Business chamber

The Federation Council approved a law that allows you to equate foreign media with foreign agents, Interfax reports . Now the law is submitting to the president.

On November 15, amendments to the media law were adopted as a response to the United States to measures against Russia Today and Sputnik - Russian propaganda media operating in this country. The document was adopted urgently - the day after entering the lower ward.

The next day, the Ministry of Justice was notified by the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Caucasus. Realities, Crimea. Realii, Siberia. Realii, Idel. Reali, Azatliq Radiosi, the Current Time TV channel and the Factographer project about the possible inclusion in the media list of foreign agents.

On Sunday, at the Presidential Council of Human Rights, an expert opinion was prepared with a negative assessment of the law . As noted in the review, the document does not provide for other grounds for the declaration of the media by the agent, except for foreign financing. “However, it is quite obvious that any foreign media is funded precisely from foreign sources,” said the HRC. Thus, any foreign media can be announced by the "agent" "completely arbitrarily, by decision of the Ministry of Justice."

The conclusion project also emphasized that it is impossible to assign the same responsibilities on the media “agents” by “agents”, since foreign entities that “distribute printed, audio, audiovisual and other messages and other messages for an unlimited circle” can be not only non-profit, but also commercial organizations, as well as individuals. Meanwhile, the activities of commercial structures and individuals go beyond the scope, which is regulated by the Law on NKO- "Agents".

Along with this, experts drew attention to procedural violations when adopting the law. The first reading, the review says, the bill provided for amendments only to the law on information, while the second reading "not only its name, but also the concept" were substantially changed. " In accordance with the regulations of the State Duma, they note in the HRC, the document after such cardinal changes should be returned to the first reading, and not to be sent to the second. Based on this, it was recommended to return the document to the State Duma to eliminate the shortcomings in the HRC.