Policy Progress: In the First Reading, Parliament Passed a Number of Draft Laws of Utmost Importance for ICT Industry as Advocated by the Chamber

Chamber advocacy efforts on improvement of legislative environment within ICT industry resulted in passing in the first reading a number of legislative initiatives aimed at strengthening the ICT potential of the country and simplification of doing business in Ukraine. The package of Draft Laws advocated by the Chamber and supported by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine today, on September 15, included:

1. Draft Law #4159 “On Access to Construction, Transport, Energy Facility Infrastructure for the Development of Telecommunication Networks" – foresees common rules for access to infrastructure in order to facilitate the development of broadband Internet and 3G;

2. Draft Law #4685 “On Electronic Trust Services” – will facilitate reforms in the sphere of electronic digital signature, intensify cross-border cooperation and accelerate the integration into the global electronic information space;

3. Draft Law #4302 “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine regarding the Information Processing Systems of Cloud Computing” – will contribute to developing the prospective cloud market in Ukraine as well as help to save significant amounts of state funds;

4. Draft Law #2126a “On Basic Principles of Ensuring Cybersecurity of Ukraine” – will implement certain provisions of the Cybersecurity Strategy signed by the President of Ukraine and protect critical infrastructure.

The Chamber welcomes such step of the Parliament as a significant impulse to improve Ukrainian legislation towards development of the ICT industry of Ukraine. Passing this package of Draft Laws in the first reading demonstrates real intentions of the Parliament to introduce systematic legislative changes in the sphere of information and communications technologies. At the same time, the Chamber will continue working with the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Information and Communication Technologies on reforming the legislative environment in the ICT sphere.