Published on 13 June 2022

FOURTH SECTION

Application no. 30005/13 Valeri Stoyanov STOYANOV and Valentin Stoyanov TABAKOV against Bulgaria lodged on 13 April 2013 communicated on 25 May 2022

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

Both applicants are lawyers in private practice. They claim that the manner in which (a) the use of special means of surveillance and (b) the retention and subsequent acquisition of communications data are regulated in Bulgaria does not ensure proper protection against arbitrary or abusive secret surveillance or acquisition of communications data. They rely in those two respects on Articles 6, 8 and 13 of the Convention.

QUESTION TO THE PARTIES

Have there been breaches of the applicants’ rights under Article 8 of the Convention on account of the manner in which the use of special means of surveillance and the retention and subsequent acquisition of communications data are regulated in Bulgaria (see Ekimdzhiev and Others v. Bulgaria , no. 70078/12, §§ 247, 262-77, 291-359, 361, 371-84 and 394-421, 11 January 2022)?