Digital economy, development of digital single market and “the skills of the future” are one of the four priority spheres during the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. We often talk about a deficit of developed innovative start-up companies in Europe. In fact, the moment they grow, they usually move somewhere else, usually in the USA, like Skype for instance. We cannot keep these companies in Europe due to the lack of a single regulatory framework which would allow them to develop freely, the Minister for the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU Lilyana Pavlova, who opened the conference GDPR Sofia, said. The forum was dedicated to the enforcement of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) described as the biggest reform in the field of protection of personal information in the past two decades. The event is organized by the Digital National Alliance in partnership with the State E-Government Agency and many other institutions at state and local level.

“Data protection is closely connected with one of the most difficult to make legislative packages - the regulation for protection of electronic data, Minister Lilyana Pavlova pointed out. Hopefully our efforts will result in the adoption of a legal framework in 2018 that would allow the business to work better in Europe. According to a sociological survey, 80% of the European consumers are not sure whether their personal data is well-protected. That is why, the new legislation has to assure consumers that their personal data is protected and fill the business with more confidence. The people who create this legislation are the ones who can build trust.”

According to EU Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Mariya Gabriel, confidence towards digital environment as a whole is most important. In her words, on May 25 this year the national laws in all 28 EU member states will be replaced by a general legal framework. “Our task is to encourage the small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as other companies, to prepare for the change that will be made by the new General Data Protection Regulation in four months”, Commissioner Gabriel told the participants of the conference in a video address and added:

“Data protection rules in the EU are changed and updated due to the General Data Protection Regulation. Thus, Europe is getting ready for the digital era. This is a key instrument used to build confidence and provide equal conditions to all companies on the EU market, which means new opportunities for business and innovations. The companies will have easier access to the market of the whole European Union, because the national law in the 28 member states will be replaced by a clear legislative framework. The General Data Protection Regulation does not lead to any revolutionary change. It is a continuation of the approach related to data protection developed in the course of twenty years. The European Commission is working in close cooperation with the EU member states to help them adapt easier and change the current legislation. The working group, which unites all national authorities for data protection at EU level, has already provided guidelines to help the companies implement the new legislation.”

The ambitious programme of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union aims at completing reforms in several sectors related to the protection of electronic data - copyright, adoption of the electronic code BEREC, regulation on free flow of non-personal data. Our goal is to complete the Digital Single Portal which would make administrative requirements in different member states accessible to every business, Minister Pavlova specified.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov