Legal status of digital service providers

Abstract

The article examines the legal status of entities that provide digital services in the conditions of the modern digital economy. Practical recommendations have been formulated regarding the improvement of certain elements of the legal status of digital service providers.
During the research, the normative consolidation in the Law of Ukraine «On Digital Content and Digital Services» of key concepts related to digital service providers, their rights and obligations established by legislation was analyzed. Particular attention is paid to the definition of objective and subjective criteria for the conformity of digital content, as well as to the peculiarities of the execution of a contract for the provision of digital services.
The specificity of the rights of digital service providers is characterized, which include the right to modify digital content, receive payment, process personal data, etc. The obligations of digital service providers are studied, in particular, the obligation to ensure the compliance of the digital product with legislative requirements, the timely provision of digital services, and the observance of third parties’ intellectual property rights. The conditions of liability of digital service providers for violating the procedure of providing digital services are defined.
Ways to improve certain elements of the legal status of digital service providers are proposed: 1) clarification of the definition of «provider» in the legislation; 2) introduction of legislative provisions that extend legal regulation to foreign digital service providers; 3) development and implementation of effective means of resolving disputes arising from the execution of digital service contracts; 4) creation of a favorable regulatory environment for certain digital service providers; and 5) introduction of effective tools for intersectoral coordination, supervision, and enforcement to monitor compliance with legislation by digital service providers.
The obtained results may be used for further scientific research in the field of digital and civil law, as well as in the development of draft regulatory acts aimed at improving the regulation of the digital services market in Ukraine.