Presentation of APIS
Company history
APIS is a pioneer and proven leader in the development, improvement and distribution of legal and business information systems in Bulgaria.
The company was founded in September 1989 in accordance with the rules of registration for ''citizen's company'' of Decree № 56 with a partner and director Vasil Hristovich.
In 1991 APIS launched the ''Collection of Laws'' monthly serial publication, the ''Law Library'' loose-leaf publication and other legal information publications.
The company began designing its own software in 1993, specialising in the development of information-retrieval systems and the provision of information services.
Since 1996 the business activity is performed by "APIS-Hristovich" Ltd.
In 2003 the company "APIS Bulgaria" Ltd. was founded, which takes over the customer service and the development of software.
In 2006, due to the expansion of the company's information services in the sphere of the European Union legislation, "APIS Europe" JSC was established, where "APIS-Hristovich" Ltd has the largest share in the share capital.
In July 2014, "APIS Bulgaria" Ltd. merged into "APIS Europe" JSC, with the joint-stock company becoming its universal successor.
The headquarters of the enterprise is in Sofia. At present, APIS has a total of 4 production and sales offices in the cities of Sofia and Pazardzhik.
Team
Today APIS is a leader in the development, improvement and sale of legal and business information systems on the Bulgarian market. The company has an experienced team of nearly 100 experts and specialists in various fields, whose activities include:
- software development
- maintaining and updating databases
- marketing and sales
- technical support and communications
- accounting
- administrative service.
In addition, over 100 external experts – experienced professionals and prominent specialists in law, economics and computer science, contribute their knowledge and skills for creating, updating and enriching the content of the information systems and for the implementation of new projects.
The main factor for the successful operation of the company is maintaining a continuous connection with the clients through the intermediation of more than 70 distributors of APIS throughout the country. They contribute to concluding contracts with customers, training them for work with the software applications, maintaining, updating, distributing and advertising APIS information systems.
Clients
APIS is focused on always providing reliable, up-to-date legal, administrative, business and commercial economic information to its more than 70,000 end-users. The company occupies a leading position in technological and innovative terms, the speed of customer service and the market share in the field of legal and business information systems in Bulgaria.
At present, over 3,500 public and private sector organisations, including ministries, central agencies, local administrations and courts, rely on APIS information services. Many lawyers, notaries and other non-corporate clients also work with the company's products. This obliges the creative team of APIS to continuously improve the existing products and to create new systems that meet the customers' latest requirements.
Information products and services
APIS offers a rich portfolio of products and services with high added value providing knowledge and information in the field of Bulgarian law, European Union law, economics and finance, privacy and personal data protection as well as reference information on business entities and their commercial activity.
At the end of 2010, APIS launched its high-quality new product platform APIS 7, developed in accordance with the latest requirements of the information market and customer’s recommendations.
The desktop version APIS 7 offers state-of-the-art technology, all-new features, speed and comfort in the course of work, modern and convenient design. APIS 7 Web is the version of APIS 7 optimised for online use.
In 2012, a mobile version of APIS Law and APIS Register has been developed to allow users to make effective use of these products through their tablets and smartphones.
In addition to the popular legal and business information products on the Bulgarian market, APIS also focuses on products of interest to consumers from other EU Member States.
These are the two new products – EuroCases and Tax & Financial Standards, developed in 2015 and 2016 respectively, and designed for both Bulgarian and European markets.
EuroCases is a multilingual web-based legal information service that provides access to case law of leading European jurisdictions related to the implementation of European Union law. The system builds on the ideas of the EUCases project, supported by the European Commission under the Seventh Framework Program for Research and Technological Development of the EU.
Tax & Financial Standards is an information system for the countries of the European Economic Area (EEA) and presents the rules regarding taxable persons, the supply of goods and services and the place of taxable supplies; necessary and proportionate measures on currency, budget and tax issues; regulated types of transactions, categories and concepts for individual trading transactions and assets.
