Deputies and senators introduced a law on the development of creative industries to the State Duma

Deputies and senators introduced a bill “On the development of creative industries” to the State Duma, document published in the Duma electronic database.

The initiative was prepared by a group of deputies of all factions, led by the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy, Denis Kravchenko, and senators, led by a member of the Federation Council Committee on Budget and Financial Markets, Pavel Tarakanov. Kravchenko previously told Vedomosti that among the project developers there were representatives of the creative industries market.

The concept of “creative industries,” the authors of the project point out, was introduced into domestic legislation in January of this year by presidential decree. Now in the Russian Federation there are about 20 existing laws regulating activities related to the sphere of creative industries, but these documents do not contain a unified conceptual apparatus, being limited only to the regulation of a specific type of activity.

The explanatory note notes that the bill was developed to unify legal regulation in the field of creative industries in the legislation of the Russian Federation, as well as in pursuance of the president’s instructions to define the concepts of “creative economy”, “creative cluster” and “creative (creative) industries”. The bill is allegedly aimed at further introducing elements of the creative economy and developing the sphere of creative industries in Russia to increase the contribution of the creative economy to the country’s GDP through products with high added value.

In the proposed bill, “creative industry” is understood as “economic activity directly related to the creation, promotion in domestic and foreign markets, distribution and (or) sale of creative products that have uniqueness and economic value.” Citizens and organizations operating in this market will be considered subjects of the creative industries. The result of intellectual activity or a set of such results will be considered a “creative product”. It is proposed to include activities related to the creation and use of works of literature and art, the use of historical and cultural heritage, information technology, applied creativity, etc. as types of creative industries.

The draft law also assumes that creative clusters will be identified – territories in which real estate objects are compactly located, intended for the activities of subjects of creative industries.

The bill also introduces grounds for such organizations to receive state support, including registration and activities in the Russian Federation and inclusion in the unified register of creative industries and the industries themselves. The procedure for forming and maintaining such a register will have to be established by the government. As Vedomosti sources noted, this means that even at the stage of preparation of regulatory legal acts, a barrier will be established for inclusion in the register of companies that are not engaged in core activities. The document specifies the possibility of targeted financial, property, educational, information and other support.

If adopted, the law must come into force 90 days from the date of official publication.