About

Prof. Dr. George Dimitrov

Prof. Dr. George Dimitrov is a managing partner of Dimitrov, Petrov & Co. Law Firm and head of its Information and Communication Technologies Law Practice Group. George Dimitrov is the first in Bulgaria to receive the academic title “Professor of Law and Information Technologies” and is a lecturer of ICT Law at all premier universities and educational institutions in Bulgaria – the University of Library Studies and Information Technologies, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Technical University of Sofia, the University of National and World Economy, “St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo”, and the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. He holds a PhD degree from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium and has specialized at the Academy of American and International Law, Dallas, TX, USA.

Being a Chairman of the Center for Law of the Information and Communication Technologies in Bulgaria (CLICT), Prof. Dr. Dimitrov has been the leading expert and head of numerous working groups that have drafted the contemporary Bulgarian ICT legislation, inter alia, the Electronic Commerce Act, the Electronic Governance Act, the Electronic Communications Act, the Commercial Register Act, the last amendments of the Electronic Communications Act, the amendments of the E-documents and E-signatures Act and the secondary legislation on its implementation, the cyber-crimes section of the Criminal Code, and many other acts of primary and secondary legislation. Since 2009 he is an expert at the Advisory Council on Electronic Communications, Postal Services, Information Society and Electronic Governance at the Ministry of Transport, Information Technologies and Communications as well as at the Transport, Information Technologies and Communications Committee, the Internal Security and Public Order Committee and the Healthcare Committee at the National Assembly.

For number of years he has trained attorneys, magistrates, in-house lawyers and state officials in the legal aspects of e-commerce, e-government, e-justice, e-healthcare, e-finance and cybercrimes and has authored a number of books, handbooks, articles and commentaries in the area of ICT law.

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Desislava Krusteva

Ms. Desislava Krusteva is a partner at Dimitrov, Petrov & Co. Law Firm and she is currently heading the Privacy & Data Protection Practice Group at the law firm. She is a senior legal expert at the Law and Internet Foundation.

Ms. Krusteva regularly advises large multinational and domestic companies on complex information management and privacy issues, advanced technological and cross-border projects from consultations on the very development of their business model to their launch and day-to-day implementation. Her representative experience includes consultation on ICT matters of companies like Google (including YouTube), Fox Networks Group, Cash Credit EAD, Jobs.BG, NetInfo, leading international pharmaceutical companies.

She covers a wide range of legal matters in the area of ICT law, including privacy and data protection, information security and other special regimes of information, e-Commerce, e-Payments and e-Financial services, e-Healthcare, e-Government, e-Identification, e-Signatures and telecommunications. Desislava Krusteva has actively participated in drafting numerous legislative and secondary normative acts on e-Governance, re-use of public sector information, e-Documents and e-Signatures, e-Communications, etc. Author of numerous reports and publications and legal expert in a large number of projects on the implementation of the European Union legal framework.

Ms. Kristeva is actively involved in drafting legislative and secondary normative acts such as the Act for Amendment and Supplement to the Access to Public Information Act, the Act for Amendment and Supplement of the Electronic Document and Electronic Signature Act, and the secondary normative acts on the implementation of the e-Government Act (2006-2008), the e-Communications Act and the secondary acts for its implementation (2005-2008), the normative acts related to the unified vision of the state administration (2008), the secondary legislation acts of the Personal Data Protection Act and the method of its implementation (2014) and others.

Ms. Krusteva is a regular speaker at conferences, trainings and lectures on e-Government and personal data protection issues. She is a guest lecturer at the most prestigious Bulgarian universities – the Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, the University of National and World Economy. In 2015 she teached „Electronic Payments and Electronic Banking“ at the University of Library Studies and Information Technologies .

She is a member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) and a Certified Information Privacy Professional Europe (CIPP/E) by the latter.

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Gavrail Poterov

Gavrail Poterov joined Dimitrov, Petrov & Co. Law Firm in 2016 after practicing on the territory of Germany. He has previously worked at the German Bundestag, various law firms and media companies.

His practice focuses on intellectual and industrial property law, telecommunications law, media law, information and communication technologies law (ICT) and personal data protection.

Gavrail Poterov mostly deals with advice of clients on issues related to personal data protection, e-commerce, advertising, telecommunications and new media. His expertise has allowed him to work for clients such as Google, Fox Networks Group Bulgaria EOOD, Telenor Bulgaria EAD, Jobs.BG EOOD.

He is a Certified Information Privacy Professional Europe (CIPP/E) by the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP).

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Svilena Rakshieva

Ms. Svilena Rakshieva joined Dimitrov, Petrov & Co. Law Firm in 2014. Her practice focuses on information and communication technologies (ICT) law, immigration law, competition law, EU law.

She has previously worked at the competition team of Linklaters LLP in Brussels, Belgium. Before that, she has gained valuable experience working as a legal intern with the European Commission, Directorate General for Competition. She also collaborated with the Legal counsellor of the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.

Ms. Svilena Rakshieva mostly deals with research and advice on issues related to personal data protection, the use of electronic documents and electronic signatures, e-Commerce and telecommunications matters. Her expertise has allowed her to work for clients such as Google, UTI Grupa Bulgaria EOOD, FOX International Channels Bulgaria EOOD, Telenor Bulgaria EAD, Corporate Commercial Bank AD (in insolvency), Jobs.bg EOOD, Mareshki Group of Companies, Zepter Bulgaria EOOD.

She is actively involved in publications of books and articles with a particular focus on the legal, administrative and technical aspect of the ICT legal framework, as well as on the growth in the usage of electronic certification services on national level and across Europe.

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Martin Zahariev, PhD

Martin Zahariev, PhD, joined the team of Dimitrov, Petrov & Co. Law Firm in 2012. He is a Trade Mark and Design Attorney at the Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria, as well as a European Trade Mark and Design Attorney. Martin Zahariev specializes in privacy, intellectual property litigation, domain names disputes and arbitration.

Martin Zahariev received many awards from international law competitions, including Europeaus and Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot.

Martin Zahariev has an educational and scientific degree „doctor“ in the professional field of „Public Communications and Information Sciences“ at the University of Library and Information Technology (ULSIT), Sofia. His doctoral dissertation is entitled „Organization and management of automated profiling in the context of personal data protection“.

University lecturer at the ULSIT in the disciplines Regime of Information and Basics of Law. Guest lecturer on the topic of personal data protection regime at Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, the American University in Bulgaria and the Technical University of Sofia.

His representative experience includes consultation of companies like Şişecam Group, the venture capital fund NEVEQ II, Google, Fox Networks Group Bulgaria EOOD, Jobs.BG EOOD, some of the leading international pharmaceutical companies.

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