Russian Parliament Votes on Bill Opening Door for Digital Ruble

Russian lawmakers have approved a draft law promoting the implementation of a digital version of the national currency, the ruble. The law amends various other laws to introduce definitions and establish procedures for the central bank’s launch of digital currency.

The State Duma of Russia passed the draft law on the digital ruble in its first session

The State Duma, the lower house of the Russian Federation Parliament, adopted at the first reading abillintroducing the legal amendments necessary for the realization of the digital ruble project. In particular, it aims to amend the Law on the State Payment System.

The latter will be supplemented with legal definitions related to the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) issued by the Bank of Russia. Access to state-run coin platforms and procedures for opening digital wallets will also be proposed, RBC Crypto noted in its report.

According to the economic newspaper Vedomosti, the draft proposes terms such as “digital ruble platform participant” and “digital ruble platform user”. It also assigns the role of sole operator to the Central Bank of Russia (CBR), which guarantees its secure functioning.

The bill also amends the “Law on Currency Regulation and Currency Control.” This particular amendment secures the status of the digital ruble as the currency of the Russian Federation and defines the digital currency of other central banks as foreign currency.

The sponsor wants to authorize the CBR to process personal data without obtaining the consent of the user and without notifying the agency responsible for the protection of such information. This would be accomplished by changing the federal law “On Personal Data.”

The bill was submitted to the State Duma in late December by a group of deputies and senators led by Anatoly Aksakov, chairman of the Financial Markets Committee. This time, prior to its second reading, the Committee directed the Commission to put in writing “consideration of the need to ensure the protection of the rights of personal data subjects.”

In parallel with the digital ruble bill, a draft amendment to the Civil Code was also adopted that would classify CBDC as non-cash money and regulate other aspects such as inheritance. Proposals for further amendments to the draft will be accepted by mid-April. The Bank of Russia plans to begin testing the digital ruble with actual users and transactions on April 1, with the aim of full operation in 2024.

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