The Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs supports sending the draft law No. 8087 “On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine on Urgent Measures to Strengthen the Capabilities of Cyber Defense of State Information Resources and Critical Information Infrastructure”, which expands the powers of the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection and obliges private companies to have a cybersecurity officer, for a second reading.
This was stated by Anatoliy Kinakh, President of the Ukrainian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, at a public discussion of the draft law held at the USPP.
“I would very much ask that following the results of our discussion, the proposal that has absolute support in the context of returning the draft law No. 8087 for a repeated second reading for significant revision be taken into account,” Kinakh said.
He emphasized that the shortcomings in the text of the draft law do not meet European standards, especially with regard to state control in this area, the inadmissibility of monopolization of such control functions, which entails, among other things, corruption risks.
“I am confident that today we have a list of suggestions and comments compiled at a serious professional and state level. I hope that today’s hearings will also be taken into account during the regulatory procedures in the Verkhovna Rada during further consideration of the draft law,” added Kinakh.
During the discussion, experts and management of the ULIE, in particular, Vice President Ivan Petukhov, expert Igor Dyadyura and member of the Kyiv Regional Bar Council Oleg Chornobay criticized the overly broad scope of the law, unlike European counterparts that affect only medium-sized businesses.
Draft law No. 8087 also applies to any actions related to the storage of personal data or other information with limited access in digital form, and thus, according to Chornobay, even an individual lawyer who maintains a client database and stores information subject to attorney-client privilege must hire a cybersecurity specialist (officer).
“There is a beautiful title to the draft law, but when we look at the specifics, we see that it introduces changes that affect not only state information resources and not only critical infrastructure facilities, but also the private sector. Thus, the purpose of the draft law is one, but its implementation is completely different,” added Chornobay.
Petukhov noted that even a small business that maintains a database of employees or customers may also be subject to the law and incur additional costs.
According to him, the rights of businesses to appeal against unlawful orders of government agencies are also being violated. If now they do not have to comply with it, if there is an administrative appeal of the decision, then according to the draft law No. 8087, this order must be fulfilled, and then, after the fact, it can be appealed.
Vitaliy Deynega, Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine for Digital Development, Digital Transformation and Digitalization, also criticized the bill.
“This law may prevent us from digitizing the army and deploying digital infrastructure in the context of hostilities,” he emphasized.
Deynega noted that the Ministry should retain its independence in determining the conditions and criteria for the supply of goods, works and services for the functioning of the armed forces’ information and communication systems.
As the agency reported, draft law No. 8087 was developed by a group of MPs led by Oleksandr Fediyenko.
On January 12, it was adopted in the first reading, and the relevant committee on national security, defense and intelligence recommends its approval in the second reading.
