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September 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 21
Lithuania passes e-residency legislation to boost investment
The Lithuanian parliament passed amendments to the law on the legal status of aliens on July 16. The amendments will allow foreigners to obtain e-residency in order to enable company registration as well as use banking services and pay taxes using online services only, without setting foot in the Baltic state.
Lithuania hopes that e-residency will attract investors and create a “more favourable business environment” in the country, according to the Lithuanian home affairs ministry. The new law will take effect from January 1, 2021.
Nearby Estonia has operated an e-residency system since 2014, which currently boasts nearly 54,500 e-residency permits and over 6,000 companies operated remotely from 136 countries around the world. E-residents brought in over €15mn in tax revenue for Estonia, according
to information available on the e-residency’s programme website.
In order to receive an e-residency permit in Lithuania, foreigners will need to apply via the Lithuanian government’s migration department in the interior ministry in a fashion similar to obtaining a visa.
Lithuania taxes companies a flat rate of 15% in most cases. The standard VAT rate is 21%.
Twitter pays $47 Russian fine for failing to share data on users
Twitter has paid a RUB3,000 ($47) fine for breaking Russia’s internet law requiring foreign internet companies to keep data about their users on servers physically located in Russia, Tass reported on August 1.
The US-based company was fined by the court for a failure to furnish information about localization
of databases of Russian users, press secretary of the Russian telecom and mass media watchdog Roskomnadzor Vadim Ampelonsky told TASS.
"Twitter paid the fine last Friday," the press secretary told TASS.
The judicial district of the Justice of the Peace in Moscow’s Tagansky District imposed a RUB3,000 fine on Twitter on April 5 under Article 19.7 of the Russian Code of Administrative Offenses (Failure to furnish data or information).
Twitter filed an appeal against the decision to fine the social network. The Tagansky District Court left the ruling unchanged and the Twitter defense counsel’s complaint without satisfaction by its decision of May 8.
Under the Russian law on personal data, which took effect on September 1, 2015, national and foreign companies are obliged to keep and process personal data of Russian users in the territory of Russia.
The law has caused wide spread comment and has seen as an effort by the Kremlin to gain greater control over the internet.
Russian security service to be able to block websites
Russia's Federal Security Bureau (FSB) will be given new powers that will allow it to block websites without the need for a court order, Kommersant daily reported on August 6 citing unnamed sources.
Reportedly, the National Coordination Centre on Computer Incidents (NKCKI) controlled by the FSB will be able to block the domains faster than a normal legal procedure through court of RosKomNadzor communication watchdog would require.
NKCKI was founded in autumn 2018 by the direct order of the FSB head Alexander Bortnikov, and