The Association of Bloggers and Agencies has become a self-regulatory organization

Rosreestr added the Association of Bloggers and Agencies (ABA) to the list of self-regulatory organizations (SRO). Now it will be able to take part in the discussion of bills and set market standards, industry participants say. One of the first projects will be the introduction of OKVED for bloggers – a discussion of the initiative is scheduled in the State Duma on December 11. Membership in the SRO will facilitate access to government orders and will allow organizing direct and informal government support for certain bloggers, lawyers and market participants note. Those who have not joined the ABA speak about the meaninglessness and purely lobbying nature of the organization.

ABA (includes 46 thousand agencies, 50 thousand bloggers) has become a self-regulatory organization, the corresponding entry has been made in Rosreestr, Kommersant was convinced. The new status will allow the association to take part in antimonopoly proceedings against bloggers, appeal regulatory legal acts of government bodies in arbitration court, and also set standards and norms in the field of influence marketing (promotion of products through opinion leaders), explained ABA co-founder Maxim Perlin.

In July, the initiative to create an industry SRO was supported by First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Sergei Kiriyenko, Vedomosti reported. Then the official approved the idea of ​​​​allocating a separate OKVED (classifier of types of activities) for bloggers. Now ABA continues to work on identifying a classifier together with State Duma deputy from the party “A Just Russia – For Truth” Yana Lantratova. A representative of the association clarified that hearings on this issue will be held on December 11 in the State Duma. Ms. Lantratova’s office did not respond to Kommersant’s request.

The activities of SROs are regulated by the Federal Law “On Self-Regulatory Organizations,” notes lawyer, expert of the educational platform Moscow Digital School Efim Kazantsev. According to him, the responsibilities of the SRO include developing the conditions for membership in the organization, applying disciplinary measures against its participants, as well as monitoring professional and business activities in relation to compliance with the rights and standards of the SRO. In addition, the organization is authorized to collect membership fees for the maintenance of the administrative apparatus, said Oleg Sukhanov, a lawyer at the Moscow Deloer Bar Association.

The organization’s task is to control the quality of the work performed by its participants, says Evgeniya Kazakova, Perfluence’s operating director: “ABA will be able to develop general rules for the market, which all its participants have long strived for.” According to her, we are talking about “clear ways to measure the effectiveness and level of service provided by bloggers, agencies, and production centers.” At the same time, obvious conflicts are possible between members of the SRO and those market participants who “did not plan to streamline and whitewash their activities,” believes Yulia Dolgova, head of the influence marketing agency LabelUp.

The tension can already be seen in the players’ comments. “The ABA was created only as a lobbying organization,” says Mark Khludnev, founder of the advertising agency Digital Church (not involved in the ABA). “We see very well that most of the market did not join it because they did not see the point in it.” While there is no OKVED for bloggers in Russia, the emergence of an SRO is similar to a story “about PR and membership fees,” agrees Oleg Sukhanov.

Now bloggers who register an individual entrepreneur or LLC choose OKVED 59.11 “Production of films, videos and television programs” or something related, says the expert. At the same time, not everyone needs an individual entrepreneur or LLC, says Mr. Sukhanov, only for bloggers with earnings of more than 2.4 million rubles. in year. “And membership in an SRO is required by default in order to be able to take part in government orders, and even then only if there is a corresponding requirement from the law,” he notes.

The state has long been working with a register of “loyal bloggers” who promote various initiatives, reminds Kommersant’s source in the media market: “The measure will allow money to be allocated directly through government contracts and the announcement of tenders to support such entities.”

Yulia Yurasova