The State Duma in the second reading adopted amendments tightening the legislation on “foreign agents”

The State Duma in the second reading adopted amendments to the bills that change the rules of the Code of Administrative Offenses regarding "foreign agents". According to them, in particular, fines for “foreign agents” and members of “foreign agent” associations are being tightened. Also in the State Duma amended the criminal law on "foreign agents" This was reported on the website of the State Duma.

According to the amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses, prepared on December 12, articles 19.7.5-2 - 19.7.5-4 and 19.34.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, which previously regulated various aspects of the violation of the activities of "foreign agents", will be replaced by the "general" article 19.34 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, which will be called " Violation of the procedure for the activities of a foreign agent. It will have nine parts. They include penalties for:

implementation by a person not included in the register of “foreign agency activities”;
non-submission by the “foreign agent” of information to the authorized body;
non-compliance with the requirements of "foreign agency" marking;
failure to comply with the labeling requirements for founders, members of participants and leaders of a public association - "foreign agent";
violation of the term and procedure for the publication by the “foreign agent” of a report on its activities;
failure to comply with the requirements for the establishment of a legal entity for new "foreign agents";
non-compliance with "foreign agency" restrictions.

If the acts listed above are committed by a foreigner or a stateless person, he is threatened with expulsion.

Fines for members of organizations - "foreign agents" in the new version of Article 19.34 of the Code of Administrative Offenses will range from 10 to 30 thousand rubles. Fines will also increase for failure to provide a report on "foreign agency" activities: they will amount to 30-50 thousand rubles for citizens, 100-300 thousand for officials and 300-500 thousand for legal entities.

The State Duma also amended the article on “malicious evasion of the duties of a “foreign agent”” (Article 330.1 of the Criminal Code). Now criminal liability for "foreign agents" will occur if the "foreign agent" was held liable under Article 19.34 of the Code of Administrative Offenses twice in a year. The officials also tightened the deadlines under the article on the creation of a non-profit organization that infringes on the personality and rights of citizens (Article 239 of the Criminal Code).

OVD-Info lawyer Daria Korolenko commented on the amendments to the criminal articles: “After the adoption of these two laws - it seems obvious that both will be adopted on December 20 - the risk of criminal liability for foreign agents will increase significantly. If earlier the wording of Part 1 of Article 330.1 of the Criminal Code assumed “malicious” evasion from providing documents only for NGOs/public associations, now this criterion has been significantly simplified and applies to everyone.

Any other violations of the order of activity for all "foreign agents" now also entail criminal liability - with an administrative prejudice, but given that even now they are fined for the wrong size of marking, it is obvious that it will become much easier to bring to criminal responsibility.

With regard to Article 239, in addition to a serious increase in the terms of punishment, this crime goes into the category of “serious” for the founders of such organizations, and into the category of “medium gravity” for participants, which means tougher preventive measures and other restrictions.”

On December 1, 2022, the law “On Control over the Activities of Persons Under Foreign Influence” came into force, as well as numerous legislative amendments to “foreign agency” regulation. You can read about the list of "affiliated persons", new registries and other innovations in the law on "foreign agents" in the analysis of OVD-Info .

The State Duma in the second reading adopted amendments tightening the legislation on “foreign agents”

implementation by a person not included in the register of “foreign agency activities”;
non-submission by the “foreign agent” of information to the authorized body;
non-compliance with the requirements of "foreign agency" marking;
failure to comply with the labeling requirements for founders, members of participants and leaders of a public association - "foreign agent";
violation of the term and procedure for the publication by the “foreign agent” of a report on its activities;
failure to comply with the requirements for the establishment of a legal entity for new "foreign agents";
non-compliance with "foreign agency" restrictions.

If the acts listed above are committed by a foreigner or a stateless person, he is threatened with expulsion.

On December 1, 2022, the law “On Control over the Activities of Persons Under Foreign Influence” came into force, as well as numerous legislative amendments to “foreign agency” regulation. You can read about the list of "affiliated persons", new registries and other innovations in the law on "foreign agents" in the analysis of OVD-Info .