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The Dutch-based holding United Group continues the consolidation of the local market by closing a couple of new deals for the acquisition of some of the major regional telecom operators. This comes shortly after the January transaction approved by the competition watchdog for the acquisition of one of the leading media service providers Нова Броудкастинг Груп (Nova Broadcasting Group) (see IRIS 2021-3/19). By Decision № АКТ-402-15.04.2021 of Комисия за защита на конкуренцията (the Commission for Protection of Competition – CPC), the competition regulator approved the acquisition of the...

On 19 March 2021 a new Закон за предоставяне на цифрово съдържание и цифрови услуги и за продажба на стоки (Supply of Digital Content and Digital Services and Sale of Goods Act – the Act) was promulgated in Държавен вестник (State Gazette). With this, Bulgaria has transposed two EU directives: 1) Directive 2019/770 on digital content and digital services; and 2) Directive 2019/771 on certain aspects concerning contracts for the sale of goods. The Parliament has adopted a rather strange approach where both directives are transposed in a single legal act. At the same time, multiple amendments...

In the two judgments of 16 February 2021 the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has highlighted the positive obligations of the member states to combat hate speech (see also Beizaras and Levickas v. Lithuania, IRIS 2020-3/21). The ECtHR found that incitement to hatred, violence and discrimination cannot rely on the protection of freedom of expression when the offensive expressions clearly harm the privacy rights of the victims of hate speech, in casu Roma and Jews. The member states have a duty under Article 8 in combination with Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)...

By adopting Decision No. АКТ-37-14.01.2021 of Комисия за защита на конкуренцията (the Commission for Protection of Competition, CPC), the local competition regulator has unconditionally approved the acquisition of the Bulgarian media company Нова Броудкастинг Груп (Nova Broadcasting Group) and its subsidiaries by the Dutch-based telecommunications and media company United Group. Nova Broadcasting Group is one of the leading media service providers on the market. It owns 10 TV channels, including one of the national TV channels – Нова телевизия (Nova TV) –, as well as four radio...

On 22 December 2020, a new Act for amendment and supplement to Закон за радиото и телевизията (the Radio and Television Act - RTA) was promulgated in Държавен вестник (State Gazette) and entered into force on the same day. By way of this Act, Bulgaria has transposed Directive (EU) 2018/1808 (AVMSD/Directive) shortly after the infringement procedure opened by the Commission against Bulgaria and other countries. Video-sharing platform services One of the main novelties concerns the regulation of video-sharing platform services and providers within the meaning of the AVMSD. From now on, video-sharing...