Liability of Certification Service Providers: How the Providers of Certification Services Related to Electronic Signatures Could Manage Their Liabilities

In the era of rapidly developing information technologies, electronic communication between people has become a preferred method of communication. The e-signatures have become a widely used tool for ensuring secure communications. The providers of certification services related to e-signatures play a key role in this process. They create trust by issuing electronic certificates to support the e-signatures. Due to this fact the Directive 1999/93/EC introduces minimum liability regime that all member states must introduce in their national laws. The work analyzes carefully the Directive rules and criticizes the need for such an approach in an infant market, since it leads to erection of market barriers and suffocation of the market. To elaborate proofs of evidence, the book analyzes the affects of the transposition of the Directive on e-signatures in one case study country-Bulgaria. The findings of this work may be of use to all legal practitioners who encounter problems related to the liability of certification service providers. It gives national legislators guidelines for the re-interpretation of the liability concept of the Directive and gives ideas for its future improvement.