We kindly remind everyone that the deadline for filing a notice of participation in a Multinational Enterprise Group or 2021 is approaching. The deadline date is August 31, 2022.

Federal Law No.266-FZ was signed and published on 14.07.2022, introducing large-scale changes to the regulation of personal data processing. The draft law after being considered by the State Duma has changed substantially as compared to its previous version.

In the current situation, sanctions imposed by foreign states against Russia inevitably affect intellectual property or IP. Here is a list of the main EU, US and UK sanctions imposed against Russian entities and individuals that affect intellectual property issues.

On July 5, the President signed a new anti-sanctions decree No.430 (the “Decree No.430”), which eases the existing restrictions in currency regulation, but also introduces some new ones.

The Russian Central Bank has allowed payments for shares in, and contributions to, the property of non-residents without a special permit, if the relevant funds are deposited in rubles or in the currency of a friendly state.

The Russian President signed the Decree imposing a requirement to make payments under agreements for using exclusive rights in favor of foreign rightholders from non-friendly states, as well as a number of Russian rightholders, including those supporting sanctions, only through a special ruble account opened in an authorized bank.

Obtaining information on real estate owners and transferring data abroad could get substantially more difficult. Let’s have a look at amendments to the Personal Data Law.

The Russian Central Bank published new explanations on application of the Presidential Decrees dealing with anti-sanctions measures.The most notable ones seem to be the Central Bank’s comments about the procedure for applying the limit of RUB 10 million on obligations to foreign creditors pursuant to Clause 2 of Presidential Decree No.95.

On May 04, 2022, Presidential Decree No.254 was published, under which Presidential Decree No.95 starts to apply to dividend payments from limited liability companies, partnerships and cooperatives to residents of non-friendly states and entities they control (unless they are registered in Russia).

On April 12, 2022, Draft Law No.104796-8 “On external administration for managing a company”  was introduced to the State Duma of the Russian Federation. The Draft Law allows external administration of companies with non-friendly foreign participation of at least 25%.