es. PromotionPromotion facilities for the office furniture industry in Belgium are assisted by a number of organizations. The Division of Office Furniture of the Belgian Chamber of Data Processing, whose members are both manufacturers and importers of office furniture, constitutes a major source of information. The Chamber used to organize the annual trade fair "Buro" which dealt with all aspects of the office, including office furniture.However, as the fair lost its major sponsors, it has been definitely abandoned. The Chamber is currently working on the establishment of a new kind of annual fair. Although the European Federation of Office Furniture, which regroups European manufacturers of office furniture, is mainly concerned with the coordination of European standards, it is also a useful forum for trade information and contacts. Finally, Fabrimetal and Fabelbois are federations which respectively deal in the specific sectors of metal and wooden office furniture. Showroom facilities are an important means of office furniture promotion in Belgium. The Buro & Design Center is a trade mark specialized in the wholesale of a variety of office related equipment in which office furniture manufacturers have showrooms. There exist no special publications in Belgium on the market of office furniture but magazines which deal with furniture in general sometimes handle the subject of office furniture. PricePrice is an important element in the purchase of office furniture in Belgium. While the public sector will usually award bidding contracts to the lowest bidders, the private sector will usually pay a relatively higher price if the relation between quality and price is justified. Belgium is a very open and easily accessible market. The import duties imposed on general metal or wooden office furniture are less than 3%, and the VAT is 21%. BEST MARKET PROSPECTS AND RECOMMENDED MARKET APPROACH FOR BULGARIAN FIRMS Since the outlook for the facility...
