A legislative dilemma arose between the author of the draft of the new Civil Code, Ruslan Stefanchuk, and the National Commission for Electronic Communications (NCEC).
A legislative dilemma arose between the author of the draft of the new Civil Code, Ruslan Stefanchuk, and the National Commission for Electronic Communications (NCEC).
The National Commission for the Coordination of Economic and Social Development is one of the bodies that approves the draft. For the next meeting, it has prepared its own position on the advisability of adopting the new code. Its draft contains a clause that conceptually diverges from the current legislation on the regulation of the numbering resource used by mobile operators.
Thus, Article 322 of the draft Civil Code provides for the right to digital differentiation.
Digital identity includes the ability to create, acquire, and use various means of digital identification: email address, telecom network subscriber number, account, etc.
In a memo, the NKEC emphasizes that numbers are a limited technological resource of electronic communications networks. Telecom operators receive temporary permission to use a range of numbers from the NKEC, after which they can assign certain numbers to subscribers.
«That is, the numbering resource, including any number, is not the property of the electronic communications operator or the consumer of electronic communications services (individual),» the NCEC note states.
The draft of the new Code grants an individual the right to create any numbers, but does not clearly define which numbers are in question, and does not take into account the centralized procedure for distributing numbering resources by the state.
And another important nuance — the new Code establishes the right of an individual to prohibit the reissue and further use of a number after their death.
«Members of the families of the deceased Defenders of Ukraine have the right to demand from the electronic communications operator … a ban on the re-issuance and further use of the electronic communications network subscriber number belonging to the deceased … during his lifetime,» the draft Code states. This service should be provided free of charge, according to its author.
This is contrary to current practice in using numbers. If a subscriber does not use the service for a certain period of time, operators can currently use them to serve other customers.
Therefore, the NCEC believes that Article 322 of the draft Civil Code «requires postponement and is possible subject to the development and legislative definition of a model for implementing a short-term ban on the use of certain types of numbers.»
Everyone will have the right to their digital image — that is, to everything that represents them on the Internet: accounts, photos, videos, signatures, social media profiles, etc. You decide how to use your digital image, and you can demand the removal or correction of inaccurate information about yourself. Creating realistic imitations of your appearance, voice, or behavior — including using AI — is possible only with your permission, and all such content must be marked as artificially created. If someone has created such content without your consent, you have the right to demand its removal.
UDP
The NCEC decision on the issue of digital differentiation, which was adopted on March 11, already contains a direct recommendation on the wording of Article 322 of the new version of the Code.
As stated in the NCEC conclusion, number formats are clearly regulated by an international standard, international and national numbering plans and cannot be created by an individual or an electronic communications operator at their own discretion.
«Also, the numbering resource, including any number, is not the property of the electronic communications operator or the consumer of electronic communications services (individual). An individual subscriber uses the number subject to concluding an agreement with the electronic communications operator on the provision of electronic communications services, since the number is one of the technological conditions for the functioning of electronic communications networks and receiving certain electronic communications services,» writes the NCEC.
In view of the above, the NCEC proposes to reword paragraph one of part two of Article 322 of the draft act as follows:
«2. Digital identity includes the ability to create, acquire and use various means of digital identification, in particular an email address, a user account, a means of electronic identification and other means of digital identification necessary for receiving electronic communications services, as well as to use the subscriber number of an electronic communications network established by legislation in the field of electronic communications.»
