Više o frazi Home Back May 2020 Russia: Pre-installed Russian software: mandatory from 2021? AccountabilityInformation TechnologyLegal Reform While the Russian software development sector is strengthening, the Russian regulator comes up with new initiatives. Among such initiatives is the requirement on pre-installation of Russian software. The requirement was introduced by the Federal Law No. 425-FZ of 2 December 2019 on Amendments to Article 4 of the Law on Consumers Protection ('the Law'). It was initially planned that the Law should enter into force on 1 July 2020, but most likely in connection with the COVID-19 ('Coronavirus') related developments, the enactment date was recently postponed to 1 January 2021. Natalia Gulyaeva and Julia Gurieva, Partner and Senior Associate respectively at Hogan Lovells, provide a detailed analysis of the Law, its impact on organisations, and likely future developments. matejmo / Signature Collection / istockphoto.com What does the Law concern? The Law states that 'in [the] course of selling certain types of high-tech products with the pre-installed software, consumers shall be provided with the possibility to use certain types of such high-tech products with pre-installed Russian software.' The only clear criteria addressed by the Law is that the affected high-tech products should be consumer goods and contain pre-installed software. The list of affected products, as well as procedures for compiling and maintaining a list of Russian software that should be pre-installed, and the procedure for such pre-installation, are to be determined by Russian Government in a new detailed regulation. When are the detailed regulations expected? The Federal Antimonopoly Service ('FAS'), being the one of authors of the pre-installation requirement, has prepared a draft regulation1 ('the Draft Regulation'). The Draft Regulation is currently at the stage of examination of its potential regulatory impact by the Department of Evaluation of Regulatory Impact of the Russian Ministry of Economic Development ('the Ministry'). Such examination takes usually about a week but the Coronavirus situation will in all likelihood affect this timeline. After the examination, the Draft Regulation may be adopted by the Government or returned to FAS for further amendments based on recommendations of the Ministry. It is expected that the Draft Regulation will be adopted by the Government before 1 January 2021, i.e. the date of the Law's enactment. The Draft Regulation, in its current version at the time of publication, states that it should apply to products released on the Russian market after the Law's enactment date. What products fall within the scope of the Draft Regulation? The Draft Regulation currently indicates three following types of regulated products ('the Regulated Products'), which are subject to the Russian software pre-installation requirement: wireless communication equipment for household use having a touchscreen, possessing two or more functions, and pre-installed software ('Smartphones'); central processing units, desktop and portable computers, including laptops, and personal computers ('Computers'); and TV-sets with digital control unit ('TV-sets'). There is also a list of the software categories which should be pre-installed on each type of Regulated Product. We have indicated what software should be pre-installed on each type of Regulated Product in the below chart. Chart No. 1. List of types of the software that shall be pre-installed under the Draft Regulation (in its current version) No. Type of Pre-installed Computer Software Smart phones Computers TV-sets 1. Search engine/search browser + + - 2. Mapping and navigation software + + - 3. Antivirus software and software with file and network protection antivirus program features + + - 4. Software for sending and receiving email + + - 5. Software enabling access to e-government infrastructure + + - 6. Software enabling an instant messaging service + + - 7. Software enabling access to social networks + + - 8. Software intended for using national payment instruments to pay for goods, work and services. + - - 9. Audiovisual service software + + + 10. Software enabling free access to viewing Russian national mandatory public television and/or radio channels + + + 11. Software enabling access to cloud data storage services + + - 12. News aggregator software + + + 13. Voice assistant software + - - 14. Office software - + - The software should be included in the FAS list of Russian software ('the Register') upon application of any interested person, including software developers and manufacturers of Regulated Products. To be included in the Register and, thus, to be eligible for pre-installation under the Law, computer software should meet the following criteria: High social importance, which means, for example, that the software service has more than 100,000 downloads or users per day, or that the software serves for educa