CIVIL LIABILITY OF ELECTRONIC PLATFORM OPERATORS FOR ALGORITHMIC AND TECHNICAL FAILURES IN PROCUREMENT SYSTEMS IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

The relevance of the study stems from the fact that the transition of public and corporate procurement to electronic form has made the outcome of competitive procedures dependent on the reliability of the software and hardware of electronic platforms. The purpose of the article is to determine the grounds and limits of civil liability of electronic platform operators for algorithmic and technical failures under Federal Laws № 44–FZ and № 223–FZ and to formulate proposals for improving legislation. Using formal-legal, comparative-legal and case-study methods, the author analyses the provisions of these laws, bylaws, clarifications and practice of the FAS Russia, judicial practice, and the regulations of electronic platforms. It is shown that the key problems are contractual limitations of operators’ liability, participants’ lack of access to event logs, and the resulting asymmetry of evidentiary capabilities. The article substantiates the distinction between technical and algorithmic failures, the introduction of mandatory logging as a traceability mechanism, the participant’s right to receive log extracts, and a presumption of a technical failure attributable to the operator in the event of loss or non-provision of logs. The theoretical significance of the study lies in clarifying the grounds and limits of the platform operator’s liability; the practical significance lies in the proposals to supplement Article 24.1 of Law № 44-FZ and Article 3.3 of Law № 223-FZ