Industrial Cartels and Antimonopoly Legislation in Bulgaria in the 1930s

The policy of economic protectionism that emerged from the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, carried out by a number of Bulgarian governments, initially led to a rise in the Bulgarian industry, but later as a result of this, monopoly structures arose, which were a barrier to its further development. To overcome this phenomenon at the beginning of the 30s of the 20th century, the adoption of antimonopoly legislation in the country was necessary. By the late 1920s and early 1930s, about a dozen cartels were available in the sugar and brewing industries, glucose factories, carbon dioxide factories, vegetable oil refining, wire and nail factories, etc. In order to overcome the negative consequences of these monopoly structures, an anti-monopoly bill was submitted to the XXIII National Assembly Its discussion began in September 1931. During the parliamentary debates, different positions and opinions were expressed on this issue. The law was adopted in December of the same year. It introduces restrictions on the activities of monopolistic organizations and establishes an order for price control of the goods produced by them.