Clifford Chance

Landing Law: New rules of the game?

29 October 2021

Federal Law No. 236-FZ dated 1 July 2021 "On Activities of Foreign Persons on the Information and Telecom Network "Internet" in the Territory of the Russian Federation" ("Landing Law") came into force on 1 July 2021^[1]. Seeking to establish 'equal conditions' for local and offshore companies in Russia, the Landing Law requires the latter ones to comply with numerous requirements under the supervision of Russian authorities and for these purposes to ensure physical presence in Russia starting from 1 January 2022.

BACKGROUND

According to the explanatory note to the bill as first proposed^[2], the Landing Law was intended to formally regulate operation of foreign IT companies (such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) which de facto provide online services to Russian users but de jure may disregard requirements and restrictions applicable to Russian companies and ignore requests of Russian authorities.

In other words, the main goal of the Landing Law adopted under the pretext of protecting Russian users is to enable Russian authorities to apply their online and offline enforcement measures which can currently be applied against Russian businesses also to foreign companies tapping the Russian market from abroad.

 

[1] Although some of the provisions of the Landing Law will come into effect in 2022.

[2] https://sozd.duma.gov.ru/bill/909987-7.

Download PDF