Historical Development of the Legal Framework of the Public Service Organizations

This article has the purpose of outlining the most important milestones in the Bulgarian legal framework concerning the so-called ‘public service organizations’ (‘PSOs’). Due to their diverse scopes of activity, encompassing multiple branches of the special administrative material law, the study aims at providing common traits of the PSO regulation that developed throughout the years. From their formation in the contemporary Bulgarian legal system to their inclusion as public partners in public-private partnerships, the article makes an attempt to outline the evolution of the concept of PSOs, leading to the present-day understanding of them. Having the achievements of legal theory as well as the interpretations of the case law as a basis, the study focuses on providing insight into some of the most important legal acts regulating the matter, the authorities with regulative powers regarding the PSO activity and beginning a more in-depth academic discussion on the matter of PSOs and the refinement of their legal framework in the context of administrative material law.