Digital Economy Legal Support Group

The government approves the procedure for paying mandatory charges for advertising online On 15 August 2025, the Russian Government’s Resolution No. 1224 was adopted and came into force, establishing specific rules for calculating and paying mandatory charges under Law on Advertising.

The State Duma has adopted a law prohibiting advertising in banned social networks

Pepeliaev Group advises that, on 25 March 2025, the State Duma (the lower chamber of the Russian Parliament) adopted in the third reading draft law No. 652920-8, which is aimed at countering extremist activity in Russia and, specifically, at preventing advertising from being disseminated on certain information resources.

Regulation of cross-border payments that use cryptocurrencies and Russian or foreign digital financial assets Pepeliaev Group advises that regulation has changed of digital currencies, and of digital financial assets (DFAs), and that experimental legal regimes have been established in the area of digital innovations in the financial market.

A law has been passed obliging bloggers who have an audience of more 10,000 users to report information about themselves to Roskomnadzor Pepeliaev Group advises that, on 30 July 2024, the State Duma (the lower chamber of Russia’s Parliament) passed in its third reading Law No. 647048-8 “On amending the Federal Law “On communications” and certain legislative instruments of the Russian Federation”. The Law provides for amendments to be made to particular federal laws, including Federal Law No. 149-FZ “On information, information technologies and the protection of information” and Federal Law No. 38-FZ “On advertising”.

A draft law has been put before the State Duma regarding the prohibition of advertising on banned websites On 21 June 2024, draft law No. 652920-8 “On amending article 12 of the Federal Law ‘On counteracting extremist activity’ and articles 5 and 38 of the Federal Law ‘On advertising’” (the “Draft Law”) was put before the State Duma.

The business of marketplaces will be regulated

Pepeliaev Group advises that, on 5 March 2024, draft law No. 568223-8 has been put before the State Duma. It provides for the unified legal regulation of marketplaces’ business.

Overview of court practice relating to cases over the protection of consumers’ rights when goods are sold via the Internet

The key provisions of the overview of court practice been prepared by the Russian Supreme Court relating to cases over the protection of consumers’ rights that apply to the sale of goods via the Internet.

The law has been signed on how to use recommendation engines in the Internet On 31 July 2023, Federal Law No. 408-FZ dated 31 July 2023 was signed by the Russian President and published. The Law stipulates new requirements for owners (the ‘owners of information resources’) of websites and web pages, information systems and computer software (‘recommendation engines’) that use information technologies for supplying information after collecting, systematising and analysing data relating to preferences of Internet users located in Russia.

A draft law has been put before the State Duma on the protection of the rights of users of paid digital subscriptions On 19 July 2023, a group of deputies put before the State Duma draft law No. 405607-8 introducing new requirements for sellers (service providers) ensuring that a consumer obtains a certain service on the Internet on a regular basis or has regular access to goods (services) on an Internet website (the “owner of an online service”) based on a subscriber agreement.

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.