The legal aspect of implementing of the smart city concept in Ukraine

Abstract

The legal aspects of the implementing of the Smart City concept in Ukraine are considered in this article. It is determined that despite the active development of the digital initiatives in cities, the legal regulation remains fragmented and lacks a unified normative/regulatory act that comprehensively covers all the elements of “the smart city”. The purpose of the research is to analyze the current legal/regulatory basis that may potentially be applied to the implementation of various components of the Smart City concept. The key Ukrainian laws and strategies related to the local self-government, the electronic communications, the administrative services, the public-private partnerships, the digital economics and the innovation practice are considered. The analysis reveals that although there are the sufficient legal instruments that are available to the municipal authorities to implement the Smart City initiatives, a systematic inconsistency persists between the strategic intentions and the actual normative support for digital transformation at the local level.

The several critical legal gaps in the Smart City implementation are identified, including the absence of a legal definition for the term “smart city”, the limited powers/authorities of the local self-government in this field, the fragmentation of strategic documents, a lack of a national implementation framework and the absence of a centralized approach for The Smart City implementation on the national level, the absence of the agency or authority which is responsible for coordinating the Smart City initiatives, the absence of the regulation of cybersecurity issues at the municipal level in the Law of Ukraine “On Local Self-Government”, the outdated nature of the Law “On Public-Private Partnerships” in the context of digital projects.

A step-by-step strategy for improving of the legal regulation for the Smart City development, including the methodological support, the normative and institutional adjustments and systematic legislative reforms, is proposed. The emphasis on the need for a phased approach, the adoption of ISO 37100-series standards, the legislative adaptation to the digital initiatives and the establishment of a specialized coordination agency, is placed. The implementation of these measures will contribute to the legal certainty, enhance the management efficiency, and support the integration of Ukrainian cities into the European ecosystem of the digital governance.