The newest member of APIS family of products in 2018 is the GDPR Handbook designed to help organisations implement the requirements of the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The GDPR Handbook is an integrated software solution of APIS that offers two standalone modules – GDPR Info and GDPR Assistant. They provide easy access to the new regulatory requirements and help users create their own privacy policy, as well as keep records and accountability under the legal framework of Regulation (EC) 2016/679.
European projects
A new stage in the company's activity is the participation as a key partner in the development and implementation of projects under programs funded by the European Union in creative cooperation with European universities, research centers and companies.
The first such project was EuL-Invest – European Investment Information System (2005-2006), funded under the EU's eContent Program. In 2009, APIS joined the consortium of Caselex – Case Law Exchange project, funded under the EU's eTen program.
Particularly successful was the company's participation in the EUCases project – European and National Case Law and Legislation Linked in Open Data Stack (2013-2015), supported by the Seventh Framework Program for Research and Technological Development, in which APIS was the leading industrial partner. The project aimed at development of a pan-European platform and services linking the legislation and the case law of the Member States to the legal system of the European Union. As a result of its implementation, the first products and services of APIS targeting not only for Bulgarian, but also European customers were created: EuroCases – a multilingual legal information system providing access to case law of leading European jurisdictions related to the implementation of EU law and Link Detector – a free software add-on tool for browsers and Microsoft Word identifying legal citations to Bulgarian and EU law.
Since July 2017, APIS, in partnership with The Union of Bulgarian Jurists and with the support of the Supreme Judicial Council, is the coordinator of the project ECLI-BG – Implementation of the ECLI Identifier in Bulgaria and Interconnection with the e-Justice Portal funded under the EU’s Justice Program. As a result of the implementation of the project, in April 2018, the European Case Law Identifier (ECLI) was introduced on the Bulgarian national case law portal (known as Centralised Web Based Interface for Publication of Judicial Acts). Another important achievement of the project was establishment in August 2018 of interconnection between the Centralised Web Based Interface and the ECLI Search Engine in the European e-Justice Portal that allows European citizens and lawyers in other EU Member States to access Bulgarian case law.
Since 2018, APIS has begun implementing two new European projects, in whose consortia it is the main industrial partner responsible for the development of the relevant software applications. From 1 September 2018, began the implementation of the InterLex project – Advisory and Training system for Internet-related Private International Law. The project is funded under the EU’s Justice Program and is implemented in partnership with the University of Torino, the University of Bologna, the European University Institute in Florence, the Masaryk University in Brno and the University of Konstanz. The aim of the project is to develop an innovative online platform for information, decision support and training in the field of private international law, in particular on Internet law issues.
SMEDATA - Ensuring the Highest Degree of Privacy and Personal Data Protection through Innovative Tools for SMEs and Citizens is a project, which started in the end of 2018. It is funded under the EU's Rights, Equality and Citizenship Program in partnership with the Bulgarian and the Italian Data Protection Authority. Project coordinator is the Bulgarian Commission for Personal Data Protection. The project aims to support small and medium-sized enterprises and legal practitioners in the effective implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation through awareness-raising and training, development of an innovative mobile application and a methodology for designing codes of conduct.
Seminars and training sessions
Since 2005, APIS has been organising national seminars together with The Union of Bulgarian Jurists in the field of law and together with The Union of Accountants in Bulgaria in the field of economics and finance. At present, they are one of the most popular forms of training and acquiring knowledge about the novelties and important issues in legal and financial matters.
Since 2011, APIS has been organising regular training courses for working with the company's information systems under the name "APIS Academy". They enjoy considerable user interest because of their entirely practical purpose.
Quality management
"APIS Europe" JSC (since 2007) and "APIS Hristovich" LTD (since 2001) have implemented a quality management system in the field of "Analysis, design, development, implementation and maintenance of information-retrieval systems with large databases, provision of information services and training".
In 2016, both companies were certified to the latest version of the ISO 9001:2015 standard by the accredited German auditor Dekra Certification GMBH.
The high level of the professionals working with APIS is also confirmed by the status of APIS Europe JSC as a Microsoft Partner with two competencies: Application Development Gold Competency and Data Platform Silver Competency. They allow the company to have easy access to the latest versions of Microsoft products and technologies.