The latest amendments to the Law on Personal Data came into force on September 1, 2015. These amendments are meant to oblige companies to process personal data of Russian citizens in Russia. Infringers will be added to the Register of personal data infringers and pay an administrative fine. The Ministry of Communication and Mass Media shall be responsible for keeping the Register and for liaising with hosting providers.

The latest amendments to the Law on Personal Data came into force on September 1, 2015. These amendments are meant to oblige companies to process personal data of Russian citizens in Russia and are mostly relevant to foreign on-line shops, webmail services and social networks.

Violation of the new Law on Personal Data may result in:

• imposition of an administrative fine (10.000 RUB for companies);
• adding the company’s website to the “Register of personal data infringers” (hereinafter – “Register”) followed by blocking of the website.

The Government has approved that the following information is to be included into the Register: domain names, URLs of the websites, network addresses, i.e. information that can identify the relevant website (Regulation dated 19.08.2015 No. 857). 

The Ministry of Communication and Mass Media shall be responsible for keeping the Register and for liaising with hosting providers (Order dated 22.07.2015 No.84).

A website can be included into the Register only after a relevant court order has entered into force. Violation of the law shall result in limitation of access to the website, however if the website’s owner rectifies the violation, access can be re-established based on another court act.

The Ministry of Agriculture has started to develop a bill tightening rules on lease of agricultural land by foreigners. In accordance with the draft bill, legal entities with foreign beneficiaries will not be entitled to own agricultural lands, and the maximum lease of agricultural lands by foreigners will be 10 years. The draft bill was developed due to concerns as to the condition of Russian land reserves and methods used by tenants to grow crops.

The Ministry of Agriculture has started to develop a bill tightening rules on lease of agricultural land by foreigners. The law amendments are aimed at prohibiting legal entities with foreign individuals as beneficiaries (hereinafter – “foreigners”) from owning agricultural lands. Nowadays such limitations are applicable only to foreign individual and legal entities, where 50% of equity share capital is held by foreign individuals. Moreover, the draft bill obliges companies to disclose information on their beneficiaries.  

Under the law amendments, the maximum term of agricultural land lease for foreigners shall be 10 years, and the minimum term shall amount to 3 years. Nowadays the lease shall be at least 3 years and shall not exceed 49 years. Moreover, the draft bill provides that landlords will be obliged to inspect the leased agricultural land plot annually, during the field work period.

The Ministry of Agriculture is also planning to set requirements that will have to be met by foreigners interested in leasing an agricultural land plot in Russia, however such requirements are yet to be developed.  

The draft bill was introduced due to concerns as to the condition of Russian land reserves and methods used by tenants to grow crops.

A new Order issued by the Ministry of Economic Development establishing forms of documents to be submitted by an individual alongside with a bankruptcy application was registered by the Ministry of Justice. The Order was issued further to the Law on personal bankruptcy, which was signed by the President on December 29, 2014 and will come into force on October 01, 2015. In order to be declared bankrupt an individual will have to fill in two forms: a list of creditors and debtors, and a list of personal belongings.

The Ministry of Justice registered a new Order issued by the Ministry of Economic Development that establishes forms of documents to be submitted by an individual alongside with a bankruptcy application. 

In order to be declared bankrupt an individual will have to fill in two forms. The first form is a list of creditors and debtors, which among other things shall comprise information on nonmonetary liabilities. The second form is a list of all belongings of the individual, i.e. information on all realty, vehicles, bank accounts, shares, objects of art, equipment required for professional activity.

The Law on personal bankruptcy was signed by the President on December 29, 2014, and will come into force on October 01, 2015. Personal bankruptcy cases shall be heard by state arbitrazh courts. Under the new law, an individual may be declared bankrupt if inter alia he or she has debts amounting to 500.000 RUB and has been unable to pay these debts for three months. After the debtor is declared bankrupt, his or her property will be distributed among creditors. The new law is aimed at assisting individuals in financial distress.

The Supreme Court will have to decide whether interest on wrongful retention of funds shall be recoverable from state authorities if administrative fines that have been already paid by companies are subsequently cancelled. The decision to be issued by the Supreme Court is significant for legal entities doing business in Russia. In 2014 the Federal antimonopoly service imposed 21.000 fines amounting to 7.3 bln RUB, of which 1.118 fines amounting to 956 mln RUB have been cancelled. The said court decision might influence future judgments on recovery of funds from state authorities and incentivize the latter to impose fines with care.

In the case at hand JSC Russian Railways seeks to recover from the Federal antimonopoly service (hereinafter – “FAS”) 612.000 RUB damages alleged to have been incurred from a fine of 5.1 mln RUB imposed by FAS but subsequently cancelled by the court.

The fine was imposed on JSC Russian Railways in 2012 under Article 14.21 of the Russian Administrative Code, i.e. abuse of dominant position. In 2013 the Supreme Court ordered a retrial of the case, which resulted in the cancelation of the fine.

In 2014 JSC Russian Railways filed a new claim on recovery of interest on wrongful retention of funds under Article 395 of the Russian Civil Code. The Supreme Court is yet to decide whether interest is recoverable in such cases, as until recently court practice on this issue has been ambiguous. 

The decision to be issued by the Supreme Court is important for other companies as well, as e.g. in 2014 FAS imposed 21.000 fines amounting to 7.3 bln RUB, of which 1.118 fines amounting to 956 mln RUB have been cancelled. The said court decision might influence future judgments on recovery of funds from FAS and other state authorities and incentivize state authorities to impose fines with care.