#09 September 2017

In focus – Technology, Media, Telecommunications

The legal challenges facing the technological sector have grown explosively in unison with innovative products and services across industry. And the regulatory framework should be adapted in this race of changes.

Cutting-edge technologies are changing our lives and the way we do business, setting challenges to traditional thinking and governance issues. There is no guarantee today that established players are retaining leadership roles. We have seen so many examples of major corporations ceding the market to flexible newcomers.

Digitalization is in the air right across all spheres of life, public and private. In the meantime legal professionals now have new issues to consider. The September issue of the UJBL examines global data protection, cloud computing and the wave of blockchain technology in the wake of the huge cyberattack on Ukraine in June.

Expert Opinion

Six Reasons Why Businesses in Ukraine should Care about the GDPR

Oleksiy Stolyarenko

On 25 May 2018 the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) will replace the current Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC and will be directly applicable in all EU Member States without the need to implement national laws. The aim of the GDPR is to unify the current patchwork of privacy data regulations that exists in Member States, protect privacy as a fundamental right, and ensure the free flow of personal data between Member States. Adoption of the GDPR has been a result of more than a decade of negotiations, as well as reassessment of privacy as a human right and of personal data as being a value for the economy.

In Re

“Clouds Come Floating into my Life…”

Julia Semeniy, Oksana Legka

Cloud computing, along with Big Data, social media, and mobility, is one of the current megatrends that will drive huge changes to the business ecosystem in the next decade. Surveys carried out in recent years unanimously confirm that organisations across the globe are moving rapidly and continuously towards the cloud. For instance, the 2016 IDG’s Enterprise Cloud Computing Survey revealed that 90% of all organizations today either have applications running in the cloud or are planning to use cloud applications in the next year. Furthermore, the worldwide public cloud services market is projected to grow 18% in 2017 to a total of USD 246.8 billion, according to Gartner, Inc., another research firm. It has already become an increasingly mainstream thing not only for large companies, but also for small to medium-sized companies, to develop and then implement their strategies on migration to the cloud.

Getting Involved in Blockchain

Olga Romanenko

Interest in blockchain technology has grown significantly over the last couple of years. A report from PricewaterhouseCoopers has named blockchain as a “tech breakthrough megatrend”1 for CIOs, while Gartner has named it top of the “Hype Cycle”2 for an emerging technology. So what actually makes blockchain one of the hottest topics today, and why is this technology receiving such a great deal of attention from lawyers? To understand this, let’s look under its hood first.

News

Deals

EY Ukraine advised MK Group

AEQUO advised EBRD

Baker McKenzie’s Kiev and Warsaw offices advised Greenyard

DLA Piper advised on acquisition of Plarium

Baker McKenzie advised Ukrainian Agrarian Investments

CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang advised on landmark financing of new grain terminal

 

 

Cases

Ukrnafta filed suit against Cabinet of Ministers

Xiaomi filed lawsuit against Ukrainian distributor

Gucci filed suit against Forever 21

Court sustained lawsuit brought by state-owned Oschadbank against LLC ESU

 

Draft

Post of Energy Ombudsman could be introduced in Ukraine

Online stores to be punished for inaccurate information about sellers

Draft Law On Currency made public

Draft Law registered on increasing creditor confidence in banks

 

Law digest

Monitoring and control system of state assistance to business

New regulations on implementation of activities in telecoms field

Enterprises of aircraft industry exempt from import duties and VAT

Banks can use electronic signature

Changes in transfer pricing

 

Biznews

Telecommunications

Start of 4G licenses sale procedure

International Policy

Britain to prepare draft law to impose sanctions after Brexit

Ukraine to sell stake in joint Kazakhstan–Russia–Ukraine nuclear facility

Oil & Gas

Petroforce obtained gas trading license in Ukraine

Trade remedies

Duties on corn, rye and sorghum import to EU introduced

Trademarks

Apple registered trademark in Ukraine

Mining

Avellana Gold to invest in gold mining in Ukraine

International Monitoring

USA suspends issue of non-immigrant visas in Russia

Energy

Electricity from ocean currents

25% stake in Kyivenergo sold at reserve price

Transportation

Air Berlin declared bankruptcy

 

UBA News

Main trends of prosecution for actions carried out on the Internet

During the meeting organized by the Ukrainian Bar Association Committee on Criminal Law & Procedure on 9 August 2017 participants discussed the main trends in bringing to criminal responsibility for actions in the world wide web.

Cover Story

Talk about Tomorrow

Electronics, social media, Internet 2.0 — despite all of these innovations old-school lawyers are still wearing double-breasted suits and offering boilerplate services rooted in the industrial era. Big data, IoT, robots, artificial intelligence, uberization, the sharing economy and many other still unknown trends signal the post-industrial world. Axon Partners is often considered to be the strangest law firm on the Ukrainian market, partly because they work with technology businesses — the guys who are taking the Ukrainian economy into the next era. Denys Beregovyi and Dima Gadomsky talked to us about fintech, legaltech and other tech-related issues of business and law.

Argument

Investment Opportunities through Recognition and Enforcement of Arbitral Awards in Ukraine

Oleksii Prudkyi, Iryna Vlasiuk

Ukraine has recently proved itself to be a fast transforming economy as the Government has implemented a number of measurers to pursue unprecedented reforms across the legal, economic and political spheres.

The first positive outcomes of the changes may well be seen soon enough. This could make those investors considering new economic opportunities in Ukraine, to open (or reopen) the country for their business. Doing business under a new legal framework and ongoing reforms inevitably requires sound legal advice not only on regulatory matters but also on assessment of possible risks related to potential disputes and arbitration proceedings.

Crux

Legal Digest

Last month another portion of legislative novelties were submitted by the Ukrainian Parliament and Cabinet of Ministers, which leave many questions to consider. We asked a handful of experts to share their views on the sanctions against the Russian Federation, Iran and North Korea, introduction of the Single Window system, as well as the Interdepartmental Working Group on the examination of problem issues on violations of the rights of commercial entities, the draft law on the mandatory registration of all mobile subscribers and many other issues.

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