e-Government Laws (UA0050)

Developing and submitting to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in due course the draft laws of Ukraine of top priority for bringing the national legal framework into conformity with the European legislation: On Amending Some Legislative Acts (to envisage the possible certification with a requesting entity’s own digital signature of validity of a package of electronic copies of scanned documents required to obtain an administrative service, and to establish a requesting entity’s liability for submission of invalid documents and data)
On Amending the Law of Ukraine on the Electronic Digital Signature (to improve the procedure of state regulation in the field of electronic digital signature services, supervise compliance with the electronic digital signature legislation, reform the legislation on the use of public key infrastructure and provision of electronic trust services considering the European Union experience)
On Amending the Law of Ukraine on Citizens’ Appeals
On Amending the Law of Ukraine on Protection of Personal Data

18. E-governance laws

Commitment Text: 18. Developing and submitting to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in due course the draft laws of Ukraine of top priority for bringing the national legal framework into conformity with the European legislation:

- On Amending Some Legislative Acts (to envisage the possible certification by a requesting person of his digital signature of validity of a package of electronic copies of scanned documents required to obtain an administrative service and to establish the requesting person’s liability for submission of false documents and data);

- On Amending the Law of Ukraine on the Electronic Digital Signature (to improve the procedure of state regulation in the field of electronic digital signature services, supervise compliance with the electronic digital signature legislation, reform the legislation on the use of public key infrastructure and provision of electronic trust services taking into account the European Union experience);

- On Amending the Law of Ukraine on Citizens’ Petitions;

- On Amending the Law of Ukraine on Protection of Personal Data.

Expected result: relevant draft laws endorsed by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, submitted to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and followed up until adoption.

Lead institution(s): Ministry of Justice

Supporting institution(s): State Agency for E-Governance, Ministry of Regional Development, Ministry of Economic Development, Administration of the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection, National Commission for Regulation of Communications, State Archive Service of Ukraine, non-specified NGOs and international organisations

Start Date: Not specified                                End Date: 31 December 2015

Commitment aim

The commitment sought to amend a number of legislative acts, without clearly explaining the overall goals or cohesion between different legal amendments. It is an example of a commitment that lacks a clear objective and includes too many different elements. Eventually, the government revoked one part of the commitment, and found that another part did not require action. Overall, the different measures mentioned in the commitment aimed to develop e-governance by improving the legal framework.

Status

Midterm: Substantial

The government reported that the draft law to allow digital signatures for the provision of administrative services was excluded from the action plan in August 2015, as those measures were already covered in the draft of the Law on Electronic Trust Services.^{[Note 80: “Draft law #2544a,” 31 August 2015, http://bit.ly/1JSndaS. ]} The Ministry of Justice announced that no amendments would be made to the Law on Protection of Personal Data, since it is already in line with European standards.

The Ministry of Justice developed a new draft of the Law on Electronic Trust Services, replacing previous draft legislation in this area. This was connected to the revision of the EU legal framework. The government submitted the draft to Parliament in August 2015.^{[Note 81: Ibid.]} The ministry had conducted a number of public consultations on the draft law.^{[Note 82: Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) Progress Report 2014-15: Ukraine, 64.]}

Of all the proposed legal amendments, the introduction of a new type of petition achieved the most progress. A law adopted in July 2015 allowed regular petitions to be submitted electronically (the previous law allowed only the submission of hard-copy paper petitions). The law also introduced, for the first time, e-petitions, which can be addressed to Parliament, the government, the president, or local self-government bodies. An e-petition requires a certain number of signatures^{[Note 83: The number of signatures required varies depending on the whether the authority is local or national.]} to support and validate it. Once this is done, the relevant authority gives it priority treatment and replies to it online. The amendments were developed by civil society organisations and submitted to Parliament by the president of Ukraine.^{[Note 84: Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) Progress Report 2014-15: Ukraine, 64. ]}

In October 2015, the Government Agency on E-Governance launched an electronic system for submitting local e-petitions (e-dem.in.ua). It provided a platform for local self-government bodies to receive e-petitions in accordance with the new law. The system was developed under the E-Governance for Accountability and Participation (E-GAP) project funded by the Swiss Confederation and implemented by InnovaBridge Foundation.^{[Note 85: Ibid, 65. ]}

End of term: Substantial

The government submitted the draft Law on Electronic Trust Services to Parliament in August 2015. A new government re-submitted it in May 2016.^{[Note 86: http://bit.ly/2iPCCUr. ]} By September 2016, Parliament approved the draft law in the first reading.

In August 2015, the president of Ukraine adopted rules on consideration of e-petitions addressed to the president.^{[Note 87: http://bit.ly/2iAomBB. ]} Parliament and the government adopted their respective regulations in October 2015 and July 2016 accordingly.^{[Note 88: http://bit.ly/2iAgMqw, http://bit.ly/2j4GTmr. ]} This allowed for implementation of provisions on submission and consideration of e-petitions addressed to the highest national authorities. A number of local councils approved regulations on e-petitions addressed to them.^{[Note 89: See, for example, regulations approved by the Kyiv city council http://bit.ly/2j4BGLr. ]} An electronic system for submitting local e-petitions (e-dem.in.ua), launched in 2015 by the E-Governance Agency in co-operation with international partners (see above), extended its scope from 11 cities to more than 100 local communities, and has accepted more than 7,000 e-petitions.^{[Note 90: http://bit.ly/2j9mGA1. ]}

Did it open government?

Civic Participation: Major

The original commitment lacked a clear focus and goals, making it difficult to ascertain its potential impact. However, implementation exceeded original plans, and the e-petition system had a major impact. This new e-democracy tool has been implemented by the highest national authorities (president, government, parliament) and several local authorities. Thousands of petitions have been submitted, and a number of them considered after receiving the minimum support required. For example, the e-petitions website of the Ukrainian president has received over 28,000 petitions so far, and more than 870,000 people signed at least one petition. At the same time, only 40 petitions overcame the threshold of 25,000 signatures.^{[Note 91: https://petition.president.gov.ua. ]} Some of the petitions that have passed the required threshold for official consideration include restricting bails for officials accused of corruption crimes, increasing penalties for civil servants taking bribes, and cancellation of excise taxes on imported automobiles.

The e-petitions instrument changed the way government gathers citizen input. Previously, collective petitions were very rare and did not attract much public attention. Citizens could only petition government through written complaints. This limited their ability to take collective action, whereas the new online portal allows the pubic to leverage the Internet to gather a wide variety of views quicker, and without the limitations of geography. E-petitions introduced a new means for citizens to demand action, and fostered civic participation and enhanced opportunities for public control over how their petitions are considered and acted upon. However, it is not entirely clear to what extent e-petitions with the required number of signatures have affected the decision-making process of government actors. While submitted petitions have helped shape the public dialogue by shining a spotlight on issues of public interest, at the time of the assessment, there was no evidence to indicate that the submitted petitions had meaningfully influenced government decision-making.

Carried forward?

The commitment was not carried over to the new action plan.