A new bill has been submitted to the Russian State Duma aimed at regulating the activities of digital platforms, particularly marketplaces. For instance, platforms will be mandated to verify sellers against official registers and prevent the sale of prohibited goods.
The Russian government has submitted a bill on digital platform regulation to the State Duma. According to the document, marketplaces will be obliged to verify sellers against state registers and prevent the sale of prohibited goods.
Earlier this year, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Grigorenko stated that regulating digital platforms is necessary to protect consumers from purchasing goods that are hazardous to health or lack certification.
Commenting on this is Efim Aldukhov, CEO of GoOmni consulting company:
Efim Aldukhov, CEO of GoOmni consulting company:
The bill on the platform economy is essentially the result of significant work by all market participants and an attempt to find compromises between sellers, buyers, and the marketplaces themselves, taking into account a large number of issues that have arisen in these relationships over the past few years. Specifically, it also incorporates practices for resolving conflicts between sellers and marketplaces that previously occurred. This will not significantly impact the operations of marketplaces directly. Most provisions in the law are either already being applied or correct recent problematic practices in seller-marketplace relations. We certainly do not expect any substantial impact on buyers. The law is quite balanced, and many radical proposals heard in the market have been removed.
Key changes in this bill relate primarily to either allowing the sale of 18+ goods under authorization conditions (e.g., through State Services or other state platforms) or involve mandatory seller authorization and verification via state registers. However, it should be noted that this procedure is not yet fully established and lacks specific solutions. In general, a clear technological solution will likely be found fairly quickly. It probably won`t be zero-cost, but it`s unlikely to affect buyers in any way.
Furthermore, marketplaces will essentially be prohibited from independently managing prices for sellers or automatically including them in promotions. This might slightly impact buyers negatively in the short term, but is likely beneficial in the long term.
The law is scheduled to take effect on March 1, 2027, providing businesses ample time to adapt to the new regulations, according to information from the Russian government`s Telegram channel.
