Major IT-companies threatened to leave Russia

The largest foreign IT-companies can leave the Russian market “in the context of fuzzy rules of the game”.

This is stated in a letter sent by Director General of the European Business Association (AEB) Frank Schauff to the Minister of Communications and Mass Communications Nikolai Nikiforov, Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov, Minister of Economic Development Alexei Ulyukaev and Head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) Igor Artemiev.

In the letter, the contents of which Kommersant managed to get acquainted with, Shauff asks to postpone from January 1 to July 1, 2016 the date of entry into force of the law obliging government agencies to justify the purchase of foreign software. During these six months, the association proposes that departments develop joint criteria for the localization of foreign IT companies in Russia, so that their software can also be included in the newly created Unified Register of Russian Programs.

“If foreign investment is still on the agenda, then equal approach and non-discrimination and restriction of free competition and access to the Russian market for foreign companies are needed,” the AEB CEO said in a letter.

The Association of European Businesses has so far refused to comment on the letter. In the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media, the Federal Antimonopoly Service and the Ministry of Industry and Trade did not respond to the request for publication, and the Ministry of Economics reported that so far they have not received the letter from Schauff.

A bill allowing state agencies to acquire foreign software (software) from 1 in January of 2016, only if there is no Russian equivalent or does not have the necessary functions, was prepared by the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media.

The document provides for the creation of a Unified Register of Russian software, the exclusive right to which belongs to Russia, the municipality, a Russian non-profit organization or company, in which the proportion of Russians is more than 50 percent. Such software should be sold throughout the country, the amount of license payments to foreigners should not exceed 30 percent of revenue.

In early June, it became known that the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media prepared a list of software import substitution projects and asked to allocate billion rubles from the 18 budget.

Import substitution affected not only software, but also products in the first place. Forum previously reported that in August instilled by virtue of the presidential decree on the destruction of sanctions products at the border. In the early days of the decree, the supervisory authorities reported about the destruction of several hundred tons of products banned from importing Russia because of sanctions.

Import ban A number of products from countries that have imposed sanctions on Russia were introduced in August 2014. The EU announced 22 June to extend sanctions against Russia until January 2016, inclusive. The Russian authorities, in turn, have a food embargo for the year, stating that the list of products whose import into Russia is prohibited can be extended.