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The law on the activities of online services for posting advertisements adopted by the State Duma softens the approach to regulation compared to the original version, experts note. Now the share of foreign investors in the company can be any, but control over decision-making must be with a Russian legal entity. The document also includes a new norm - a ban on the transfer of personal data through foreign messengers when providing government services. More details on everything - in the RSpectr material.

INVESTMENT BUT NOT CONTROL

On December 21, the State Duma content writing service
adopted in the third and final reading a bill that regulates the activities of classifieds. These are online services that collect various advertisements from individuals and companies, grouped by topic.

The bill was adopted in the first reading in July 2022. At that time, it was proposed to limit the level of foreign participation in classifieds to 20%. This provision caused resonance and concern among industry representatives, RSpectr wrote earlier.




The main argument against a fixed foreign share is that such a measure does not take into account the characteristics of IT companies and the specifics of their assets.

Moreover, the restriction could seriously affect the investment attractiveness of the industry, experts believe.

By the second, main reading, the bill had been revised.

Now the share of ownership of classifieds by foreign investors can be any, but control over decision-making must be exercised only by a Russian legal entity

The document specifies that “Russian” means a legal entity that is controlled by the Russian Federation, a subject or municipality of the Russian Federation, or a citizen of the Russian Federation who does not have other citizenship.

The register of classifieds will be maintained by Roskomnadzor, which will also organize monitoring of information resources. Service owners will have to provide the agency with the necessary information within 10 days to be included in the list. If access to the service for three months of one year is less than 100 thousand users, it can be excluded from the register at the request of the owner.

The Classifieds Act comes into force on 1 March 2023.

THE INDUSTRY HAS BEEN HEARD

The emphasis in the latest version of the law has been shifted from ownership to control over decisions, which will be achieved through the ability to control at least 50% of the votes attributable to voting shares, emphasized Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy Anton Gorelkin in his Telegram channel.

According to him, this is a more flexible approach, which was discussed with the industry, and it removes certain difficulties associated with the need to change owners.

Anton Gorelkin, State Duma:

– The number of voting shares and their weight can be determined by corporate agreements. Thus, at the request of business, we retain the possibility of foreign ownership and foreign investment – ​​but control will be exclusively Russian.

The draft law significantly softens the approach compared to the original version, commented for RSpectr Vice President, Director of the Center for Regulatory Policy of the Center for Strategic Research (CSR) Ekaterina Papchenkova. At the same time, "control" is formulated quite broadly: the ability to directly or indirectly control more than 50% of the total number of votes, she noted.

Ekaterina Papchenkova, CSW:

– This practice is quite widespread in the market, despite the consistently pursued deoffshorization policy, so for many classifieds this will be an acceptable solution and will not require them to make significant changes to their corporate structure.