As part of the VIII Moscow Legal Forum, the All-Russian scientific and practical conference “Economic Security and Digital Sovereignty of Russia” was held on 8 April 2021 at Kutafin Moscow State Law University (MSLA). In the beginning Inna Yershova, Head of the Chair of Business and Corporate Law of MSLA, Honored Lawyer of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Law, Professor, addressed the participants of the event with a welcoming speech. The speaker emphasized the role of law in shaping the digital environment in the context of ensuring national interests, economic security of business and protection of confidential information of citizens. The lawyer also presented the monograph “Digital Economy: Conceptual Foundations of Legal Regulation” edited by V. A. Laptev, O. A. Tarasenko, prepared with the financial support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research under the implementation of the scientific project No. 18-29-16079 “Digital Economy: Conceptual Foundations of Legal Regulation of Business in Russia”, which has already become the achievement of the scientific community.
The conference was moderated by Vasily Laptev, Professor of the Chair of Business and Corporate Law of MSLA, Judge of the Arbitration Court of Moscow, Doctor of Law, and Sergey Chucha, Retired Chairman of the Arbitration Court of Moscow, Chief Researcher of the Sector of Civil Law, Civil and Arbitration Procedures of the Institute of State and Law of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Law.
The high level and content of the scientific discussion was set by the report on experimental legal regimes as a testing ground for innovation and regulation, which was delivered by Olga Tarasenko, Professor of the Chair of Business and Corporate Law of MSLA, Doctor of Law. In her report, she highlighted the mechanisms of functioning of “regulatory sandboxes” in foreign and domestic practices. The identified shortcomings of the current “regulatory window” in Russia allowed the speaker to share with the participants of the conference her thoughts on possible ways to improve the legislation on experimental legal regimes, including in the field of the financial market.
The next report was devoted to the transformation of the legal mechanisms of the institute of penalties in business contracts in the context of the covid-19 pandemic. It was delivered by Marina Ilyushina, the Head of the Chair of Civil and Business Law of the All-Russian State University of Justice under the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Law. In her report she raised topical issues of protection of participants in civil turnover, presented her thorough analysis of judicial and arbitration practice on the application of civil liability measures in the current economic situation.
The report of Professor of the Chair of Civil Law of MSLA, Doctor of Law Lyudmila Vasilevskaya on boosting in the digital environment in the context of the problems of economic security of entrepreneurship attracted considerable interest among the conference participants. The speaker stressed the insufficient attention of legal science to the issues of promoting goods, works and services in the digital environment using boosting algorithms, and also noted the need for public legal regulation of the relations under consideration. In general, Lyudmila Vasilevskaya summarized the relevant foreign experience, presented possible legal models for regulating business services with the use of boosting, and reported on the risks associated with this phenomenon.
The fundamental report on the legal regulation of the digital transformation of the public procurement system was made by Professor of the Chair of Business and Corporate Law of MSLA, Doctor of Law Lyubov Andreeva. The expert noted that “the current model of public procurement regulation is based on the systematic approach implemented at all stages of the relevant relations”, but this advantage was pointed out to be negated by the lack of stability of the legislation on the procurement system. The presentation showed the prerequisites, conditions and main stages of the formation of the digital procurement system, including electronic infrastructure, as well as outlined the main directions for further optimization of the procurement system.
Alexander Alekseenko, Associate Professor of the Chair of Civil Law of Vladivostok State University of Economics and Service, PhD in Law, told about the requirements of the legislation of Singapore and Hong Kong to ensure the security of making transactions with digital financial assets.
Investment law issues were presented by the report of the Head of the Chair of Business Law, Civil and Arbitration Procedures of Novosibirsk State University, Doctor of Law Valery Lisitsa. His report was dedicated to the legal regime of investment activity under the terms of the agreement on the protection and promotion of investment in the Russian Federation. Having considered this contract in the system of investment agreements with the participation of the state in Russia, the scholar gave a critical assessment of the possibility of ensuring the stability of the investor’s business conditions with the use of such an agreement under the present regulation, including new Federal Law of 1 April 2020 No. 69-FZ “On the Protection and Promotion of Capital Investments in the Russian Federation”.
Nina Solovyanenko, PhD in Law, Senior Researcher of the Sector of Business and Corporate Law of the Institute of State and Law of the Russian Academy of Sciences, outlined the legal contours of electronic document management in cross-border business operations in Eurasian Economic Union. Emphasizing the importance of economic and technological aspects of the formation of an ecosystem and a digital platform for the cross-border exchange of data and digital documents, the speaker paid considerable attention to the “cross-border space of trust” model implemented in law of Eurasian Economic Union.
Elena Trofimova, Associate Professor of the Chair of Business and Corporate Law of MSLA, PhD in Law, addressed the problems of the legal regime of personal data, which are located at the intersection of the interests of the individual, business and the state. “When developing measures to ensure the security of the digital space, the state must take into account the opinions of market participants, otherwise the competitiveness of Russian business in the digital environment is jeopardized”, the expert concluded.
Anna Ryazanova, a post-graduate student of MSLA, Associate Lawyer of DLA Piper Rus Limited, spoke about business activities under the sanctions and restrictive measures. The speaker analyzed the system of sanctions regimes, the consequences of their introduction, highlighted the practice of sanctions compliance and measures to support persons under sanctions.
Olga Sushkova, Associate Professor of the Chair of Business and Corporate Law, Associate Professor of the Chair of Information Law and Digital Technologies of MSLA, PhD in Law, made a final report on the impact of digital financial assets on the digital sovereignty of Russia. She noted the gaps and shortcomings of the legislation on digital financial assets in terms of the conceptual framework and the lack of requirements for the subjects of the digital financial market. Olga Sushkova suggested applying self-regulatory licensing mechanisms in this area, which have proven their effectiveness in regulating financial markets.
The other participants took part in the conference and noted the relevance of the topic and content of the reports. Summing up the results of the conference, Professor of the Chair of Business and Corporate Law of MSAL, Judge of the Arbitration Court of Moscow, Doctor of Law Vasily Laptev thanked the participants of the event for their fruitful work, pointed out a wide range of issues raised by the speakers of the conference, and stressed the importance of each of them for ensuring Russia’s economic security and the formation of its digital sovereignty.