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In March 2009 important amendments to the Electronic Communications Act (ECA) became effective. Some of the changes concern the process of digitalisation, while the remainder concern the licensing of analogue television. As a result of the changes the Council for Electronic Media (CEM) is no longer responsible for granting permits for analogue TV broadcasting and its powers have been transferred to the telecommunications regulator, Communications Regulation Commission (CRC), which is a political state body. Para 5 item 2 of the Transitional and Final Provisions of ECA states that: “Until new...

On 24 February 2009, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) made public its latest reports on Bulgaria, Hungary and Norway, adopted in the fourth round of its monitoring of the laws, policies and practices to combat racism in the Member States of the Council of Europe (for commentary on earlier reports, see IRIS 2008-4: 6, IRIS 2006-6: 4 and IRIS 2005-7: 3). In respect of Bulgaria, ECRI encourages the State authorities to “make the media aware, without undermining their editorial independence, of the need to ensure that the information they provide does not help to breed...

The current Copyright and Related Rights Act (Закон за авторското право и сродните му права - ЗАПСП) in Bulgaria came in force in 1993. Up to now it has been amended more than ten times with the purpose to harmonise it with the recent European and international acts in the field of copyright protection. It has been many times evaluated by international experts who state that, although there are some problems with the implementation of the law in Bulgaria, the ЗАПСП is a modern European act. However, the Bulgarian Copyright Act has some specifics which distinguish it from the most European copyright...

The Act on the Amendment and Supplementation of the Radio and TV Act was promulgated on 20 February 2009 in the State Gazette, issue 14 (“New Law”). The New Law sets out the main principles and rules for digital TV broadcasting in Bulgaria. According to the New Law the Council for Electronic Media (CEM) is empowered to grant licenses for broadcasting regional and national TV and radio programmes. The applications for such licenses should be reviewed and evaluated on the basis of the following criteria: 1. The original content and variety of the programming; 2. The opportunities for the creation...

On 7 January 2009 the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State Agency for Information Technology and Communications adopted the Ordinance No 40 on Data Types and the Terms and Conditions for Retention and Dissemination of Data by the Enterprises Providing Public Electronic Networks and/or Services for the Purposes of National Security and Criminal Investigations (“the Ordinance”). The legal basis for this is Directive 2006/24/ЕC on data retention amending Article 251 of the Bulgarian Electronic Communications Act. Article 5 para. 1 of the Ordinance reads as follows: „For the purposes of criminal...