The BIA Arbitration Court takes pride in its arbitrators. Today, we introduce Gergana Varbanova.
Gergana Varbanova is a lawyer and holds a PhD in Civil and Family Law. She is a registered industrial property representative before the Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria and an arbitrator at the BIA Arbitration Court. She has extensive experience in information technology law, as well as in commercial and corporate law. She has also participated as an expert in working groups of the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria.
She is the author of the monograph “Legal Framework of Electronic Documents”, as well as numerous publications in specialized legal journals addressing information technology law and the use of electronic documents in civil and commercial transactions.
Gergana Varbanova is a part-time lecturer at the University of Economics – Varna and the University of National and World Economy (UNWE) – Sofia. She is also a regular lecturer at the Krastyu Tsonchev Centre for Attorney Training. She is a member of several professional organizations, including Digital Law Association and ArbitralWomen. She is also a member of the Council of the Varna Bar Association and a member of the editorial team of* The Journal of Digital Technologies and Law.
Could you briefly introduce yourself?
I have always found it difficult to introduce myself. I see myself as a lawyer by profession and an arbitrator by vocation, while at heart I am someone who is constantly curious and searching, and who sees academic research as an “escape from everyday life”.
My academic interests and, I would say, my particular area of expertise are broadly connected with everything that takes place in the digital environment – electronic documents and electronic evidence, blockchain technology, e-commerce and more.
Perhaps my greatest passion is electronic documents and electronic evidence, which are also the focus of my academic research.
I am a member of ArbitralWomen, an organization that brings together women arbitrators from around the world to exchange experience and ideas on the development of arbitration. I am also part of the editorial team of The Journal of Digital Technologies and Law. I have served two consecutive terms as a member of the Bar Council of the Varna Bar Association, I am a regular lecturer at the Krastyu Tsonchev Centre for Attorney Training, and I have recently joined the team of lecturers at the Law and Internet Foundation.
How long have you been an arbitrator?
In 2022, at the invitation of Prof. Dr. Tanya Yosifova, I was appointed as an arbitrator at the BIA Arbitration Court. I must admit that this was one of those professional milestones that brought me a particular sense of fulfilment – the recognition that my work as an expert in information technology law was valued and that I could contribute my knowledge to high-quality arbitration proceedings.
One of the great advantages of arbitration is that a party can nominate an arbitrator with specialist knowledge in a particular field. This provides an important safeguard for a fairer and more informed resolution of the dispute.
What attracted you to arbitration?
I have been practicing law since 2004, so I have had a close view of how the judicial system operates. When we talk about the courts, we must acknowledge that the system is highly conservative and has not always been ready to embrace digitalization. As a result, court proceedings can often be slower and more costly, and sometimes less satisfactory for the parties.
Arbitration, on the other hand, is exceptionally open to new technologies. This is because it offers greater freedom in determining which technological solutions can be used, and arbitrators are not subject to the same procedural constraints on the collection of evidence as judges.
For example, it is entirely feasible and permissible in arbitration proceedings to hear the parties, witnesses and experts by videoconference, without the cumbersome court procedures that may require a participant to be physically present in a specially equipped courtroom.
With the use of electronic identification, there is no obstacle to a party, expert or witness participating in arbitration proceedings by videoconference from their office or another convenient location. This saves one of the most valuable resources for businesses – time.
Another major advantage of arbitration is that the parties can select an arbitrator with specific expertise in the relevant field. They can therefore have confidence that the person deciding their dispute understands the subject matter involved. When it comes to information technology law, I must say that there are still relatively few lawyers in Bulgaria who specialize in this area.
The possibility of conducting arbitration proceedings entirely electronically is one of the things that attracted me to arbitration, and it is something we are working towards at the BIA Arbitration Court.
What are the most common challenges in arbitration proceedings?
I would not say that I encounter particular difficulties in arbitration proceedings. On the contrary, I see arbitration as a way of overcoming some of the challenges faced by a more conservative judicial system.
The role of an arbitrator is highly delicate. I would describe it as a challenge because it requires finding the right balance: proceedings should move forward relatively quickly while fully respecting the parties’ procedural rights and ensuring that they have a genuine opportunity to present their positions and submit the necessary evidence.
For example, in court proceedings, it is generally not contemplated that a party may rely on its own expert to assist it when examining the report of a court-appointed expert, including by asking questions or presenting an expert counter-opinion that could serve as a basis for further evidence to be gathered.
Neither the court nor the parties necessarily possess the specialist knowledge required to assess objectively and impartially whether an expert report is sound. In arbitration proceedings, this is permissible and can be used as an additional procedural opportunity.
This can improve the quality of the expert evidence submitted to the arbitral tribunal and, at the same time, ensure that material issues relevant to the dispute are examined and analyzed in sufficient detail by the tribunal.
When does the resolution of a dispute bring satisfaction to the parties and to you as an arbitrator?
I believe the greatest satisfaction comes when both parties regard the arbitral award as fair.
The key is for the parties to receive an objective, efficient and fair process, without procedural time limits and preclusion rules of the kind that may prevent evidence from being submitted at a later stage and consequently leave certain facts unproven.
What advice would you give to companies facing unresolved commercial disputes?
The short answer is: choose arbitration.
Behind this simple recommendation is my firm belief that arbitration provides objectivity, impartiality, expertise, efficiency in resolving disputes and stability of arbitral awards.
Arbitration can save considerable time because proceedings can, in principle, be conducted entirely in a digital environment – from the filing of the statement of claim initiating the proceedings before the arbitral institution through to the issuance of the final award.
Although Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market was adopted in 2014 and has applied since 2016, an analysis of judicial practice shows that there is still considerable misunderstanding of some of the new concepts introduced by the Regulation.
The Regulation provides definitions of concepts such as electronic documents and electronic identification. Importantly, it establishes that a qualified electronic signature has the equivalent legal effect of a handwritten signature.
At the same time, Bulgaria’s Electronic Document and Electronic Certification Services Act defines an electronic document broadly as any document containing a statement in words.
For us, as arbitrators at the BIA Arbitration Court, cases involving electronic documents or commercial relationships conducted in a digital environment are particularly interesting. We have detailed knowledge of both national and international information technology law, and this is yet another reason why companies should consider arbitration as an alternative to court proceedings.
