About the agency

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