said Alexander Matrozov, Managing Director of BORICA Ltd. (Bank Organization for Payments Initiated by Cards), the national card system operator. The implementation of the project began on February 1, 2002. The Balcard (Balkan prepaid card for secure cross-border transactions over the Internet) is part of the European Union's programme financing projects for the development of information society. It is developed by a consortium of Mellon Technologies of Greece (servicing most Greek banks), Borica of Bulgaria (the national card system operator), and SchlumbergerSema of France (a leader in the production of smartcards and smartcard-based systems) with the participation of Greece's Eurobank and Bulgaria's Post Bank. Balcard is a pilot development aimed to create a technology, protected access mechanisms and regulation of cross-border transactions performed over the Internet among EU members and non-members. It will include mainly micro-payments using stored value cards based on the Common Electronic Purse Specifications (CEPS).