site.btaUser Traffic Data Protection Bill Introduced by Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria

User traffic data will be stored by telecoms and other Internet Service Providers in encrypted form and only a court will be able to decrypt them if needed for the investigation and prevention of serious crimes. This is envisaged in a bill amending the Electronic Communications Act introduced in the National Assembly by Bozhidar Bozhanov and a group of MPs of Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria, the party said on Wednesday.

The amendments will prevent the information from being used for profiling and surveillance, while at the same time its legitimate use in investigating serious crimes will not be hampered.

Bozhanov said the amendments were prompted by a judgment of the European Court of Justice of November 17, 2022, which declared the Bulgarian law contrary to EU law. According to the court, indiscriminate retention of traffic and location data can be used to draw precise conclusions about people's private lives. Furthermore, the judges criticized the lack of a provision to inform persons whose data had been accessed. 

The proposed amendments to the Electronic Communications Act also provide for the notification of persons whose traffic data have been requested, once the need for them has ceased (when a crime has been prevented, pre-trial proceedings have been terminated, etc.). "It is important to know when the investigating authorities use our traffic data even when they do so with the permission of the court," Bozhanov said.

The MPs also propose a reform of the records storing the requests for provision of traffic data. At present, requests to the court are kept in paper form at the local level, which does not ensure traceability, accountability and adequate control of the process.