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| Discussion forum: Application of Electronic Signatures in the Public Sphere: Initial Steps and Challenges
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 The use of electronic documents and electronic signatures in the public sphere was the main topic of the discussion forum, held on November 6, 2003 in Sofia. The event, organized jointly by the Center for the Study of Democracy and Applied Research and Communications Fund (ARC Fund), brought together representatives of governmental institutions, the business community, experts and media.
The participants got acquainted with the provision of certification services for universal electronic signatures and had the opportunity to discuss the legal and technological aspects of the use of electronic documents and electronic signatures in the relations within and between governmental authorities and between them and other persons.
 The moderator of the discussion Dr. Maria Yordanova, Director of CSD Law Program, introduced the activities of CSD and ARC Fund in the area of electronic communications. Talking about the contribution of CSD to the development of the legal framework for the use of electronic documents and electronic signatures, Dr. Yordanova presented the work of the CSD Task Force, which developed the Law on Electronic Document and Electronic Signature, in force since October 2001, and provided expert assistance to the development of the secondary legislation for its implementation. When describing the activities of ARC Fund she underlined the organization’s role for promoting the information society in Bulgaria and mentioned the variety of project the organization is currently implementing in this specific area.
The services related to the issuance of certificates for universal electronic signatures were presented by representatives of the first two certification service providers, registered by the Communications Regulation Commission, namely Information Services PLC and Bankservice Joint Stock Company.
 Mr. Dimitar Nikolov, Project Manager, Information Services PLC, explained the process of issuing certificates for universal electronic signatures and presented the types of certificates offered by the company. He briefed the participants on the recent experience of Information Services PLC in managing the electronic communications related to the processing of the results of the local elections held in October. For the first time in Bulgaria elections results were processed and communicated in electronic form by using universal electronic signatures. This was made on experimental basis parallel to the paper based processing of the results, but Mr. Nikolov expressed his hope that soon electronic means of communication will be used on a regular basis during elections campaigns.
  The provision of certification cervices by Bankservice Joint Stock Company was presented by the company’s Executive Director Mr. Liubomir Tsekov. Before his presentation the Managing Director of Bankservice Mr. Alexander Tsintsarski summarized the advantages of electronic communications and the role they play for facilitating business relations. Mr. Tsekov described the services offered by Bankservice in relation to universal electronic signatures and demonstrated the technological measures undertaken by the company in terms of ensuring the necessary level of security in the process of providing certification services.
 The use of universal electronic signatures in the relations between the Ministry of Finance and the Bulgarian National Bank were presented by Mr. Ivan Sariev, Director, Information Technologies Directorate, Ministry of Finance. He briefed the participants on the experience accumulated by the Ministry of Finance with the use of electronic communications and expressed his readiness to share this experience with the other governmental institutions. Concluding his presentation Mr. Sariev mentioned that the ministry is currently working on a project for introducing e-procurement based on the use of electronic signatures. In his opinion the project would increase the efficiency of the procurement procedures and would also have significant anti-corruption effect.
 The experience of the National Social Security Institute with the use of electronic documents and electronic signatures was presented by Mr. Marin Kalchev, Director of the Information Technologies Directorate of the Institute. In his presentation Mr. Kalchev summarized the practice of the Institute in terms of registering the labor contracts. According to him the results obtained show that primarily smaller companies have up to now used the option of submitting the necessary documents in electronic way. Mr. Kalchev also announced the recently launched new service of the Institute, allowing the individuals and legal entities to verify their social security status electronically.
 Mr. Kamen Spasov, Coordinator, Coordination Center for Information, Communication and Management Technologies with the Council of Ministers, presented the recently developed by the Center internal rules for accepting, issuing and storing electronic documents, signed with universal electronic signature. The rules were developed in order to serve as a model for the governmental authorities and their administrations, which are required by the law to adopt such internal rules when they start to use electronic documents and electronic signatures.
At the end of the event the members of the CSD Task Force, which drafted the Law on Electronic Document and Electronic Signature, received personal certificates for universal electronic signature, provided by Bankservice Joint Stock Company, in acknowledgement of their contribution to the development of the e-signature legislation.
Agenda of the forum
Media coverage
Law on Electronic Document and Electronic Signature
Basic principles of the Law on Electronic Document and Electronic Signature
Legal regulation of the E-commerse and Electronic Signature
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