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A task force from the Center for the Study of
Democracy researched the legal aspects of electronic commerce and
electronic signatures, and drafted the Law
on Electronic Document and Electronic Signature. The draft law
has been elaborated through a number of consultations and
discussions held with representatives of the stakeholders, lawyers
and IT experts. The initial research outcome on foreign legislation
and the current version of the Draft Law on Electronic Document and
Electronic Signature were published in April 2000 in a collection
"Electronic Document and Electronic Signature - Legal Aspects". The
Law, adopted by the National Assembly on March 22, 2001 (SG
34/06.04.2001) takes into consideration most of the opinions,
suggestions and recommendations made by the stakeholders, and
Bulgarian and foreign experts. It apprehends a more liberal
regulation, expressed in the following:
- It envisages three types of electronic signature:
an ordinary electronic signature, an advanced
electronic signature and a universal electronic signature.
The legal effect of the electronic signature between its owner and
the addressee is acknowledged, unless the owner or the addressee of
an electronic statement is the State, a state entity or a local
self-government authority. Only the universal electronic signature
has the effect of a handwritten signature in respect of all.
- The choice of the electronic signature type among
persons in the private sector is entirely left to the parties.
Registration at the State Telecommunications Commission is needed
only for those certification-service providers, offering services
related to the universal electronic signature. Registration can be
refused only if the requirements as stipulated in the Law are not
met, and thus the envisaged regime is a regime of registration, not
of licensing. Simultaneously, the draft law provides an opportunity
for the Council of Ministers to define state entities that can use
other type of electronic signature among them.
- The State Telecommunications Commission carries out
a general supervision on the activities of the
certification-service-providers regarding the trustworthiness and
security of the services they offer.
- The Law on Electronic Document and Electronic
Signature refers to the data protection legislation. It also
includes concrete provisions allowing the
certification-service-providers to collect personal data about the
signatory and the owner of the signature only as far as the data is
needed for the issuance and use of the certificate. Data about
third persons can be collected only with the explicit consent of
the person concerned.
The adopted Law perceives a relatively liberal
regulation model, close to the one approved in a number of foreign
acts and corresponding to the general principles and requirements,
set up in the European Directive on a Community framework for
electronic signatures.
The text of the Law is available on CSD Law Program
web site.
The Law with comments will be published in a second
and updated version of the Collection 'Electronic Document and
Electronic Signature - Legal Aspects', which will include the
newly enacted foreign acts, Directive of the European Parliament
and of the Council on certain legal aspects of information society
services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market
(Directive on electronic commerce), in force since 17 July, 2000
and others.
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