Digital Code will appear in a year at the earliest

The Council of the Russian Federation has told how Russia’s Digital Code will look like

According to Senator Irina Rukavishnikova, experts and politicians have already formed the concept and structure of the future document.

Work on the Digital Code, which will become the basis of legal regulation of relations in the field of information and digital technologies, will take at least another year, and a significant part of the future document is planned to be devoted to the protection of personal and biometric data of a person. This was told to “Parliamentary Gazette” on Wednesday, May 15, on the results of a round table in the Federation Council by Irina Rukavishnikova, first deputy chairman of the House of Regions Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building.

“We are moving step by step.”
– Irina Valeryevna, the creation of the Digital Code, which would take into account various aspects of legal relations using digital technologies and artificial intelligence, has been underway for several months. At what stage is this work at now?

– We are moving step by step towards the creation of the future Digital Code. This should be a very precise work, very balanced and accurate. And today we discussed its next stage. Let me recap briefly: our first meetings at the Federation Council were devoted to the concept of the Digital Code itself. At those meetings, we tried to answer the main question for ourselves: whether a single codified systematized regulatory act in this area is needed at all, or whether the existing legislation, as it is: with a twenty-year history, with many amendments, and in some respects often contradicting itself, is sufficient. As a result, the majority of participants in the discussion came to the conclusion that, yes, a separate act is needed.

The next stage was the concept itself: determining which legal relations should fall within the scope of regulation. And finally, today we have moved on to discussing the structure of the future digital code.

– What will this structure be like?

– The following approach was proposed: to divide the future code into two parts – general and special. The general part will list the basic concepts, terms, principles, subjects and objects of law, that is, everything that is called the conceptual apparatus. In the special part – specific types of state and social institutions, types of legal relations and ways of their regulation. There were no special discussions here, all experts, all participants in the discussion agreed that this structure would be the most convenient and effective. As for the special part, so far we have not come to any common conclusions and views.

– Is there an approximate understanding of what sections and what legal relations the special part of the Code will include?

– The special part assumes three large sections: issues of communication, information and personal data protection. And, accordingly, each of these three parts will be divided into some specific, smaller areas. But we realize that it will hardly be possible to limit ourselves to these three parts. Because there are, for example, legal relations lying on the border of several sections. Take the same personal data. On the one hand, it is an object of protection. On the other hand, it is the basis for the creation of large databases, the training and use of artificial intelligence and the development of digital technologies in principle. Therefore, at the moment, the discussion has focused mainly on what legal relations should be included in the future digital code.

Personal security is a priority
– What kind of legal relations could these be?

– Obviously, first of all, some general principles and approaches should be outlined that would protect every citizen from unauthorized use of their personal data and from any impact of technologies related to artificial intelligence. This is a priority. In addition, we discussed in detail artificial intelligence itself, ways to protect human biometric information. The issues of communication and information also provoked a lively discussion. For example, the question of whether traditional forms of communication, such as mail, should be included in the Digital Code. Overall, the discussion was very fruitful. Now we will still receive a large number of written appeals and proposals, because not all the experts had time to present them directly at the round table. We will study everything in detail, summarize it, and within a week we will present specific recommendations to the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media.

– Have you been able to determine what the next steps will be?

– We have agreed that at the next meetings we will discuss specific institutions and specific types of legal relations: whether they are included in the objective of the future code, which norms should be taken into account, and which can be left in the current legislation, and so on. I can even announce that the next discussion will be devoted to artificial intelligence technologies. This is probably the most unregulated area in our country right now. And even our existing civil norms are often not fully effective when applied to it.

– How long do you think it will take to develop the Digital Code?

– Our task is to prepare a high-quality document, so the work will not be fast. Of course, we will try to speed it up, but still. I cannot predict, but it will take at least a year. However, given that we already have a concept and structure – as soon as we pass the next stage, determine which legal relations should be the focus of the future code, take into account the interests of all subjects: citizens, government agencies, commercial structures, and developers of digital technologies – the work will go faster.

Source: https://www.pnp.ru/politics/v-sovfede-rasskazali-kak-budet-vyglyadet-cifrovoy-kodeks-rossii.html