Amendments to the Electronic Government Act were announced at the end of February. The latter provides the establishment of a Ministry of e-Government. The functions that the newly created ministry will perform previously were the responsibility of the Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications, which following the legislative change became the Ministry of Transport and Communications. In addition, the State Agency for Electronic Government was being closed down.
The Minister of e-Government is a body for the implementation of e-government policy, and who will conduct state policy in the field of e-government and information society and information technology in interaction with other executive bodies. The specific powers that will be exercised by the Minister of e-Government are the following:
- to develop and submit for adoption by the Council of Ministers a Strategy for the Development of Electronic Government and strategies in the field of information technologies and the information society and to ensure their implementation;
- to implement projects relevant to all administrations in the field of e-government, information technology and information society;
- to prepare drafts of international agreements to which Bulgaria is a party in the field of e-government, information technologies and the information society and to ensure the implementation of international agreements in these areas;
- to ensure the implementation of the commitments of Bulgaria in the field of e-government, information technology and information society related to its membership in the European Union and international organizations, including representing the Republic of Bulgaria in international organizations in the field of e-government, information technology and the information society;
- to support the development and implementation of standards and standardization documents related to the-government, information technology and the information society;
- to participate in the work of the international organizations for standardization and in the technical committees for standardization in the Republic of Bulgaria, related to the e-government, the information technologies and the information society;
- to approve investment programs and projects in accordance with the priorities in the field of e-government, information technologies and the information society;
- to carry out interdepartmental coordination in the preparation and submission of the draft normative acts of the Council of Ministers in the field of e-government, information technologies and the information society;
- as well as to exercise other powers provided for in the Electronic Government Act or in other normative acts.