This week, Russia to increase the state control over the Internet; the Kyrgyz Republic to modernize the e-commerce legislation, while Belarus makes it more difficult to e-trade; Russian Central Bank mandates certification for the infosecurity software; The Eastern Partnership countries launch the e-Drone project; Ukraine to implement the eHealth system; Russia develops a messenger for state officials; Russia introduces an electronic vehicle license.

1. The Legislative Assembly of Leningrad region is going to submit a bill “On the legal regulation of social networks” to the State Duma. The new document proposes stricter admission and identification procedures for users of social media. Thus, children under 14 would be prohibited from using social media, while passport data verification would be required for the rest of users upon registration.

DR Comments: This proposal follows the federal Ministry of Education’s recommendations for parents and teachers regarding the early detection of children’s’ gaming and Internet addiction.

Moreover, since April 4, 2017, a popular blogging service LiveJournal has introduced new rules for users according to which the platform is prohibited from posting political information that can be construed as political agitation. Also, persons under the age of 14 do not have the right to start a blog on LiveJournal. Finally, the user agreement mentions that all blogs, whose audience exceeds three thousand users per day, fall under the requirements of the Law “on Bloggers“, which equates online blogs with the media and requires registration with Roskomnadzor.

2. The National Bank of Kyrgyz Republic has determined its development priorities in the mid-term perspective. An active development of payment systems, in particular services of the so-called rapid retail payments, is one of the focus areas due to the sector’s rapid growth. The first step proposed is to modernize the legislation related to e-commerce.

3. Belarusian experts state that the main factor that hinders the development of e-commerce is the legislative discrimination of the industry. In 2016, the government decided to prohibit online stores and trading platforms from using a simplified taxation system whereby the tax is calculated as a percentage of turnover. All e-commerce platforms were forced to switch to a common taxation system with a higher tax rate and a more complex calculation process.

4. The eDrone project was launched in Armenia, Georgia, Belarus, and Moldova. Within three years, European experts will train specialists from the Eastern Partnership countries on the latest technologies of the unmanned aerial vehicles to stimulate research and production. The €1 million project is funded by the EU.

5. The Central Bank of Russia has presented a new state standard for the organization of information protection in the financial sector. The new standard introduces mandatory certification of the information security software for all financial companies.

6. The Ministry of Health will implement an eHealth system on July 1, 2017. It is planned that unified registries of medical institutions, doctors and patients will be created, and all documentation will be stored digitally. The developers of the system believe that this will reduce corruption in the medical field and improve the health care in Ukraine.

7. The Russian officials will introduce a safe messenger for the state network, the so-called RSNet, this year. The RSNet is a closed communication system that enhances the defense against DDoS attacks and viruses and will cover all governmental departments across the country by December 2017.

8. As of June 1, 2017, an electronic vehicle license will replace the paper license. The electronic document would indicate an entire history of the vehicle. The government has already prepared a resolution and rendered it for general discussion on the governmental portal regulation.gov.ru.