On 26.12.2024, Federal Law No. 479-FZ was signed, which provides for the obligation for advertising distributors and advertising system operators who distribute advertising in the Internet, aimed at attracting the attention of advertising consumers located in the territory of the Russian Federation, mandatory contributions to the federal budget in the amount of 3% of the amount of income received during the quarter from the sale of services for the distribution of advertising on the ‘Internet’. Quarters are counted from the beginning of the calendar year.

At the 26th session of the Advertising Coordinating Council under the ICAP the Basic Principles of Fair Practices for Bloggers in Advertising in the CIS countries (hereinafter referred to as the “Basic Principles”) were introduced. Basic Principles is an act for self-regulation. The main purpose of Basic Principles is to assist bloggers from CIS countries in complying with advertising legislation.

On November 22, 2024, the Government of the Russian Federation (the “Government”) approved Resolution No. 1607 dated November 22, 2024 (the “Resolution”) on the experiment in the territory of the Russian Federation to conduct monitoring of Russian manufacturers of goods which are subject to mandatory marking with means of identification using the state information monitoring system for the circulation of goods subject to mandatory marking with means of identification (the “Experiment”).

More in our update.

Despite the fact that the issue of intellectual property rights turnover is included in the perimeter of antimonopoly regulation, until recently the Russian Antitrust Agency took rather an observant position.

The regulator's position was that the issue of patent infringement is a private legal dispute between original and generic manufacturers, which should not affect the turnover of drugs, particularly the execution of contracts based on the results of public procurement. Only in isolated cases the Russian Antitrust Agency has established the fact of patent infringement and issued a corresponding order on the inadmissibility of anti-competitive practices.

Now the reverse trend has clearly emerged.

More in our update.

On October 23, the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation (the “FAS”) has published recommendations for preventing greenwashing in marketing communications (the “Recommendations”).

Greenwashing is described as actions involving the distribution of false or incorrect environmental statements that mislead consumers regarding the environmental characteristics of goods in order to obtain unjustified advantages.

The Recommendations provide for the concept of environmental statements, their types and requirements for them, as well as the consequences of non-compliance with the requirements for such statements.

Federal Law No. 301-FZ “On Amendments to the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”” (the “Law”) was signed by the President of the Russian Federation on 10 July 2023 and will enter into force on 1 September 2023. As follows from the explanation note, the Law provides a set of norms aimed to improve antitrust regulation in the digital economic development. The main amendments of the fifth antitrust package you can find in this legal update.

From 1 September 2022 a new regulation in the field of advertising has been enacted. Federal Law No. 38-FZ “On Advertising” was supplemented by provisions, according to which Internet advertising should be marked and is subject to registration in the Unified Register of Internet Advertising, the operator of which is Roskomnadzor.

The Antimonopoly Service (FAS) expressed its position on its website regarding organic integration on the Internet and informed when the requirements for advertising on the Internet can be applied to the integration.

Federal Law No. 347-FZ dated July 2, 2021, has created new obligations for advertisers, advertising distributors, and operators of advertising systems.

The State Duma of the Russian Federation approved a bill (Bill) providing amendments to the legislation on the protection of competition in the first reading.