Update January 2000: Bulgaria

In 1998 the Information Society (IS) turned into one of the most important items on the political agenda of Bulgaria. On February 17, the Council of Ministers adopted Decree No.40 on the establishment of a Co-ordination Council on Information Society. The basic task of the Co-ordination Council is to assist the Council of Ministers in defining the national information policy and to organise the development of the project "Strategy and National Program for Information Society Development in the Republic of Bulgaria.

The project for the Strategy of Development of the IS in the Republic of Bulgaria was prepared by the Bulgarian Institute of Legal Development in accordance with the Resolution, dated 29 April 1998, of the Co-ordination Council on IS. In the elaboration of the strategy, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the Bulgarian Telecommunication Company, the Association for the Development of the Information Society and the National Chamber for Business Development were involved. In December 1999 a new Ministry of Telecommunications and Transport was established. The new Ministry will be the main public administrative body implementing the sector policy on Information Society. The National strategy for IS Development and the National Programme for IS Development was approved by the Bulgarian Government in October 1999.

IS structures

• The Co-ordination Council on Information Society at the Council of Ministers was established in 1998. Its main functions are to design strategies and aid the implementation of adopted policies related to the development of IS in the country in close interaction with the different units of the central and local public administrations.
  
• The Ministry of Telecommunications and Transport implements the Telecommunications policy on the basis of the present Law and the Sector policy adopted by the Council of Ministers. The policies involved are implemented in areas such as restructuring the sector; research and development in Telecommunications and development of the Information Society.
  
• The State Commission for Telecommunications is a state authority - a collective body consisting of five members, including a Chairman and his Deputy, all of them appointed by the Prime Minister with a seven-year term of office. The Committee has a full range of regulatory functions that are separated from Telecommunications policy, as well as public ownership functions.
  
• The Bulgarian Information Industry Association (BIIA) is a non-profit association of public and private companies and organisations with common professional interests for promoting the development of the information market in the country.
  
• The Bulgarian Association of Information Technologies (BAIT) is an independent association (48 full and 11 associate members), established in April 1995. The BAIT’s aims are: development of information technologies in this country; protection of common branch interests; establishment of loyal business relations with the Bulgarian computer market; assistance of the state bodies in the establishment of normative acts, instructions and resolutions referring to the development of the computer branch; assistance in the development of computer literacy in education institutions.
  
• The Bulgarian Institute for Legal development (BILD) is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation. BILD supports the improvement of the legal sector in Bulgaria and performs activities that promote the rule of law in Bulgaria. The institute is specialised in the field of information law. BILD focuses its efforts upon pending issues like legal standards in the information exchange, data protection, freedom of information, legal tools for guaranteeing the right of information and other related issues.
  
• The Association for the Development of the Information Society is an independent, non-governmental, non-profit organisation, established in 1997. The objective of the association is to promote and support the development of the Information Society in Bulgaria and in the Balkans as a part of the global Information Society.
  
• The National Centre of Distance Education (NCDE) is an independent non-profit organisation with its own Articles of Association. It was founded in 1994 in compliance with the Bulgarian legislation. The founding of NCDE is connected with the participation of the country in the Phare Multi-Country Programme for Distance Education together with 10 other countries from Central and Eastern Europe. NCDE is a national sub-contractor of the ESIS II EU programme which began in 1999. NCDE is a consortium of 20 Bulgarian universities and three national institutions, their common goal being the development of distance education in Bulgaria.
  
• The Bulgarian Internet Association (BAI) is a civil non-profit organisation. It is a professional organisation of 19 Bulgarian Internet providers. The main goals of the organisation are: to assist the development of beneficial conditions for quality Internet services in Bulgaria; to assist the business and to protect the interests of all Bulgarian Internet providers; to popularise Internet based services in Bulgaria; to co-operate with governmental, non-governmental and public organisations in achieving the goals of BAI; to develop relationships with other national and international Internet organisations; to develop qualification and training programmes and to organise and participate in various activities devoted to the Internet.
  
• The company of Mobiltel (M-Tel Net Ltd.) is one of the biggest ISPs in Bulgaria, established in 1999. The company is oriented toward providing services for corporate clients as well as individuals. As a company of Bulgarian GSM operator Mobiltel offers its services in most of the Bulgarian cities. It offers a complete line of high-quality, high-performance Internet, Intranet and Extranet solutions enabling customers to increase productivity and profitability through Internet technology.
  
• IDG.BG is a subsidiary of the International data group (IDG). The company publishes the following IS newspapers and journals: Computer World, PC World, Network World, Information Technologies in banking, Marketing and Advertising, Accounting and Computers, Bulgarian software catalogue and CAD/CAM World.
  
• The New Technik Publishing Ltd. (New Tech) is a German-Bulgarian publishing house with the German co-operation of WEKA Verlag AG, Germany. It is specialised in publishing technical issues mostly in the field of computer technologies. New Technik Publishing Ltd. is a publisher of "Computer Magazine" (first Bulgarian magazine for computer technique and information technologies) and "Who is Who on the Bulgarian Computer Market" (first Bulgarian catalogue of companies working in the field of IT).