News will reach the users faster and hitch-free after the IT Department of the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) received Tuesday an ISO 9001:2000 certificate for its quality management system. BTA is the first Bulgarian media organization to have a quality management system, said Standardization Agency chief Evelin Bourov. BTA Director General Panayot Denev added that it has also been the first quality management system in a purely electronic format. According to Vulchev, the information and communication technologies BTA introduced in 2001 and 2002 make it a leader in the Balkans and put at on an equal footing with the best news agencies in Europe. Over a period of 24 hours BTA releases some 600 pieces of information, over 300 photos and graphs and several newsletters. By August 31, 2002, BTA has had 328 subscribers, including 243 local and 85 foreign, 130 media and 198 non-media organizations.