On September 1, 2022, a new article 18.1[1] of the federal law “On Advertising”[2] will take effect. According to this amendment, advertisers, distributors of advertising and operators of advertising systems who have placed advertising on the Internet, will be obliged to provide information about this advertising to the Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies and Mass Communications (commonly known by the Russian abbreviation “Roskomnadzor”).
Categories of persons who are obliged to report on distributed advertising are specified in Regulation No. 948 of the Russian Government dated May 25, 2022[3]. These categories include:
- advertisers;
- distributors of advertising and operators of advertising systems who are intermediaries in the placement of advertising on the Internet;
- distributors of advertising that own social networks, audiovisual services (for example, online movie services), and news aggregators (such as Yandex.News).
In this case, we are talking only about consumer-targeted advertising. There is no need to inform Roskomnadzor about the placement of social advertising. In addition, advertisers who have exclusive rights to advertised items and/or are manufacturers or sellers of advertised goods are not required to report to Roskomnadzor on the advertisements placed.
Information should be provided to Roskomnadzor within 30 days from the date when the advertisement is first placed. Interaction with Roskomnadzor will be carried out via a personal account. Those who bear this obligation will be able to provide information to Roskomnadzor either independently or through an intermediary that is an operator of advertising data[4].
The information should include a report on the distributors of advertising themselves, information on contracts concluded for the provision of services for the distribution of advertising, data about the advertised products and information about the method of distributing the advertising. Information will be kept for 5 years in a specially created information system of Roskomnadzor.
All participants in advertising activities (advertisers, distributors of advertising and operators of advertising systems) will be required to keep information about the advertising for 5 years from the date when it is provided to Roskomnadzor. The advertisements themselves (reproduced in photographic form, for example) should also be kept for three years from that date.
The new system is aimed at preventing violations in the sphere of advertising and ensuring transparency in the field. At the same time, participants in the advertising market will have new obligations, such as timely providing information about advertising, and keeping the advertising and information about it for an extended period. In addition, it will be necessary to be constantly “in touch” with Roskomnadzor, for example, the agency can demand explanations on the information provided, which should be provided within one day.
[1] Federal Law No. 347 of 02.07.2021 “On Amendments to the Federal Law ‘On Advertising'”.
[2] Federal Law No. 38 of 13.03.2006 “On Advertising”.
[3] Regulation No. 948 of the Government of the Russian Federation of 25.05.2022 “On approving the criteria for classifying advertisers, distributors of advertising, and operators of advertising systems that place advertising aimed at attracting the attention of consumers located in the Russian Federation, to persons obliged to provide information about such advertising placed in the Internet to the Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies and Mass Communications”.
[4] Regulation No. 974 of the Government of the Russian Federation of 28.05.2022 “On approving the rules of interaction between the Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies and Mass Communications with the operators of advertising data and persons referred to in paragraph 3 of Article 18.1 of the Federal Law “On Advertising “, including the procedure, timing and format for providing to the Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies and Mass Communications information about advertising distributed on the Internet.