ABOUT US
The Bulgarian Association of Electrical Engineering and Electronics (BASSEL) is a nation-wide representative of the main part of the Bulgarian electrical engineering industry and was founded in 1994 as an officially registered national non-profit organization with members – state enterprises. Only just after the privatization of the industry, the Chamber started gradually to function and the number of its members from around 30 in 1999 increased to more than 150 companies from the electrical branch with manufacturing, engineering, commercial, consultant and R&D activities.
They join the Chamber on a voluntary basis, incl. all leading foreign branch investors as FESTO, ABB, SCHNEIDER, HYUNDAI, SPARKY, BOSCH etc. with a staff total of about 13 000 employees in the following sectors:
- HV/MV-electric power equipment, switchgear;
- LV-switchgear, electric utilities, lighting fixtures, luminaries;
- Cables and wires;
- Electric motors, hand tools, hoisting & haulage and transport technique;
- Batteries;
- Automation, control & measurement appliances;
- Subcontractors of elements, parts, materials;
- Electric thermal equipment;
- Engineering, complete projects, consultancy;
- Trade companies.;
For its entire service work, BASSEL has been selected and awarded as one of the best and most successful chambers and associations in Bulgaria for 2002/2003 by GTZ – the German Society for Technical Co-operation at the Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Collaboration (BMZ).
In its capacity as the national representative of the electrical engineering companies in Bulgaria, the Chamber has the following priority objectives:
- To assist its members in their efforts for integration with the European electrical engineering and in strengthening of their position on international markets, to assist them in their attempts to improve their competition capabilities and technological level with the aim – to fill market niches with new products;
- To promote attracting foreign investments, to help establishing joint ventures and manufactures as well as other forms of transborder economic co-operation;
- To accelerate the harmonization process of the technical legislation with the European one and the establishment in this country of a stable system of product certification. BASSEL organizes regular training courses and issues information and reference materials for the management staff on the aspects of the New Approach in the technical legislation;
- To enhance the stabilization process of the local market, not tolerating improper products, unlawful import and phantom-companies;
- To assist any form of job skill enhancement in order to achieve better professionalism and competence of the managerial staff, to help establishing loyal and ethical relations within the branch.; да ускорява изграждането в страната на системата за продуктова сертификация;
To achieve its goals, BASSEL:
- Establishes useful collaboration and contacts with European, national and international branch associations and companies and supports development of commercial and technological links between branch partners. Close relations have already been established with the most authoritative German organizations as VDE, VDI, ZVEI, ZVEH, well-known to international circles. Aiming elaboration of new market perspectives for its members, BASSEL has concluded agreements with the Italian National Association of Electrical Industry, the Italian Commercial Chamber in Bulgaria, the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, AENOR (Spain), the Trade and Industrial Chamber of China, the Czech and Moravian Electric & Electronic Association. Good contacts are maintained with the respective chambers in the Balkan region. BASSEL is an active member of the authoritative international organization INTERELECTRO with headquarters in Moscow.;
- Organizes business visits of foreign experts and investors to this country and of Bulgarian specialists abroad, organizes national and international meetings, workshops, conferences, training and professional courses. In this respect, BASSEL is very active in organizing regularly presentations of foreign companies, entering the Bulgarian market. With the financial aid of a leading local PCB-manufacturing company, BASSEL is organizing with German assistance a broad-scaled vocational training center for specialists in the field of electrical installation systems and building automation.;
- Takes part in consulting councils, committees and working groups with the state and public authorities and introduces to the state authorities proposals of new and amended legislative acts in the domain of control of the economy.In this capacity, BASSEL acts as an important link between the Authorities and the private business sector. With the assistance of GTZ, BASSEL has elaborated in the last year the Branch Development Strategy of the Bulgarian Electrical Engineering, and also, the recently put forward to the Parliament draft of the Law for the Branch Organizations.;
- Prepares annual analysises of the state and the tendencies in the branch, publishes informative and advertising materials on technological, manufacturing opportunities and human resources of the companies. BASSEL keeps the Bulgarian electrical engineering society au courant on important branch issues, trends, tenders etc. and publishes two electronic bulletins weekly, respectively maintains a currently updated web-site.;
- Takes part in several projects for establishment of independent testing laboratories for product certification, incl. in collaboration with VDE and assists the public and state authorities in implementing the European technical legislation.;
- Organizes participation of companies and maintains own stands at international fairs and exhibitions, incl. HANNOVER MESSE, LIGHT & BUILDING (Frankfurt), INTEL (Milan) and at national exhibitions and fairs, as ELTECH (Sofia), PLOVDIV FAIR etc.;
The Chamber maintains a staff of six experts full time and almost 20 specialists part time. We also count on volunteers. The budget of the Chamber is formed in the last two years about 50% from membership fees and 50% from own activities. For the latter, the Chamber offers a Catalogue of Services.
As adequate expertise and financial resources have been accumulated in the Chamber and since it enjoys considerable public respect and confidence, additional structures within the Chamber as the Automotive Parts Manufactures Association, the Cable Association and the Building Automation Association have been initiated recently.
BASSEL is managed by an elected Board of Managers and a President-elect and calls an annual general meeting which endorses the budget and amendments to the Statutes and authorizes the mandate of the Board of Managers.
BASSEL is an active partner of the Ministry of Economy, the Executive Agency for the Promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises, the State Agency for Metrology and Technical Surveillance, the Executive Agency "Bulgarian Accreditation Service", the Bulgarian Investment Agency, the Bulgarian Industrial Association, the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and many other national institutions.
In the end, it could be summarized that BASSEL acts as a service structure to the branch and continuously expands its activity in that direction.
BASSEL is a memeber of ORGALIME