The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved a new initiative aimed at strengthening the sanctions regime against states that are under restrictions by the Ukrainian government. According to new amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Sanctions”, it is planned to prohibit the use of software (software) and websites related to countries against which sanctions have been imposed, in particular, the Russian Federation.
Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov confirmed that the new bill aims to amend the current legislation by expanding the list of sectoral sanctions. The main provisions of the proposed changes include:
- Prohibition on Software Developed in Sanctioned Countries: The draft law prohibits the use of software developed by individuals or legal entities from sanctioned countries.
- Restrictions on Products of Companies with Sanctioned Investments: Programs created by companies whose authorized capital is owned by sanctioned states are prohibited.
- Prohibition of Software from Companies Controlled by Terrorist Organizations: Software owned by companies controlled by organizations or individuals engaged in terrorist activities will also be prohibited.
- Use of Code from Sanctioned Products: Software that uses the source or object code of other sanctioned products is prohibited.
- Banning Websites of Sanctioned Persons or Organizations: The bill also proposes to ban access to websites owned by sanctioned persons or organizations.
This initiative is a continuation of the campaign to block Russian services in Ukraine, which began back in 2018. At that time, the popular social networks Odnoklassniki and VKontakte were banned, as well as Yandex services and some Russian software, in particular the 1C accounting program.
In April 2023, the IT Ukraine association appealed to the Ministry of Digital Transformation with an initiative to ban the use of Russian software in state-owned companies and businesses. The association's leaders noted that clones of Russian software re-registered in EU countries, such as BAS ERP, AmoCRM, and Bitrix, are still operating in Ukraine and should also be subject to sanctions.
