Page 111 - RusRPTOct21

9.1.7 TMT sector news
A new law regulating the activity of foreign digital companies in Russia, adopted in early July, is already coming into force, as witnessed by several new orders issued by Roskomnadzor, the Internet and telecom regulator. Owners of websites, information systems, or electronic programs that generate a daily traffic of 500,000 users from Russia or more are required to open a representative office in Russia. They must also add a feedback form to their websites to receive messages from Russian users, comply with local “requirements, prohibitions, and restrictions,” and respond to notices from Roskomnadzor. A provision of the law says that, should they “violate Russian law,” websites belonging to foreign entities will be labeled on search engine results pages. Another one establishes a procedure for removing the links to these sites from search results altogether. Sanctions against violators may go as far as locking international transfers of personal data, or even locking access to the site from Russia. Independent online publication Meduza offers a detailed overview of this legislation in a practical perspective.
Russia’s earnings from tech exports have jumped more than threefold over the last two years, according to a new report from Moscow’s Higher School of Economics (HSE). The export sales of scientific and technology services and IP-protected products reached $4.5bn in 2020 — up 30% from 2019, three times more than in 2018, and fifteen to twenty times more than in the early 2000s. Despite the jump in exports, the global competitiveness of
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