Publications

A draft Federal Law supplementing the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation with three new offenses in connection with dissemination in the media and the information networks, including the Internet, of false socially significant information under the guise of reliable messages (the so-called "fake news"), and measures of liability for their commission depending on severity of consequences was adopted by the State Duma in its final reading.

On 26 November 2018, the Office of the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) in the Central Federal District initiated an administrative case against Google, LLC due to the company's failure to fulfill its obligations to connect to the federal state information system containing a list of information resources, information and telecommunication networks, access to which is restricted in Russia (FGIS ).

Since August 10, 2017, the Federal Law of July 29, 2017 No. 216-FZ has been in effect in Russia, providing for the legal basis for establishment and operation of innovation scientific and technological centres in order to implement the priorities of the scientific and technological development of the Russian Federation, increase the investment attractiveness of research and development, the commercialisation of their results, incentives for persons involved in the implementation of such projects, the features of their activities, including urban planning, educational and medical activities (the "Law No. 216-FZ").

Since April 23, 2018, the provisions of the Federal Law No. 229-ФЗ "On Enforcement Proceedings" dated October 2, 2007, regulate the procedure for enforcement of the requirement contained in the executive document to remove information distributed on the Internet that defames the honor, dignity or damages business reputation of a citizen or damages business reputation of a legal entity.

The President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, signed, on 28 December 2017, the Law No. 128-VI on Amendments and Additions to Certain Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Issues of Information and Communication (‘the Law’). Marina Kahiani and Lola Abdukhalykova, Partner and Associate at GRATA International, provide an analysis of the obligations under the Law, including user identification, data retention and data localisation provisions, applicable for telecommunications operators and website operators.

The President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, signed, on 28 December 2017, the Law of 28 December 2017 No. 128-VI on Amendments and Additions to Certain Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Issues of Information and Communication ('the Law'), with most of the provisions entering into force on 9 January 2018. The Law imposes additional duties of website operators and telecommunications operators, including the obligation to collect and store users' data.

The Federation Council approved on 22 November 2017 the draft Federal Law amending the Federal Law "On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection" and the Law of the Russian Federation "On Mass Media" for the purposes of the regulation of foreign media in Russia.

Amendments to the Federal Law No. 149-FZ of 27 July 2006 "On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection", which came into force on 1 October  2017, provide, inter alia, for the administrative procedure for restricting access to copies of Internet sites blocked by a decision of the Moscow City Court in connection with the repeated and illegal  placement of information containing copyright and (or) related rights, or information necessary to get access thereto (so-called mirror sites).

The Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) held a seminar on the organisation of activities of web publications with the participation of the Roskomnadzor legal experts and the representative of the RU/RF Domain Coordination Centre. 

In May 2016, General Data Protection Regulation was published in the Official Journal of the European Union. Everybody who has an establishment within the EU and process personal data in the context of the activities of such establishment will have to get ready for the new Regulation.

According to the Amendment Law as of July 11, 2017, a new article (50-1), concerning advertisement through telecommunication means and devices has been included into the Telecommunication Law.

On 27 June 2017,  the Order dated 24 May 2017 became effective which sets the criteria for assessing materials and/or information required to take decisions by the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor), Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation and Rospotrebnadzor on  the inclusion of domain names and(or) pages indexes of Internet sites, as well as network addresses that allow identifying Internet sites containing prohibited information, in the Unified Register of Domain Names and(or) Page Indexes of Internet Sites, as well as Network Addresses allowing to Identify Internet Sites that Contain Information Prohibited for Dissemination in the Russian Federation.