The Commission for Personal Data Protection ('CPDP') issued, on 10 March 2023, a press release on the introduction of the whistleblowing protection system pursuant to the Whistleblower Protection and Public Disclosure Act, adopted by the National Assembly in January 2023. In particular, the CPDP clarified that, from the entry into force of the Act on 4 May 2023, public and private sector employees who are subject to Article 12(1) of the Act (with the exception of employers in the private sector who have between 50 and 249 employees) have an obligation to provide an internal whistleblowing reporting channel. To this end, the CPDP specified that, on 4 May 2023, the CPDP website will launch a functionality to generate a Unique Identification Number, which will be used by the officers responsible for handling reports within the obliged entities.

Separately, the CPDP outlined that, with regard to external reporting, the relevant system will be made available by the CPDP from 4 August 2023. In addition, the CPDP detailed that, by the same date, it shall adopt various rules and guidelines. In this regard, the CPDP highlighted that it had published on its website a road map which outlines the main stages of the introduction of the external reporting channel.

You can read the announcement here and the road map here, both only available in Bulgarian.