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Bulgaria’s Constitutional Court ruled on March 12 to declare provisions in the Electronic Communications Act Art.250а-251а mandating the bulk collection of telecommunications data as unconstitutional. The unconstitutional provisions required telecommunication service providers to save all traffic data for a period of one year, which can be extended by a further six months at the request of law enforcement. Additionally, the provisions also breached the constitutional rights of privacy and the freedom and confidentiality of correspondence and all other communications.

(1) Under the LCNR and the Criminal Code (CC), it is illegal to “upload (reproduction), distribute and make available (broadcast), transmits infringing content” on the Internet. Article 172а (1) of the Criminal Code states that “every person who uploads (reproduces), distributes and makes available infringing content or transmits, or makes any other use of the object of a copyright or neighboring right without the consent of the rightholder as required by law, shall be punished by up to five years imprisonment and a fine up to BGN 5,000”. The LCNR in § 2 (3-5) defines the terms “upload (reproduction)”, “distribute” and “make available (broadcasting)”. Both the Internet providers hosting the infringing materials and the end users who upload (reproduce) may be held liable under this provision because the law does not...

There is a contradiction between the applicable Rules of CIvil Procedure and the Law on Copyright and Neighboring Rights (LCNR), which requires a pending civil proceeding to be initiated before identification of infringers may be requested. In contrast, rules of civil procedure do not allow a court to open the civil case without the identification of the defendant at least by name. This means that while Bulgarian law implements the right of information provided by Article 8(1) of the EU Enforcement Directive, its exercise is hindered by civil procedure rules.

(1) According to this Act, personal data shall be considered any information related to a natural person that has been identified or can be identified directly or indirectly through an identification number or through one or more specific indications. The Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) generally implements the provisions of EU Directive 95/46 (the Data Protection Directive). Special regulations are provided in the Law on Electronic Communications (see above). (2) All the administrators or controllers of personal data are obliged to register as such with the Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC). However, the administrator may commence processing once the application is filed (i.e., prior to the actual registration). (3) The PDPA provides that the collected data may be processed only in certain cases and for...

(1) The liability of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) is regulated by the Law on Electronic Commerce. The law is implementing the Directive 2000/31/EC (E-Commerce Directive) on electronic commerce regarding ISP liability.&nbsp (2) The provisions of this act aim mainly to limit the liability of ISPs by explicitly determining the cases where an ISP might not be held liable, which differ depending on the type of services provided (i.e, hosting, linking, safekeeping in cache memory, etc). Further, the lack of a general monitoring obligation on ISPs is also stated as a principle, providing that the ISP is obliged neither to monitor the information which it stores, transmits or makes accessible in the process of provision of information society services, nor to look for facts or circumstances indicating illegal activity. (3...