Bulgaria's Consumer Protection Commission is suing private nurseries and schools over unfair terms in their contracts with parents. The commission says the case is meant to protect parents' collective rights, and the defendants are the traders who broke the rules.

The check began after parents complained. Inspectors reviewed 1,120 clauses in the standard contracts and terms of 25 companies and found 63 of them unfair.

Under some of the clauses, a school can keep a child's deposit and any unused monthly fees if a parent pulls the child out without giving a month's written notice. Fees already paid aren't refunded either, no matter when a contract ends early.

Other clauses let a nursery or school raise its monthly fees partway through the school year, citing inflation and rising costs. They also let the school end the contract on its own, without notice, and in some cases parents still have to pay a penalty. One clause even renews the contract automatically for another year unless the parent sends written notice to cancel.

The list of companies checked came from the education ministry. The consumer commission asked all the firms for their contracts and paperwork, but eight still haven't handed them over and have now been sent a second notice.

The commission has ordered the companies that broke the rules to drop the unfair clauses. Some are being checked again because the traders never removed them. The commission says that when its orders are ignored, it takes the case to court.

Checks at private nurseries started in mid-August and ran through September.