Newsletter September 2019
The Electronic Communications Networks and Physical Infrastructure Act (ECNPI) was promulgated at the beginning of March 2018. This Law regulates public relations connected to the deployment, use, maintenance and development of electronic communications networks; providing access to and use of existing physical infrastructure; the rights and obligations of network operators, contractors, property owners, persons who manage or use real estate and tenants.
The ECNPI introduced the notion “Single Information Point (SIP)”, which is an electronic platform, integrating and systematizing information on the procedures and regulations governing the deployment and maintenance of infrastructure, including the authorities competent to issue acts in this field and their respective fees. There is guaranteed access to all available sample documents for obtaining permits and other infrastructure-related acts. This Act outlines the conditions for the completion and submission by electronic means of applications and documents necessary for the deployment and maintenance of electronic communications networks and physical infrastructure, as well as for receiving information on the progress of their review by the competent authorities.
The conditions for granting access to the information contained in the SIP are governed by the Ordinance on data formats and the terms and conditions for submitting access to information in the Single Information Point (hereinafter Ordinance), which was published in the middle of September in the Bulgarian State Gazette. The purpose of the Ordinance is to regulate the order and manner of providing information from and to the SIP. The latter was created as a geographical information system, however, it is necessary to establish specific technical rules that will make possible the effective implementation of Art. 4 of the ECNPI and will lead to the achievement of the objectives set out therein for efficient and easy access to information regarding physical infrastructure. This will create conditions for accelerated deployment of high-speed electronic communications networks, reduction of investment costs, provision of effective control, respectively, increasingly satisfying the needs of users of modern and diverse electronic communications services.