On June 24, 2016, the State Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian Parliament, discussed and passed the Federal Law of 06.07.2016 No. 374-FZ "On the Introduction of Amendments to Federal Law 'On the Counteraction of Terrorism' and to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation with Regard to Establishing Additional Measures Designed to Counteract Terrorism and Promote Public Safety" (the Law), generally known as the Yarovaya Law. Five days later, the Federation Council of Russia, the higher chamber of the Russian Parliament, passed the Law as well. The Law was finally signed by President Vladimir Putin on July 7, 2016.1

The Law is named after its main author, Irina Yarovaya, a member of the State Duma and the ruling United Russia party. Yarovaya is known for previous conservative legislative initiatives, including the obligation for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to register as "international agents" if they receive foreign funding.

The Yarovaya Law both amends and adds legislation. It is primarily aimed at battling terrorism and extremism, but also imposes new data retention obligations on telecoms and online messaging providers that offer or assist communication services on the Internet (called "arrangers of information distribution by means of Internet") and secures the provision of information to federal investigators and prosecutors.

Russia's telecom companies are now required to store the contents of telephone calls, text messages, videos, sounds, and picture messages for a period of six months. The metadata of these communications (information about transmission, delivery and receipt) are must be stored for three years. The same rules apply to Internet arrangers, the difference being that the metadata must only be stored for one year.

Besides data retention, the new obligations also require telecoms and Internet arrangers to provide information about users (and any other information that is deemed necessary) and to help the Federal Security Service with data encryption. Additionally, telecoms and Internet arrangers can be asked to cease the provision of communication services to a certain user if the user's identity cannot be identified.

Refusing to co-operate or store data according to the new rules can be quite costly, with administrative fines of up to 1 million rubles (approximately USD$15,500). How these liabilities will be applied in practice will be subject to future case law and administrative practice.

Russian telecoms and Internet arrangers are concerned that the implementation of the Yarovaya Law will be technically complex and very expensive, as most infrastructure for data storage has yet to be bought and built. In a joint letter to the head of the Federation Council, four of Russia's largest mobile operators claim that building the necessary storage capacity will cost them 2.2 trillion rubles (USD$33.3 billion) and will lead to increased tariffs.2

Because the Yarovaya Law will be applicable to all providers of communication services and data operators that offer their services in the Russian Federation, some of these companies may be located abroad. Being subject to the Law and following its requirements could be in conflict with international privacy laws. Therefore, international data operators could face a serious dilemma in cases where they are already operating in Russia or are planning to enter the Russian market.

Most of the amendments came into force on July 20, 2016. The requirements concerning the storage of data will come into effect on the July 1, 2018, due to the technical complexity of fulfilling the obligations and setting up the needed infrastructure. The State Duma is currently considering a new draft law to postpone the effective date of the data retention obligations to the July 1, 2023.

Footnotes

1. Federal Law N 374-FZ - (11.08.16, 11:51)

2. The Moscow Times (09.08.16, 13:41)

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.