The Global Privacy Assembly (GPA) Executive Committee has unanimously elected the Bulgarian Commission for Personal Data Protection, represented by Mr. Ventsislav Karadjov, as GPA’s Interim Chair until October 2025. The unanimous decision of the Assembly was made during an extraordinary meeting last 17 December 2024.
The Bulgarian Commissioner succeeded Commissioner Josefina Román Vergara, outgoing Chair of the GPA and Commissioner of Mexico’s Instituto Nacional de Transparencia, Acceso a la Información y Protección de Datos Personales (INAI). The election of a new GPA Chair was necessitated due to the dissolution of INAI, following a constitutional reform in Mexico.
Mr. Karadjov is the Chairman of the Bulgarian Commission for Personal Data Protection since April 2014. He served two terms as Vice-Chair of the Article 29 Working Party and was unanimously elected as the Deputy Chair of the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) in May 2018. He is also a Member of the GPA Executive Committee since October 2023.
Mr. Ventsislav Karadjov holds a master’s degree in law from Sofia University’s Faculty of Law. His career spans leadership roles at Transparency International’s Bulgarian chapter and various international projects on anti-corruption and democratic institution-building. He also worked as an advisor to the Bulgarian Minister for Internal Affairs on international public security and anti-corruption matters and served as Chief Expert Associate to the 41st and 42nd National Assembly on matters related to the control of security services, special surveillance devices, and access to data retained by public security bodies.
The GPA Executive Committee expressed gratitude to Commissioner Vergara for her dedicated leadership and contributions to the GPA and looks forward to Commissioner Karadjov’s stewardship in advancing the GPA’s mission of promoting personal data protection and privacy worldwide.