The Duma Committee recommended the adoption of amendments to tighten “foreign agency” legislation

The Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption of the State Duma has prepared 56 pages of amendments that will significantly change the legislation on “foreign agents”. At a meeting on November 21, committee members recommended that the State Duma adopt this bill in the second reading. OVD-Info lawyer Daria Korolenko analyzed the main provisions of the draft text.

Thus, according to the amendments, any information from “foreign agents” will be considered prohibited for distribution among minors.

The bill also included a proposal that the authorities be given the opportunity to gain access to the banking data of any individuals and legal entities - if there are signs of violation of the law “On the control of the activities of persons under foreign influence.” Changes will be made to the law “On Banks and Banking Activities” - and they will actually deprive the banking data of such persons of the status of bank secrecy .

The committee’s recommendation also states that now an administrative violation due to failure to indicate the status of a “foreign agent” may become a reason for blocking the site - this applies to all persons who are on the registers of the Ministry of Justice. Previously, authorities could only block websites of media outlets recognized as “foreign agents.”

In addition, the amendments will affect publications that are not recognized as a “foreign agent”: if such a media outlet employs a “foreign agent,” then the editors will be required to indicate that the materials were produced by “a media outlet created by a foreign agent.”

According to the committee’s recommendations, all legal entities, at the request of the Ministry of Justice, will be required to provide information about their beneficial owners . This gives officials the right to make such requests in relation to all legal entities that could potentially be under “foreign influence” or may be associated with “foreign agents.”

It is worth noting that from December 1, commercial organizations can also be recognized as “foreign agents”; new amendments from the Security Committee increase the likelihood of this recognition, since the Ministry of Justice will be able to request information about the beneficiaries of organizations.

Among other things, authorities will now be able to request information about the civil status of “foreign agents” - for example, information about marriage or the birth of a child.

Previously, these rules were applied only at the request of authorities working to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

• On November 18, the FSB expanded the list of information that does not contain state secrets, the publication of which can be assigned the status of “foreign agent.” Shortly before this, on November 13, the government approved the requirement to publish the TIN and SNILS of “foreign agents” on the website of the Ministry of Justice.
• According to the law on the control of persons “under foreign influence”, which comes into force in December, individuals and legal entities that do not have “foreign funding” will be able to be included in the register. In addition, there will be a separate list of “individuals affiliated with foreign agents.”
• OVD-Info launched the Inoteka project. We investigate practices of pressure on civil initiatives and protect victims from laws on “foreign agents.”