The State Duma adopted in the first reading the draft federal law "On Amendments to Certain Legislative acts of the Russian Federation in connection with the introduction of the digital ruble" and draft amendments to Parts One, Two and three of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, prepared in connection with the development of the bill on the digital ruble. The relevant documents are posted in the legislative support system.
The draft law "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation in connection with the introduction of the digital ruble" creates the necessary legal conditions for the possibility of launching international pilot projects aimed at the use of the digital ruble.
At the initial stage, it is planned to pilot the use of the digital ruble in transfers between citizens and settlements between citizens and legal entities in Russia, following which the directions for further improvement and development of the use of the digital ruble will be evaluated.
The draft law, in particular, amends the law on the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (Bank of Russia) aimed at legislating the status of the operator of the digital ruble platform and the participant of the digital ruble platform for the Bank of Russia, as well as granting the Bank of Russia powers, the implementation of which is aimed at ensuring the functioning of the digital ruble platform and protecting the interests of users the specified platform.
It is envisaged that the formation of the balance of digital rubles is carried out exclusively by the Bank of Russia, which also organizes and ensures the smooth functioning of the digital ruble platform.
The responsibility of the Bank of Russia for the safety of digital rubles, the correctness of accounting for information about transactions with digital rubles is established.
The bill expands the functions of the Board of Directors of the Bank of Russia in terms of determining tariffs for services provided within the framework of the platform, the list of permitted transactions with digital rubles.
The document provides for a number of amendments to the law "On Banks and Banking Activities", including restrictions on the possibility of performing certain banking transactions with digital rubles, provisions defining the specifics of the banking secrecy regime in relation to transactions with digital rubles, the consequences of revocation of the license of a credit institution related to the acceptance by a credit institution of orders for the transfer of digital rubles.
Amendments are envisaged to the law "On Enforcement Proceedings" in terms of establishing the specifics of collecting digital rubles accounted for on the debtor's digital account (wallet): in particular, the procedure for initiating the procedure for foreclosing on digital rubles is fixed.
In addition, separate amendments are being made to the law on Currency Regulation and Currency Control, in particular, it is indicated that the digital ruble is the currency of the Russian Federation, and the digital currencies of foreign central banks, respectively, are foreign currency within the meaning of the said law.
The draft federal law "On Amendments to Parts One, Two and Three of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation" amends Article 128 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, according to which digital rubles are classified as non-cash funds. It also provides for amendments to paragraph 1 of Article 140 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation in terms of supplementing this provision with a provision specifying that non-cash settlements include settlements in digital rubles.
In addition, amendments are being made to Article 185 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, according to which a written authorization to perform operations on a digital account (wallet) can be submitted directly to the participant of the digital ruble platform or to the operator of the digital ruble platform in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation on the national payment system. The rights under the digital account agreement, in accordance with the draft law, cannot be pledged.
The bill amends Article 861 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, according to which settlements in digital rubles are carried out by transferring digital rubles by the operator of the digital ruble platform within the framework of the digital ruble platform in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation on the national payment system.
