Digital Economy Legal Support Group

A draft law has been submitted to the State Duma regarding liability for the failure to comply with requirements for keeping records of internet advertising

Draft law No. 337373-8 (the “Draft Law”) was submitted to the State Duma on 14 April 2023. It has been stipulated that measures of administrative liability will be introduced for companies if they do not comply with certain requirements relating to keeping records of Internet advertising.

A record-keeping system for internet advertising has started to operate in Russia

Pepeliaev Group advises that on 31 October 2022 the transition period finished for a record-keeping system for Internet advertising to be implemented in Russia. Now the players on the market of Internet advertising are obliged to submit to the Unified Register of Internet Advertising (the “Register”) information about Internet advertising aimed at attracting the attention of consumers of advertising located in Russia, to obtain an advertising identifier for each advertising material and to label Internet advertising with the “advertising” mark.

The Russian Federal Tax Service has confirmed that it is legal to separate IT units into individual legal entities in order to receive tax benefits Pepeliaev Group advises that, according to the position of the Russian Federal Tax Service, the reorganisation of a legal entity as a result of which a standalone IT company is created cannot be considered by tax authorities to be a distortion of facts of economic life and qualify as the application of a tax evasion scheme.

The ban on Meta Platforms Inc.’s activities*: what should businesses and users take into account? *According to a Court’s ruling, Meta Platforms Inc. has been recognised as an extremist organisation and prohibited from doing business in Russia.

The court has prohibited Meta Platforms Inc. from doing business in Russia On 22 March 2022 the Tverskoy District Court held Meta Platforms Inc. to be an extremist organisation and prohibited it from doing business in Russia.

The law makes provision for implementing experimental legal regimes in the area of medical practice, communications services and autonomous transport technologies Pepeliaev Group advises of the coming into force of Federal Law No. 331-FZ dated 2 July 2021 “On amendments to individual items of legislation of the Russian Federation in connection with the adoption of the Federal Law ‘On experimental legal regimes in the area of digital innovations in the Russian Federation’”. Pursuant to the Law, participants of experimental legal regimes in the area of medical practice, communications and autonomous transport technologies may be granted exemptions from individual legislative requirements.

A record-keeping system for internet advertising is being set up in Russia Pepeliaev Group advises that a Law “On amending the Federal Law “On advertising”” has been adopted with regard to setting up a unified information system for keeping a record of advertising on the Internet. An obligation is being introduced for advertising distributors and advertisers to report information regarding Internet advertising to the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (known in Russian as ‘Roskomnadzor’).

The State Duma has received a draft law that foreign internet companies must open representative offices in Russia Pepeliaev Group advises that on 21 May 2021 a draft law “On the Internet activities of foreign entities in the Russian Federation”  was put before the State Duma. 

The law on the mandatory pre-installation of Russian software has come into force Pepeliaev Group advises that, on 1 April 2021, Federal Law No. 425-FZ “On amending article 4 of the Law of the Russian Federation “On the protection of consumers” dated 2 December 2019 came into force. The law obliges producers and persons authorised by them to perform the prior installation of Russian software on separate types of goods.

The State Duma has adopted the law “On digital financial assets” Pepeliaev Group advises that a federal law “On digital financial assets, digital currency and amending certain items of Russian legislation” (the “Law”) has been adopted.

Amendments to legislation concerning electronic signatures Pepeliaev Group advises of amendments to legislation concerning electronic signatures which came into effect on 1 July 2020.

The procedure has been devised for conducting an experiment aimed at using work-related electronic documents Pepeliaev Group advises that the Ministry of Labour and Social Security has devised the draft order “On approving the regulation on the procedure for conducting an experiment aimed at using work-related electronic documents”