Roskomnadzor will be able to forcefully add sites to the ARI registry

The Ministry of Digital Development proposes to change the approach to the formation of a register of information dissemination organizers, the participants of which are required to store user correspondence for six months, transfer data to the FSB and install SORM equipment. Roskomnadzor may be able to force sites into the register that meet certain criteria and refuse to do so voluntarily. Experts note that for many Internet resources, the emergence of the mechanism will mean a significant increase in financial burden.

“Kommersant” got acquainted with the draft resolution of the Ministry of Digital Development, published on the portal regulation.gov.ru December 29, which involves the introduction of a mechanism for forced inclusion of a resource in the register of information dissemination organizers (ORI).

According to the document, Roskomnadzor will be able to forcefully add a site to the ARI registry if it has a function for exchanging messages between users, and the owner has twice failed to comply with the service’s requirement to enter the list voluntarily.

Public discussion of the draft resolution will last until January 13; the dates for the entry into force of the new norm have not been specified.

Any site that has a function for exchanging messages between users can formally be recognized as ORI. You can get into the register voluntarily or at the request of Roskomnadzor, to which law enforcement agencies send requests. Resources that refused to do this are fined or may be blocked.

Inclusion in the register imposes a number of obligations on the ORI, including the need to store user messages and information about them in Russia for six months, provide it to law enforcement agencies, and install equipment to provide the FSB with remote access to information about users and their actions (SORM).

For failure to comply with requirements, fines of up to 6 million rubles are provided. For refusal to join the register there is also a fine, but six times less. According to market participants, there are currently 606 resources in the registry.

“According to the draft resolution, it is assumed that Roskomnadzor will be able to include the resource in the register of ARI after the repeated issuance of a resolution on an administrative violation,” the Ministry of Digital Development clarified.

A Kommersant source close to the government explains that the document is intended to “increase the efficiency of the current mechanism for including companies in the ORI.” Roskomnadzor declined to comment.

Ekaterina Abashina, lawyer for the Moscow CCA “DBA and Partners”, clarifies that even according to current legislation, if an online service has signs of ARI – a function for exchanging messages between users or, for example, comments, then by virtue of their presence its owner is obliged to notify about it Roskomnadzor, enter the ARI register and comply with its requirements: “But in fact, not everyone who meets the formal criteria is ready to go to the register.”

From the moment the new rules come into force, Roskomnadzor will have a legal basis for forced entry into the register, says Olga Zakharova, head of the personal data protection practice at the DRC law firm: “The draft resolution continues the legal regulation of the digital space aimed at de-anonymizing the Internet.”

The changes will not affect really large participants in the Internet market, since they are already included in the ARI register, says Artem Sokolov, president of the Association of Internet Trade Companies.

Irina Levova, director of strategic projects at the Internet Development Institute, agrees with this: “But small and medium-sized businesses, even large online stores that do not consider that they are ARI, will now be able to enter them forcibly.”

Ms. Levova emphasizes that entering enterprises into the register entails high additional costs for installing SORM equipment. According to Mr. Sokolov, for small and medium-sized companies the costs for this generally amount to about 1 million rubles. For large organizations, a Kommersant market source clarifies, the amount can be two to three times more.

Alexey Zhabin