Russian Parliament Votes on Bill Opening Door for Digital Ruble – The State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, has passed in first reading a measure providing the required legislative modifications for the implementation of the digital ruble project. It intends to change the statute “On the National Payment System” in particular.
The latter will be augmented with legal terminology pertaining to the Bank of Russia’s central bank digital currency (CBDC). RBC Crypto reported in a study that the authors also propose procedures for accessing the state-backed coin’s platform and opening a digital wallet.
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The proposal suggests words such as “participant of the digital ruble platform” and “user of the digital ruble platform,” according to the business daily Vedomosti. It grants the role of sole operator to the Central Bank of Russia (CBR), which will ensure its secure operation.
In addition, the measure modifies the Currency Regulation and Currency Control Act. This amendment ensures the digital ruble’s status as the official currency of the Russian Federation and classifies the digital currencies of other central banks as foreign currencies.
The sponsors wish to allow the CBR the authority to process personal data without seeking user consent or informing the entity responsible for protecting such data. This will be accomplished by amending the federal law titled “On Personal Data.”
Late in December, a group of deputies and senators led by the chair of the Financial Market Committee, Anatoly Aksakov, introduced the bill to the State Duma. Now the house has tasked the committee to “take into account the need to ensure the protection of the rights of personal data subjects” when finalizing the document ahead of the second reading.
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Alongside the digital ruble bill, the parliament authorized revisions to the Civil Code that identify CBDC as non-cash money and regulate other issues such as inheritance. By mid-April, proposals for further modifications to the drafts will be welcomed. The Bank of Russia wants to begin testing the digital ruble with real users and transactions on April 1, and a full rollout is scheduled for 2024.
