Webinar "Localizing the presence of IT companies"

On October 19, ALRUD Law Firm held a webinar “Localizing the presence of IT companies”.

This summer, the so-called 'Landing Law' was adopted and came into force (i.e., Federal Law dated 01.07.2021 No. 236-FZ 'On the activities of foreign entities in the Information and Telecommunication Network 'Internet' in the Russian Federation'). Landing Law is aimed at regulating activities of foreign companies in the Russian Federation who own online resources (primarily websites, apps) that target the Russian audience and are visited by more than 500,000 of such users daily. The Landing Law also covers hosting providers, operators of advertising systems and administrators of information exchange on the Internet.

The new regulation introduces a number of obligations of non-Russian companies, including setting personal account with the Russian regulator Roskomnadzor, establishment of a branch, representative office or subsidiary in Russia to facilitate the interaction of state bodies, as well as installing software, determined by Roskomnadzor, to measure number of visits by Russian users. In case of violation of the Landing Law requirements, a set of negative consequences for foreign companies are envisaged, including restrictions on receiving payments from Russian users, a ban on transfer of personal data from Russia, and blocking of online resources.

During the webinar experts from ALRUD discussed the main requirements of the Landing Law, its scope of application to non-Russian businesses as well as measures to comply with its requirements.

The webinar was opened by Maria Ostashenko, ALRUD Partner, Head of Data Protection and Cybersecurity practice and Partner of the Telecommunications, Media and Technology industry group. The speakers were Anastasia Petrova, ALRUD Of Counsel, Ilya Khodakov, ALRUD Associate and Anton Karpenko, ALRUD Attorney.