Computers with a Russian mood
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The European ban on the provision of IT consulting services to clients from Russia will affect both large technology companies like Yandex and VK, as well as IT specialists who have moved to EU countries and work for customers from the Russian Federation. At the same time, lawyers interviewed by Kommersant believe that technical support and warranty service will not fall under the new restrictions. Companies from the EU, fearing a violation of sanctions, already do not conclude contracts with persons from Russia, market participants say.
The eighth package of sanctions, approved on October 6 by the EU Council in response to Russia’s annexation of the territories of Ukraine, includes a ban on the provision of IT consulting services to Russian individuals and legal entities. The ban on the provision of these and a number of other services, in particular legal ones, is designed to “weaken the industrial capabilities of Russia,” the European Commission said in a statement.
Under IT consulting for the purposes of European sanctions, according to the Official Journal of the EU (.pdf), refers to consulting services related to setting up computer networks, installing hardware and software (software) or assisting in installation, as well as consulting on the development and implementation of software.
The ban on the provision of IT consulting services is also mentioned among the sanctions, announced September 30 by Great Britain, but so far the relevant acts have not been published.
The new sanctions may affect Yandex, VK and other Russian IT companies that are “legally and technically connected with their European structural divisions,” as well as corporate users of foreign software, said Natalia Stotskaya, a lawyer at the A1 Bar Association. Yandex has a head office Yandex NV registered in the Netherlands, while VK has a subsidiary My.com BV; both companies have structures in other European countries. The companies mentioned declined to comment to Kommersant.
The bans will also affect IT-specialists who relocated to the EU and earned money by providing services to Russian companies, says EMPP lawyer Mergen Doraev: “Such services will become criminally punishable in the EU.” He admitted that not Russian legal entities, but affiliated companies from neighboring countries could now become customers of services, however, such actions can be risky and regarded as an attempt to circumvent sanctions. In his opinion, as a result, this can further increase the cost of services in IT.
Software technical support in itself is unlikely to be regarded as IT consulting, believes Sergey Glandin, partner at NSP law firm: “If a vendor has given a client from Russia a license for a certain period, then, if you rely on the norm, he will be able to continue to provide support. And warranty service cannot fall under prohibitions in any way. ” At the same time, he admits that cloud service providers, in particular, may refuse to work with clients from Russia.
Even before the expansion of sanctions, lawyers in European IT companies forbade entering into any contracts with legal entities from Russia, a Kommersant source in one of the gaming companies told Kommersant: “They not only evaluate existing laws, but also insure against risks in the future. Today, the partner is not under sanctions, but tomorrow he will fall under them.”
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