EN 2007 APR BULGARIA NOMINATIONS

UNCLAS SOFIA 000227

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON ETRD KIPR OTRA BU
SUBJECT: EN 2007 APR BULGARIA NOMINATIONS

REF: A) SECSTATE 12059


1. Embassy Sofia nominates Mrs. Gergana Cheshmedzhieva and Mr.
Rossen Pavlov, of the Bulgarian Customs Office, for the USPTO GIPA
Enforcement training seminar scheduled for April 16-20, 2007, as per
reftel.


2. Mrs. Cheshmedzhieva has been with the Customs Intelligence and
Investigation Directorate at the Bulgarian Customs Office since

2002. Before joining the customs administration, she worked for
four years in the Bulgarian Patent Office as editor of the
"Intellectual Property" Journal. As Senior Expert at the Customs
Office, Cheshmedzhieva is responsible for combating IPR
infringements and spreading intelligence information on border
measures for IPR protection among various customs offices. She is
the national contact point officer for the Regional Intelligence
Liaison Office for Eastern and Central Europe, which covers
movements of goods infringing IPR and entries in the Customs
Enforcement Network Database. Her duties also include participation
in the establishment of an electronic IPR protection system to
enhance cooperation between enforcement authorities.


3. Mr. Rossen Pavlov has been a chief expert at the Customs
Intelligence and Investigation Directorate, Bulgarian Customs
Office, since 2001. Mr. Pavlov is responsible for combating
commercial fraud and smuggling in counterfeit excise goods. He is
the national contact point officer for Risk Information Form (RIF)
risk management system, organized by DG TAXUD; member of the AGIS
project Kalmar, organized by British customs and the European
Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF),concerning rail traffic; national contact
point officer for providing information to OLAF concerning movements
of tobacco and tobacco products; national contact point officer in
the Task Force on container security at South European Cooperation
(SECI) Center; and national contact point officer in the Anti-Fraud
and Anti-Smuggling Task Force at SECI Center.


4. Post believes in the strong professional skills of the two
nominations for this program. The Bulgarian candidates, however,
are unlikely to travel without funding assistance. Post
respectfully requests USPTO funding for travel costs, lodging and
visa application fees. We greatly appreciate USPTO's efforts with
this program.


5. Nominees' contact information:

--Mrs. Gergana Cheshmedzhieva
Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate,
Bulgarian Customs Office, Senior Expert
47 G.S. Rakovski Str., 1202 Sofia, Bulgaria
Tel. (359-2) 9859-4254
Fax. (359-2) 9859-4082
E-mail: Gergana.Cheshmedjieva@customs.bg

Work Experience:
2003 - present: National Customs Agency, Customs Intelligence and
Investigation Directorate, Administrative Penal Procedures and IPR
Protection Department, Sofia, Bulgaria, Senior Expert.
--2002-2003: Sofia Customs Administration, Customs Inspector
--1998-2002: Patent Office of Bulgaria / "Intellectual property"
Journal, Editor.

Education:
1993-1997: University for National and World Economy, Intellectual
Property Department, Master's Degree in Management of Intellectual
Property Rights.

Seminars and Training:
--October 2006: SECI Regional Center, Fourth Meeting of the
Anti-Fraud and Anti-Smuggling Task Force, Bucharest, Romania.
--June 2005: AGIS Program of DG Justice, Freedom and Security of the
European Commission, with the active contribution of the Polish
Ministry of Finance, the Interactive Software Federation of Europe
(ISFE) and the Business Software Alliance (BSA),Poland.
--March 2005: TAIEX, European Commission TAIEX Training on
Intellectual and Property Rights Frauds, Athens, Greece.
--May 2004: Commercial Law Development Program, US Department of
Commerce, Border measures for IPR Protection and Meeting for
Regional Cooperation, Dubrovnik, Croatia.
--March 2004: Commercial Law Development Program, US Department of
Commerce, Enforcement Academy, Washington, DC.
--October 2003: Customs 2007 Program Counterfeiting seminar,
Brussels, Belgium.

--Mr. Rossen Pavlov
Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate,
Chief Expert
47 G.S. Rakovski Str., 1202 Sofia, Bulgaria
Tel. (359-2) 9859-4130
Fax. (359-2) 9859-4083
E-mail: Rossen.Pavlov@customs.bg

Seminars and Training:
--November 2006: OLAF and Financial Crime Investigation Service
under the Ministry of the Interior of Lithuania,
Internship for Bulgarian-Romanian official working in the anti-fraud
area, Vilnius, Lithuania.
--October 2006: OLAF and Austrian Customs Administration
International Anti-Fraud Meeting in Customs Audit, Klagenfurt,
Austria.
--June 2006: OLAF Customs Fraud with Excise Goods seminar, Sofia,
Bulgaria.
--May 2006: DG TAXUD RIF Risk Management System training, Brussels,
Belgium.
--February 2006: National Customs Agency training in Customs
Intelligence and Risk Management, Sofia, Bulgaria.
--April 2005: SECI Center Task Force meeting against Smuggling of
Petrol and Petrol Products, Bucharest, Romania.
--March 2005: SECI Center Task Force meeting against Cigarettes
Smuggling, Bucharest, Romania.
--December 2004: European Commission Risk Analysis training in
Agricultural, Structural and Cohesion Funds, Brno, the Czech
Republic.
--April 2004: European Commission Strategic Intelligence and
Analysis seminar, Tallinn, Estonia.
--June 2003: SECI Center and Hungarian Customs Administration, Task
Force Meeting on Stolen Vehicles, Budapest, Hungary.
--April 2003: National Customs Agency, the National Educational
Center at National Customs Agency, Sofia, Bulgaria.
--September 2002: Bulgarian Association for Fight against Piracy of
Audiovisual Works and Entertaining Software. Amendments in the
legislation, Sofia, Bulgaria.
--July 2002: European Commission, Tax and Customs Approach on Risk
Management seminar, Granada, Spain.

Work Experience:
2001 - present: National Customs Agency, Customs Intelligence and
Investigation Directorate, Customs Intelligence Department, Chief
Expert.

Education:
1995 - 2000: Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski"
Master's Degree in culture anthropology and arts.


6. Embassy Sofia Point of Contact (POC) will be Economic Specialist
Danko Tonev. Contact information for Mr. Tonev follows: (Office)
359-2-937-5212, (Fax) 359-2-937-5320, and (E-mail)
tonevdt@state.gov.
BEYRLE