The significance of the harmonisation of legislation of the associated countries of Central and Eastern Europe (ACCEE) with the legislation of the European Community (EC) was already underlined by the European Council in Copenhagen (21-22 July 1993). The approximation of the Bulgarian legislation with that of the EC is one of the fundamental tasks of the strategy for the preparation of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe to join the Union, adopted at the meeting of the European Council in Essen on 9-10 December 1994.