The Federation Council approved fines for violating Internet legislation

Administrative liability is introduced for violations of the law on the "landing" of Internet companies and the rules for installing TSPU.

On July 8, 2022, the Federation Council approved a law on administrative liability for violating the law on the "landing" of Internet companies in Russia, as well as on blocking.

The bill on responsibility for violating the law on "landing" was submitted to the State Duma by deputies Alexander Khinshtein and Sergei Boyarsky in March. In April, the Duma adopted it in the first reading. By the second reading, some amendments were made to the draft, including those related to ensuring the operation of technical means of countering threats (TSPU), that is, the infrastructure of the "sovereign Internet". The second reading took place on July 5, and the third on July 6.

The approved law provides for a number of changes to the Code of Administrative Offenses (CAO).

Responsibility of telecom operators for repeated evasion of blocking and unblocking on the Internet, provided for in Part 2 of Art. 13.34 of the Code of Administrative Offenses , is being tightened: officials will be fined in amounts from 30 to 250 thousand rubles, and legal entities - from 500 thousand to 4 million.

According to Art. 13.42 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, liability is also increased for violations by the telecom operator of the rules for installing TSPU. Under part 1, officials will be fined in amounts from 30 to 50 thousand rubles, individual entrepreneurs - from 50 to 100 thousand, legal entities - from 500 thousand to a million. For a repeated violation under part 2, the fine for officials will be from 100 to 200 thousand, for individual entrepreneurs - from 200 to 500 thousand, for legal entities - from 3 to 5 million rubles.

New Art. 13.42.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses provides for liability for violation of the requirements for the passage of traffic through the TSPU. It carries the same sanctions.

For the third infringement under both articles the criminal liability is provided .

According to the new art. 13.47 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, it will be possible to punish "foreign persons" operating on the Internet in Russia (that is, companies subject to "landing") for violating the requirements imposed on them. Part 1 is devoted to the refusal to install a counter of visitors determined by Roskomnadzor and entails a fine for citizens in the amount of 50 to 100 thousand rubles, for officials - from 200 to 400 thousand, for legal entities - from 500 thousand to 1 million.

Part 2 Art. 13.47 of the Code of Administrative Offenses provides for liability for avoiding creating a feedback form for Russians, registering a personal account on the Roskomnadzor website and opening a representative office in Russia. The following fines are established: for citizens - from 200 to 400 thousand rubles, for officials - from 400 to 800 thousand rubles, for legal entities - from 1/15 to 1/10 of the turnover in Russia over the past year or if no activity was carried out last year , for the past part of the calendar year, but not less than 6 million rubles.

Under part 3, for the repeated violation of the violation provided for in part 2, the following fines are provided: for citizens - from 300 to 500 thousand rubles, for officials - from 500 thousand to 1 million, for legal entities - from 1/10 to 1/5 turnover, but not less than 10 million rubles.

According to the new art. 19.5.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, "foreign persons" will be fined for violating the ban on the collection of personal data. Under Part 1, citizens are subject to a fine in the amount of from 30 to 100 thousand rubles, for officials - from 100 to 500 thousand, for legal entities - from 1.5 to 6 million rubles. Under Part 2, for a repeated violation, it is planned to fine citizens for 100-300 thousand rubles, officials - in the amount of 500 thousand to 1 million, legal entities - from 6 to 18 million rubles.

The existing Art. 13.40 of the Code of Administrative Offenses on the responsibility of search engines is supplemented by parts 5-7. Part 5 is devoted to the search engine's failure to fulfill its obligation to inform users that a foreign company violates the laws of the Russian Federation. Part 6 deals with failure to fulfill the obligation to exclude references to such foreign companies from the issuance. In both cases, fines were imposed as sanctions for citizens - from 30 to 100 thousand rubles, for officials - from 100 to 500 thousand, for legal entities - from 1.5 to 5 million.

According to part 7 for the repeated commission of offenses under chch. 5 and 6, citizens will be worth 100-300 thousand rubles, officials - 300-700 thousand, legal entities - in the amount of 3 to 7 million rubles.

Art. 14.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, it is proposed to supplement hh. 7–11. By hh. 7 and 9 provide for fines ranging from 20,000 to 80,000 rubles for citizens, from 80,000 to 300,000 for officials, and from 500,000 to 3 million for legal entities for distributing advertisements of "foreign persons" and on the websites of "foreign persons" in violation of the ban Roskomnadzor. hh. 8 and 10 establishes the responsibility of the "foreign persons" themselves for the distribution of advertising on other people's or their own sites. According to them, fines are set in the amount of 30-100 thousand rubles for citizens, 100-500 thousand for officials, from 3 to 6 million for legal entities.

Art. 19.7.10 of the Code of Administrative Offenses is supplemented by part 1.2, according to which hosters will be punished for not providing reliable information about the owner of the resource subject to "landing". For citizens, fines from 10 to 30 thousand rubles are provided, for legal entities - from 50 to 300 thousand. Under the new part 1.3, for failure to provide information, "foreign persons" themselves will be punished with fines of 20-50 thousand rubles for citizens and 300-700 thousand for legal entities.

In addition, in connection with the establishment of criminal liability for the repeated demonstration of prohibited symbols of Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses is supplemented with the words "if these actions do not contain signs of a criminally punishable act."

If signed, the amendments will enter into force on the day of their official publication, with the exception of the new Art. 13.42.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, which will come into force in 2023.

Sources

• The Federation Council approved turnover fines for IT companies for non-compliance with the law "on landing" // TASS. 2022. July 8.
• Draft Law No. 84631-8 "On Amending the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses" (in terms of clarifying administrative liability for certain offenses in the field of communications and information) // CREATION GAS "Lawmaking". 2022. July 6.