How The Bulgarian Trade Registry Discloses Personal Data On The Internet

This article was originally published in the schoenherr roadmap`10 - if you would like to receive a complimentary copy of this publication, please visit: http://www.schoenherr.eu/roadmap.

A new Bulgarian Trade Registry Act¹ (the Act) was enacted on 1 January 2008. The Act was drafted to meet the needs for a more transparent and flexible system for the registration of new companies in Bulgaria, as well as the registration of all existing companies in the new on-line Trade Registry. But does it violate data protection principles?

Introduction

The Trade Registry is organised and controlled by the Registry Agency. It was planned and (after elimination of all initial organisational difficulties) works as a unified data base, storing data of all companies in Bulgaria and their commercial details, which are publicly accessible and centralised.