Legal Regulation of the Cloud Services Market of Ukraine

Abstract

Based on the analysis of the economic state of the cloud services market and trends of its development, it was concluded that cloud technologies have a significant impact on the activities of business entities, as well as state administration bodies of all developed countries of the world. It was established that the cloud services market of Ukraine is at the formation stage, which is connected with the unsatisfactory economic condition of business entities due to the military aggression launched by the Russian Federation. The current state of legal security of the cloud services market of Ukraine is studied; at the same time, it is substantiated that the Law “On Cloud Services” adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in February 2022 only lays the foundations for its legal development and further formation of a legal framework aimed at the comprehensive regulation of the relations arising from the provision and consumption of cloud services under market principles. It is emphasized that for proper implementation of the Law provisions, the approval by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of a number of subordinate legal acts is required, namely: structure and order of the formation and use of electronic catalogs of cloud services and services of data processing centers; requirements to the providers of cloud services; procedure for providing cloud services related to the processing of the state information resources; procedure for the proposals development for the use of cloud services by state authorities, as well as a standard contract that must be concluded between the providers and users of cloud services. Criteria for the quality and safety of cloud services that must be guaranteed by their provider, in case of crisis situations and cyber attacks, are proposed. The expediency of supplementing the Law of Ukraine “On Cloud Services” with the provisions that empower the regulator of cloud services to inspect the providers of cloud services in the event that they provide the regulator with incomplete of false information, as well as to make requests that are mandatory for consideration by other addressees, is substantiated. It is proposed to introduce legal liability of the officials of state bodies in case they do not return to Ukraine state information databases and their backup copies within six months after the termination or cancellation of the legal regime of martial law.   Keywords: cloud services, cloud computing technologies, cloud servers, regulator in the field of communication services