According to a provision proposed by the Ministry of Finance in the Excise Duties and Tax Warehouses Act, the Director of the Customs Agency may, acting alone, request the removal of entire websites on the grounds that they offer products with “characteristics of excise goods”.
The Ministry of Finance (MF) is creating a mechanism to arbitrarily take down entire websites through amendments to the Excise Duties and Tax Warehouses Act. Under Section 37 of the bill to amend and supplement the Excise Duties and Tax Warehouses Act (EDTWA), the MF has introduced a new provision to combat the illegal buying and selling of excise goods online. It would result in the blocking of entire websites if their administrators fail to remove content specified by the Customs Agency within 24 hours. The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) contends that the draft bill contains serious systemic flaws which contravene the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria, the European Convention on Human Rights, and European Union law.
Among its chief problems, the proposal uses vague and ambiguous terms like “characteristics of excise goods”, allowing for arbitrariness in its administration. That hosting providers should remove content within 24 hours and websites or profiles could be shut down for a period of no less than one month are disproportionate measures threatening fundamental rights, such as freedom of expression, the right of defence, and the freedom to conduct a business.
Thus, if a web user offers goods which the Director of the Customs Agency or someone so authorised believe to exhibit “characteristics” that would indicate they are subject to excise duty, they may submit a request to the Head of the Sofia District Court to order all internet service providers and telecommunications operators to block access to the websites in question for a period of 1 to 3 months. Absurd as it may sound, in practice such content could serve as grounds for removing access to large-scale platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
The BHC emphasises that these kinds of measures will always lead to inevitable “collateral damage” on lawful content and infringe upon the rights of third parties, which is in conflict with the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. Furthermore, the provision contravenes the EU Digital Services Act, which expressly prohibits any general obligation to monitor and filter content.
Section 37 should be rejected in its entirety, and the mechanisms for combating illegal online commerce must comply with both Bulgarian constitutional standards and the standards of EU law.
