Bulgarian companies will be imposed fines of up to BGN 100,000 unless they have been issued environmental permits, under amendments to the environment protection law that parliament passed on Wednesday.

The freshly adopted legislation envisages hiked fines for companies, which operate without environmental licenses, ranging from BGN 30,000 to BGN 100,000.

Those who use the national environmental-friendly badge without having been licensed will be fined from BGN 1000 to BGN 5000.

The amendments also provide for the government to set the quantities and price of greenhouse gas emissions, which the country is allowed to sell.

Bulgaria is under-utilizing their quota of atmospheric emissions under the Kyoto Protocol and is allowed to sell the remainder.