- On August 10, 2023, the Ukrainian Parliament voted on two important bills.
- They introduce the definition of digital things and content, and expand the scope of the Civil Code.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (VRU), during the 6th session of the 9th convocation, approved bills focused on expanding the scope of civil rights to “digital things” and introducing the definition of “digital content” into the Civil Code. This was announced by MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak.
The information was also confirmed at the iForum conference by Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation Oleksandr Bornyakov.
According to Zheleznyak, the first bill was supported by 271 MPs, the second – 277.
The bill “On Amendments and Additions to the Civil Code of Ukraine, aimed at expanding the range of objects of civil law” affects the following points:
- Definition of a digital thing. It can be a virtual asset, content, account, money and securities in electronic format;
- extension of the provisions of the Civil Code on tangible goods to this category of assets;
- position of virtual assets. In particular, according to the bill, they cannot be part of the authorized capital.
The bill “On Digital Content and Digital Services”, in turn, introduces a definition of this kind of content, as well as the basic business relationship between the author and the user.
In a conversation with Incrypted, a representative of the Ministry of Digital Economy of Ukraine noted that the definition of virtual assets outlined in the bills does not correspond to the one specified in the June document of the NCSSM.