Russia (bbabo.net), The Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) proposed to reduce the value added tax (VAT) on electronic services provided by digital ecosystems, as well as on the content they produce. The business association sent a report with proposals to the State Duma, the Federation Council, the government and the Central Bank.
As the authors note, the establishment of a single preferential VAT rate will allow digital platforms and ecosystems to invest the saved funds in the development of these services and will become a market growth driver. By how much to reduce the rate, the RSPP propose to decide in a dialogue between the industry and the authorities. In addition, it is proposed to introduce end-to-end consents to the processing of personal data for all parts of the ecosystem. That is, if a person has given consent to the processing of personal data in one ecosystem service, this will no longer be required in another. It is also proposed to regulate the procedures for depersonalization and exchange of depersonalized user data necessary to improve the efficiency of services included in the same ecosystem, targeted advertising and cross-selling of digital goods and services.
As follows from the report, the need for incentives for domestic digital platforms and ecosystems is due to the fact that the world's largest Internet companies (Google, Facebook, Tencent) are also the largest developers of IT solutions, while Facebook is 57 times larger than Mail.ru in terms of revenue, and in terms of capitalization of 115, Tencent is larger than Mail.ru by 47 and 102 times, respectively, Google is larger than Yandex in terms of capitalization by more than 60 times. In this situation, there are practically no chances for domestic IT companies in direct competition.
The Ministry of Economic Development, where work is underway to form a support package for digital ecosystems, reported that they are not yet familiar with the proposals of the RSPP. They did not come to the ministry, but "the department is open to dialogue, and the development of measures to support digital ecosystems is already being carried out in close cooperation with business associations and the business community."
The Central Bank noted that they are preparing a common position on supporting ecosystems, "taking into account the views of all industry participants."
It is proposed to introduce end-to-end consent to the processing of personal data, that is, if a person has consented to their processing in one ecosystem service, this will no longer be required in another
Skolkovo experts single out four companies in the Russian market that fall under the criteria of ecosystems: Sberbank, MTS, Yandex and VK (the former Mail.ru Group). At the same time, the very concept of "ecosystem", as well as the set of criteria that define such structures, is extremely blurred. Ecosystems are being built by VTB, Russian Post, OZON.ru, Tinkoff, MegaFon, Rostelecom and others. The Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs agrees with the lack of a strict definition. Moreover, the report notes that despite external similarities, the business structure of digital ecosystems differs significantly. And to introduce the definition of "ecosystem" into the legislation is an excessive measure. However, despite this, this business sector, according to the authors, needs state support.
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