Sofia Regional Court, Decision № -/2013 (administrative trial case № 8308/2012), June 10, 2013

(1) Plaintiff sent internet users unsolicited bulk e-mail, commonly known as "spam," to promote its internet business and  website. The recipients of these unsollicited communications filled complaints with the Consumer Protection Commission (CPC) under Art.6 (3) Law on Electronic Commerce (LEC) against the website, without knowing the identity of the website owner.The CPC found that the domain eroticnetwork.bg is registered by a physical person who is also enlisted as an administrative and technical contact person.

(2) The plaintiff claimed that he is not to be considered as an ISP, because he is a physical person and is not registered as a commercial entity under the Commercial Act.

(3) The court considered Article 13 (1) of LEC stating that: “Upon providing access to or transmission trough electronic communication network the service provider shall not be liable for the content of the information transmitted and for the activities of the recipient of the service, if the provider: 1. does not initiate the transmission of the information; 2. does not select the receiver of the information transmitted, and 3. does not select or modify the transmitted information.” The court also considered Article 3(1) of LEC under which “Internet Service provider shall be any natural or legal person that provides services for the information society." The act of registering a domain and giving access to it to users by providing them with username and password for the website, the Court stated, represented such a service. The court also found that the plaintiff is the registrant and administrator (the one providing passwords and access to users) to the domain in question - eroticnetwork.bg.

(4) Based upon this the court has found that the plaintiff should be considered  as an ISP, which violated the Art.6 (4) of LEC and Art.6 (3) of LEC for sending unsollicited communications.