The State Duma “killed” the scandalous bill on a single advertising operator

The State Duma “killed” the scandalous bill on a single advertising operator, adopted in the first reading on July 15, 2022. The deputies talked about “thousands of letters” from regions, municipalities and businesses against the rules for regulating the market for outdoor advertising and electronic ads proposed in this document, and called their current decision “responsible”. United Russia, with the support of which the bill passed the first reading, now unanimously voted to reject it.

The author of the initiative is the deputy head of the Duma Committee on Economic Policy Artyom Kiryanov (“ER”): under his signature, it was submitted to the State Duma on July 8, that is, immediately after the end of the spring session. When on July 15, in order to confirm the post of Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, the deputies were suddenly convened for an extraordinary plenary meeting, the newly-baked bill suddenly appeared on the agenda of this very meeting, that is, it was obviously considered a priority and requiring immediate adoption.

The essence of Mr. Kiryanov’s proposals was to create a monopoly single operator through which all digital outdoor advertising and all electronic advertisements of individuals in the country would be placed. The same operator (a company that should not be controlled by foreigners and meet other requirements set out in the bill) received the right to filter advertising content for compliance with Russian law and determine placement prices.

The bill was adopted “from the wheels”, without feedback from the government and regions. All the Duma factions were against it, except for United Russia. But, since EP has four-fifths of the votes, its position decides the outcome of any vote. The deputies who criticized the initiative said then that the regions that now control the outdoor advertising market on their territory will lose their source of income. That the resources for placing private ads that have become popular can degrade. Etc.

Everything seemed to lead to the fact that the adoption of the document in its final form is inevitable, and immediately, as soon as the deputies gather after the summer holidays.

But the Federal Antimonopoly Service, and the organization of small and medium-sized businesses “Opora Rossii”, and the ANO “Tsifrovaya ekonomika”, “Yandex”, “SBER”, the Skolkovo Foundation, Avito opposed. The authorities of Moscow, St. Petersburg and some other regions assessed the bill extremely negatively. All of the above, and not only, wrote letters to the State Duma: deputies talk about “hundreds” and even “thousands” of appeals … The deadline for submitting amendments to the bill was extended three times, but at the Council of the Duma on November 7, when it was supposed to discuss the next extension, the leadership of the chamber suddenly proposed instead to reject the initiative.

“According to all factions, the bill should be rejected,” Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said at the November 8 plenary session. There was applause. The same Mr. Kiryanov was appointed as the rapporteur on this issue. Mr. Volodin offered to thank him and called him “a saved soul.” The hall revived.

Mr. Kiryanov immediately responded by expressing gratitude to the speaker “for supporting the bill in the first reading”, making it clear that the soul of Mr. Volodin was now saved. The hall perked up even more. The need now to reject what was adopted a few months ago, Mr. Kiryanov explained as follows: “We collected a huge amount of materials, analyzed them” …

The question of why it was impossible to first collect the opinions of the industry, regions, departments, analyze them, and then submit the bill for the first reading, the author bypassed.

Mr. Volodin called the State Duma’s current decision “responsible.” It was not possible to do without discussion, as expected. Nikolai Kolomeytsev (KPRF), having taken the podium, called the rejected document “an example of a law that was introduced outside the regulations, pushed through and adopted by the force of the majority.” “It’s good that you showed wisdom and initiated the rejection,” he addressed the speaker, “but we spent time, the committee spent time preparing the text for the second reading, which in the end did not take place.”

Dmitry Vyatkin spoke on behalf of the ER faction. “There is no need to explain how complicated and thorny the legislative process is,” he said. The fact that United Russia is now voting for the rejection of the bill, “which caused an unambiguous reaction from the professional community, municipalities,” according to Mr. Vyatkin, does not mean that “we (United Russia – “MK”.) were wrong, but that we take a very responsible approach to voting.”

Oleg Nilov (“SR”), who spoke next, expressed the wish that “there should be as few such exits as possible under the influence of various forces that want to catch fish in troubled waters”: in his opinion, the appearance of the bill and its adoption in the first reading is a fact “ overt lobbying. What such a powerful lobbyist, who managed to enlist the support of the Duma majority faction, which usually coordinates its position with the Kremlin and the government, was meant by the Right Russians – was not uttered.

The State Duma “responsibly” voted unanimously for the rejection of the bill.