The State Duma has introduced amendments to the law “On experimental legal regimes in the field of digital innovation in the Russian Federation”

The government has submitted a bill to the State Duma that will oblige AI developers operating in an experimental legal regime (EPR) to insure liability for possible harm to life, health or property from the use of technology. Market participants also consider the proposed reduction in the time frame for reviewing applications for participation in the EPR to be a significant innovation: in their opinion, it will lead to a decrease in the involvement of business in the discussion of projects.

The government bill amending the Federal Law “On experimental legal regimes in the field of digital innovation in the Russian Federation” was submitted to the State Duma on December 15. The bill was developed by the Ministry of Economy, and RBC reported on its preparation on December 7.

Among the changes to the law on digital EPR proposed by the government is liability insurance for developers for the negative consequences of using technology: causing harm to the life, health or property of a person or legal entity. If such consequences occur, a commission with the participation of regulators, EPR participants, the business and expert community will analyze the situation.

Among the innovations is the requirement that EPR subjects (legal entities, government agencies, including regional ones) maintain a register of persons who have entered into legal relations with them within the framework of the EPR.

It is also proposed to reduce the period for consideration of applications for participation in the EPR by the executive authority from 25 to 10 working days.

“Liability insurance will increase costs and require better preparation of the EPR program,” notes Maxim Dyshlyuk, managing partner of the National Center for Intellectual Capital.

The proposed procedure for considering cases of harm is aimed at prompt compensation for harm to victims, but not at a comprehensive clarification of the circumstances, the expert believes. Probably, he suggests, development companies will often try to appeal the commission’s conclusions in court. This possibility is included in the amendments.

The ANO Digital Economy (founders include Yandex, Sber, VK, etc.), the Big Data Association, and Yandex did not comment on the government’s initiative.

A Kommersant source familiar with the development of the initiative says that the business community sent feedback on it to the Ministry of Economy, which was not taken into account.

“Business concerns related, in particular, to almost halving the minimum time frame for establishing an EPR. The fact is that within ten days, a business that is part of a competency center may not have time to prepare conclusions; as a result, its position will not be taken into account by the Ministry of Economy when deciding to launch an EPR. And judging by current practice, when considering applications without a business position, most of them are rejected,” says Kommersant’s interlocutor. According to Kommersant’s interlocutor, close to one of the large IT companies, the business also proposed to provide for the possibility of submitting projects to the Ministry of Economy by 2025 only through the organization of the business community, but this proposal was also not taken into account.

The Ministry of Economy did not specify to Kommersant whether the position of business would be taken into account when considering applications. In a message from the ministry received by Kommersant, the head of the Ministry of Economy is quoted as saying that reducing the time frame “will help significantly speed up the process at certain stages.”

Yulia Tishina, Tatyana Isakova