Membership in the European Union, which Ukraine and a number of other states aspire to, requires harmonizing national legislation with European standards. This applies to all spheres of life, including regulation of the digital space. Members of the High-Level Expert Group for Resilience Building in Eastern Europe (HLEG) have prepared a list of steps that countries should take now to be able to implement the Digital Services Act (DSA) immediately upon accession. The group also includes Oleksandr Burmahin, a member of the National Council.
DSA is an EU-level regulation that sets rules for the governance of information-sharing platforms (social networks). HLEG activities are coordinated by International Media Support (IMS).
At present, EU candidate countries are not required to fully transpose the provisions of the DSA into their national legislation. The European Commission instead expects operational readiness. This concept encompasses planning for institutional involvement, capacity building, and raising awareness. At the same time, it has not been further specified in terms of clear institutional or regulatory outcomes.
To fill this gap, independent HLEG experts have developed a checklist that reflects a shared vision of what “operational readiness” should encompass at the pre-accession stage to the EU.
Since each country operates under different political, security, and institutional conditions, the approach to implementing the DSA must take into account its unique circumstances.
The document outlines 12 key elements of minimum operational readiness that candidate countries can already begin working on to gradually implement the DSA. These elements include:
- appointment of a Digital Services Coordinator (DSC) – defining the state institution, its mandate, organizational structure, and powers;
- independence and resources of the future regulator – rules for appointment and dismissal of leadership, autonomy in budget management, financial resource planning, and accountability mechanisms;
- national definition of illegal content;
- establishment of a pre-accession legislative framework – creating a roadmap for the legislative process, conducting consultations with civil society and stakeholders, and assessing the compatibility of the Act with other EU legislative instruments;
- readiness of the local business community in the field of digital services – awareness-raising activities, preparation of methodological materials, and a self-assessment tool for businesses to evaluate their own readiness.
This list is not a regulatory standard and does not establish obligations. It is intended to assist governments, civil society, and businesses in candidate countries in effectively carrying out the preparatory process for regulating the digital sphere.
Two years ago, Ukraine began working on its own legislation aimed at implementing new European acts on digital space regulation. At the same time, according to Oleksandr Burmahin, member of the National Council, it is currently impossible to fully transpose the entire ecosystem of European regulation (with all mechanisms and procedures) to the national level. In March, the European Commission clarified that candidate countries do not need to rush with the implementation of the DSA, it will be sufficient to carry out the initial preparatory steps. These include identifying a digital regulator, stakeholders among state bodies and non-governmental organizations, and conducting awareness-raising activities. As Oleksandr Burmahin notes, this will be enough to report to the EU on the work done to transpose the European DSA into Ukrainian legislation.
“There is currently a public demand for regulating digital platforms, and therefore the absence of legislation in this area will not be perceived as acceptable. I believe that the most optimal path for us is to orient ourselves toward the DSA wherever possible. This way, we will lay the foundations, shape the building blocks, which at the stage of accession will make it easy to assemble the full structure of the Digital Services Act. We must move in the direction of these standards and their implementation.”
HLEG was established by IMS to provide expert assistance in the process of adapting the legislation of EU candidate countries to the European Union’s legal framework in the field of online regulation. It brings together 15 renowned experts in online regulation from Europe, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. Representing Ukraine are Oleksandr Burmahin, member of the National Council; Maksym Dvorovyi, senior legal counsel at the Digital Security Lab; and Pavlo Burdiak, analyst at the Center for Democracy and Rule of Law.
