Legal Design of Digital Profile: Concept, Features and Limits of Legal Regime
Abstract
There is a discussion around essential features of digital profile to come up with an integral idea of this concept and its legal nature in the article presented. The research is motivated by new digital services (learner’s digital portfolio, young person’s integrated profile at the Public Services Portal, foreign national’s digital profile etc.) which are in process of being designed and implemented to consolidate personal data across various fields of social relationships. The authors purport to identify the concept and legal regime of digital profile as well as to outline the prospects of its integration into the public governance system. Based on comparative study of legal regulations, it was established the digital profile’s legal regime emerges at the junction of laws on personal data, identification/authentication, education, youth policies, and labour. The key features of this regime are voluntary nature of digital profile, decentralized data storage across multiple agency-level information systems, conciliatory third-party access and targeted use for personalized provision of public services. It was found there is currently no overarching regulation that would govern the concept and legal regime of digital profile, secure the rights of persons at law and provide control mechanisms over the use of stored data, something that creates the risks of legal uncertainty. Drafting such specialized regulation will contribute to successful institutionalization of digital profile. The crucial context has emerged with the adoption of Presidential Decree No. 467 on the foreign national’s digital profile of 09 July 2025, a precedent of formalizing mechanisms to implement digital profiles for specific categories of individuals. Promising institutionalization vectors include the transition to proactive public service provision based on profile data; personalized learning and career development paths; integrated platform for individuals to communicate with the government, employers and public agencies. Meanwhile, there are problems of personal data protection, social rating risks and a need for clear delimitation of voluntary and mandatory uses of digital profile.
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