E-vignettes and a toll system enter into force in Bulgaria in 2019

The sale of the new electronic vignettes in Bulgaria began on December 17. They will come into force on 01.01.2019, while only the old stickers will apply until the end of 2018.

Vignette prices remain unchanged: annual – BGN 97, quarterly – BGN 54, monthly – BGN 30, weekly – BGN 15. A weekend vignette is also introduced, which will be valid from 12:00 on Friday to midnight on Sunday, at a price of BGN 10.

E-vignettes can be purchased online via the website of the newly-formed National Toll Administration, where the payment is made by bank card (debit or credit) or by bank transfer, in which case the payment is required to happen a few days before the trip. For the purchase of an e-vignette, it is necessary to fill in the registration number and nationality of the vehicle, as well as the starting date of the vignette. The customer must also enter an email address in order to receive his electronic vignette on it.

From January 1st, 2019, a vignette will also be available to be purchased from one of the 500 specially assigned self-service terminals that will be located at border crossing points, as well as at various retail outlets. These terminals will work in 8 languages – Bulgarian, English, Romanian, German, Greek, Serbian, Russian and Turkish. They will only be available to be paid for by bank cards and giving your email is mandatory. In addition, e-vignettes will also be available to be purchased in cash at the usual locations – at a cash desk in gas stations, retail outlets and post offices.

All vignette stickers, purchased in 2018, will continue to be valid until their expiration date. The Road Infrastructure Agency recommends that they be converted to electronic, which is possible via bgtoll.bg or through a special mobile application. Drivers who do not do so will not be fined, but can often be stopped for а check-up, as there will be no information in the database that they have an up-to-date vignette. From January 1st, check-ups for a paid vignette will be conducted by the National Toll Administration to the Road Infrastructure Agency. The Agency’s staff will have vehicles, equipped with registration number recognition devices and they will check in their database whether the vehicles has a paid vignette. They will have the right to stop drivers and check their documents. In addition to these patrols, there will be 300 fixed cameras installed along the road network to watch for offenders.

The fine for driving without an up-to-date vignette will remain BGN 300 and for the heavy vehicles – up to BGN 3000. Besides this fine, there will be an additional compensation fee, the payment of which would allow the drivers to return to their homes within the calendar day even if they are caught without a vignette. These fines have yet to be approved, but it is planned for automobiles (up to 3,5 tonnes) to pay BGN 70, vehicles between 3,5 and 12 tonnes – BGN 125, and for the heaviest vehicles – BGN 175. Payment of the fine can also be done on the spot with a bank card, and if the driver is unable to pay immediately, he will have 2 weeks to do so, after which the fine is raised to BGN 300.

In the event of unpaid vignette fines, cars will not be able to go through a technical inspection and leave the country.

From August 16th 2019, vehicles with a total technically permissible maximum weight of over 3,5 tonnes will pay a toll tax for the travelled distance instead of a vignette tax, like it is now. The payment will allow the vehicle to travel a certain distance between two points on a road section. The fee for each section will vary and will depend on a number of factors: technical characteristics of the road section, distance traveled, vehicle category, its number of axis and its environmental performance.

You can find more information about the new toll fee on the National Toll Administration’s website.