Legal Mechanisms of Self-Regulation and their Impact on Digital Technologies

Abstract

In recent years, we have observed that in various legal orders, including within the framework of the Russian legal regulation of the social relations in question, there is a movement in favor of strengthening the provisions of the so-called “soft law”. Soft law is a quasi-legal, non-binding law that is mainly focused on protecting consumers and/or users in digital matters. Notably, although soft law is not legally binding, this fact does not mean that it is completely void of legal force. The possibility that business and other professional actors may also pursue common interests should be recognized. The main problems of legal regulation are: the ratio of state regulation and self-regulation; the legitimacy of the extension of state sovereignty to the virtual space; development of a uniform conceptual apparatus in the field of e-commerce; identification of participants in electronic commerce, electronic document management and electronic transactions; jurisdiction and applicable law in the field of e-commerce; ensuring the security of information exchange. In the same way, certain standards and rules of self-regulatory organizations, as regulatory tools created by these entities, can also be an important tool for public administration in the field of digital technologies.