International lawyers have submitted to Brussels a complaint against Bulgaria over alleged restrictions on them doing business in the country, Financial Times reported Tuesday.

The assault on rules imposed by Sofia is led by British and Austrian law firms as part of a series of rows about European Union member state restraints on the legal industry.

Peter Valert, a partner at DLA Piper Weiss-Tessbach, one of the firms making the complaint, said such disputes were likely to become more common as lawyers in new EU member states lobbied their governments to protect them from the arrival of competition from foreign law firms.

The complaint to the European Commission was made last week by firms including DLA, Britain's CMS Cameron McKenna and Wolf Theiss of Austria.

It claims a Bulgarian law stops them establishing practices under their own names and imposes unreasonable requirements.

The Law Society of England and Wales has raised concerns in writing with Bulgaria about the latest disagreement. A meeting is planned in Sofia next week between Law Society representatives and their Bulgarian counterparts.

EU officials said they would study the complaint. If the commission concludes Sofia is wrong, it can take enforcement action directly, although the case could end up in the European Court of Justice if it is contested.

Bulgaria's EU delegation declined to comment.

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