Tax inspectors are currently carrying out checks at "probably 500-600-700 companies in the country", Finance Minister Assen Vassilev said, denying media reports that the checks at a large Austrian food chain and an Austrian petrol station were linked to the call by Bulgarian business representatives for a boycott of Austrian goods because of Vienna's decision on Bulgaria's accession to the Schengen area. "The checks were carried out under the regulation on the declaration of goods with a high fiscal risk," Assen Vassilev said. 

Vassilev explained that at Vienna's request, special checks were being carried out on goods to and from Austria at the external borders, and that the checks themselves were taking longer, which had caused some tension.