On May 18, 2012 in the town of Kardzhali, AIP held a training with journalists on how to use public registers and on public bodies obligations for active publication of information. Local media journalists from the towns of Kardzhali, Smolyan, and Haskovo took part. The training was the fourth out of 7 planned in the country. The first was held in in Kyustendil on March 16, 2012, the second - in Vratsa on March 30, and the third in Plovdiv - on April 20. The next will be held in the towns of Veliko Tarnovo (June 29), Sliven (July 13) and Shumen (July 20).



The Access to Information Programme team performed an audit on the institutional web sites within 23.01 – 16.03, 2012. The purpose was to evaluate the legal obligations under the Access to Public Information Act (APIA) and other laws for online publication of information. AIP reviewed and evaluated 474 web sites of 487 executive bodies at a central, regional, and local level. 

On April 20, 2012 in the town of Plovdiv, AIP held a training with journalists on how to use public registers and on public bodies obligations for active publication of information. Local media journalists from the towns of Stara Zagora and Pazardzhik also took part. The training was the third out of 7 planned in the country. The first was held in in Kyustendil on March 16, 2012, the second - in Vratsa on March 30. The next will be held in the towns of Kardzhali (May 18), Veliko Tarnovo (June 29), Sliven (July 13) and Shumen (July 20). 

Mrs. Jouleva has delivered a brief analysis on the Bulgarian National Action Plan at the OGP annual meeting in Brasilia, Brazil based on the understanding that the right of access to information shall be the core principle endorsed by the Government as it is the basis for open and transparent governance. All countries participating to the Open Government Partnership have to submit a National Action Plan based on the set of five “grand challenges” articulated by the OGP. The Bulgarian concrete commitments and the Action plan are available on the OGP site here.       



On April 4, 2012, at a press conference at the Bulgarian News Agency, Access to Information Programme presented the 2012 Active Transparency Rating and the Public Registers Portal in Bulgaria.

The two surveys are made within the implementation of the project Civil Audit of Active Transparency of Government, supported by a grant from the Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe.

On March 30, 2012 in the Chamber of Commerce and Industry - town of Vratsa, AIP held a training with journalists on how to use public registers and on public bodies obligations for active publication of information. Local media journalists from Vidin, Pleven, and Montana also took part. The training was the second out of 7 planned in the country. The first was held in in Kyustendil on March 16, 2012. The next will be held in the towns of Plovdiv (April 20), Kardzhali (May 18), Veliko Tarnovo (June 29), Sliven (July 13) and Shumen (July 20). The trainings are held within the framework of the project Civil Audit of Active Transparency of Government (CAATOG) supported by a grant from the Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe.

On March 16, 2012 in Hotel Strimon Spa, the town of Kyustendil, AIP held a training with journalists on how to use public registers and on public bodies obligations for active publication. Local media journalists from Kyustendil, Pernik and Blagoevrgad took part. The training was the first out of 7 planned in the country - the next will be held in the towns of Vratsa (March 30), Plovdiv (April 20), Kardzhali (May 18), Veliko Tarnovo (June 29), Sliven (July 13) and Shumen (July 20).The trainings are held within the framework of the project Civil Audit of Active Transparency of Government (CAATOG) supported by a grant from the Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe.

With his order No. 1472 as of November 29, 2011 the Minister of Finance lowered the fees for providing public information under the Access to Public Information Act. The order determines lower fees for disclosure of information on CD – 0.50 BGN compare to the old price of 5 BGN. Reduced price is set up for providing the information on a floppy disk – 0.50 BGN compare to the old price of 1.20 BGN. The order provides for the possibility to obtain the information on a DVD. The price is 0.60 BGN per copy. The disclosure of information verbally or in electronic form (by e-mail) is free of charge. The amendments reflect the AIP recommendations to update and lower the charges stated several times in our annual reports on the access to information in Bulgaria. This order repeals order No. 10 of the Ministry of Finance from 10.01.2001. The new fees came into force on January 1, 2012.