The State Duma approved in the first reading the tightening of liability of providers for evading blocking

The government wants to introduce heavy fines for providers for failing to fulfill their obligations to block and unblock sites.

On October 7, the State Duma approved in the first reading a government bill providing for increased liability of Internet providers for failure to fulfill their obligations to block pages based on information received from Roskomnadzor.

The bill was submitted to the State Duma on June 17, 2016. He introduces a new article 13.32 into the Code of Administrative Offenses, according to which officials are fined from three to five thousand rubles for failure to fulfill their obligations to block and unblock sites, individual entrepreneurs - from 10 to 30 thousand, legal entities - from 50 to 100 thousand rubles.

The explanatory note states that at present, for evading the obligation to block prohibited websites, providers are punished under Part 3 of Art. 14.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, which concerns the implementation of entrepreneurial activities in violation of the terms of the license. Thus, in 2015 alone, 501 protocols on administrative offenses were drawn up against providers that did not block prohibited pages, and in 488 cases, arbitration courts satisfied the requirements of Roskomnadzor to hold communication operators accountable. However, Part 3 of Art. 14.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses provides for a warning or a fine in the amount of 30 to 40 thousand rubles, which, according to the government, is disproportionate to the degree of public danger of prohibited information (i.e. information about drugs, child pornography, extremist appeals, etc.). At the same time, under Art. 14.1 is punished for less significant offenses, and that is why it is advisable to introduce a new article into the Code of Administrative Offenses, the government believes.

For the first time, the plans of the authorities to tighten the responsibility for evading providers from blocking websites became known in the fall of 2015, when the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications submitted a bill for public discussion. By the time it was introduced to the State Duma, it had undergone some changes. First, if it was originally planned to extend the effect of the article of the Code of Administrative Offenses only to the blocking of resources entered in the Unified Register of Banned Sites, then the wording approved by the Duma refers simply to information received from Roskomnadzor. This wording obviously covers both the uploading of updates to the Unified Register of Banned Sites and notifications from Roskomnadzor about the need to block resources under Lugovoy's law. Secondly, the second part of the article on liability for non-renewal of access to resources excluded from the Unified Register has disappeared: now it is proposed to punish for failure to unblock sites in a timely manner in the same way as for failure to comply with blocking requirements.

The adoption of the bill is logically built into the previous measures of the authorities to counter the spread of prohibited materials on the network. However, the mechanisms for replenishing the Unified Registry cause us significant complaints , and the day that, according to the law, is given for blocking, is such a period that only large providers can easily meet, while small ones may have difficulty tracking changes in the Unified Registry and immediate response. As for "Lugovoy's law" , its mechanism creates conditions for abuse. We consider extrajudicial blocking of sites provided for by this law unacceptable.

Sources

• Bill No. 1102471-6. On amendments to the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses (in terms of establishing the liability of a telecom operator) // Automated system for ensuring the legislative activities of the State Duma. 2016. October 10.