Bulgaria's Supreme Administrative Court (VAS) has conclusively confirmed the legality of an ordinance setting out the requirements for the installation of measuring devices monitoring the flows of excise goods.

In a Tuesday ruling, VAS upheld Ordinance #3 from February 19, 2010, issued by the Finance Minister, promulgated in the State Gazette issue 15, dated February 23, 2010 and in force since March 26, 2010.

The Customs Agency used this ordinance to justify the shutdown of the Burgas-based Lukoil Neftochim refinery and the Rosenetz oil terminal in July.

The customs authority suspended the permits of the two tax warehouses over Lukoil's failure to observe the June 26, 2011 deadline for mounting measuring equipment.

Ordinance #3 provides for the mandatory installation of electronic measuring devices with a direct connection to the customs and tax administrations.

The trial was launched on a complaint filed before VAS against Ordinance #3 asserting its illegality and the fact that it had been adopted in contradiction with a number of normative legal acts.

In its conclusive ruling issued Tuesday, VAS presented its motives for upholding the legality of both Ordinance #3 in its entirety, which VAS said was an act issued by a competent authority and in correspondence superior acts, and the legality of the contested provisions.

The trial won by the Finance Ministry and the Customs Agency comes as a consolation prize, given the fact that in another trial the Administrative Court Sofia City (ACSC) and VAS stopped the preliminary execution of a ruling ordering the closure of the oil processing plant.

The magistrates explained their decision with the fact that such a production halt would cause substantial difficulties in major sectors of the economy.

In the meantime, the court battle between Lukoil and the Customs Agency over the two revoked warehouse tax operator permits of the company was once again rescheduled for end-January on Monday.

In the course of Monday's court session, the expert witnesses said that it was almost impossible to establish the time of the installation of electronic measuring devices which had been functioning at the refinery in September.

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