
| Issued acts against administrative violations of laws | Number | 2433 | 2075 | 2605 | 1916 | * |
| Issued penal acts | Number | 2165 | 1750 | 2250 | 1625 | * |
*No planning possible
** Activity carried out since 2020