Home / Doing business in Russia 2020 / Advertising issues / General approach
Doing business in Russia 2020
  1. Introduction
    1. Political and administrative structure
    2. Legal environment
  2. Common forms of business structures for foreign investors
    1. Main types of structure
    2. Registration, liquidation and reorganisation of business structures
    3. Shareholders’ and participants’ agreements
    4. Strategic industries
  3. Anti-monopoly issues
    1. General legal and regulatory framework
    2. Scope of application of the Competition Law
    3. Anti-competitive practices and restriction of competition
    4. Liability
  4. Tax system
    1. General approach
    2. Corporate taxation
    3. Incentives
    4. Special tax regimes
    5. Taxation of individuals
    6. Double taxation treaties
  5. Customs regulations
    1. General approach
    2. Trade between EEU and non-EEU countries
    3. Mutual trade between the EEU members
  6. Currency control
    1. Foreign currency transactions
    2. Consequences of breach/Penalties
  7. Lending in Russia
    1. Lending documents and governing law
    2. Jurisdiction
    3. International finance transactions and repatriation requirements
    4. Security interests
    5. Recognition of security trusts
    6. Syndicated loans
    7. Enforcement
    8. Suretyships and guarantees
    9. Bankruptcy considerations
    10. Other lending related issues
  8. Employment and migration
    1. Formalising the employment relationship
    2. Managing employment relationships
    3. Terminating an employment agreement
    4. Specifics of employing foreign nationals
  9. Personal data protection
    1. General approach
    2. Scope of the Data Protection Law
    3. Liability
    4. Right to be forgotten
  10. Intellectual property
    1. General approach
    2. Contractual aspects of intellectual property rights
    3. Rights over the results of intellectual activity
    4. Company names, trade names, trademarks and appellations of origin
    5. Intellectual property rights infringements
    6. IP Court
  11. Advertising issues
    1. General approach
    2. Scope of application of the Advertising Law
    3. Violations of the Advertising Law
    4. Liability
  12. Anti-corruption and compliance
    1. General approach
    2. Legal framework
    3. Compliance requirements for companies
    4. Concept of corruption in Russian law
    5. Possible targets of bribery
    6. Liability and penalties for corruption
    7. Example of sector-specific anti-corruption measures
  13. Real estate and construction
    1. Rights to real estate
    2. Real estate transactions
    3. Resolution of real estate disputes
    4. Planning and construction issues
  14. Corporate bankruptcy
    1. Insolvency criteria
    2. Stages of bankruptcy proceedings
  15. Import substitution and production localisation in Russia
    1. Measures affecting goods importation and current import substitution legislation
    2. Localisation incentives
    3. Sector-specific impact of import restrictions and localisation requirements
  16. Banking sector
    1. Legislative and regulatory framework
    2. Licensing and operations
    3. Deposit insurance
    4. The anti-money laundering law
    5. Bank secrecy
    6. FATCA and CRS
  17. Environment, energy efficiency and renewables
    1. Environment
    2. Energy efficiency
    3. Renewables
  18. Infrastructure and public private partnerships
    1. General approach
    2. Key PPP legislation
    3. Russian PPP environment
    4. Financing
    5. Legal issues
    6. Prospects for infrastructure projects
  19. Oil & gas
    1. Legislative framework
    2. Ownership and licensing
    3. Restrictions on foreign investors
    4. Licences
    5. PSAs

Advertising issues

General approach
Scope of application of the Advertising Law
Violations of the Advertising Law
Liability

Key contacts

Contact
Anton Bankovskiy
Anton Bankovskiy
Partner
Head of Intellectual Property
T +7 495 786 40 63

Expertise

Intellectual Property TMT – Technology, Media & Telecommunications

General approach

General legal and regulatory framework

Advertising issues are primarily governed by Federal Law No. 38-FZ “On Advertising” dated 13 March 2006 (the “Advertising Law”), while liability for violations of advertising regulations is mainly established by the Russian Code on Administrative Offences. 

The Federal Anti-monopoly Service (the “FAS”), a Russian executive authority, controls and enforces compliance with advertising legislation.

Trends

Self-regulation in Russia

The FAS and the advertising industry are currently working on a bill on self-regulation of the advertising industry, whereby certain types of cases on non-compliance with the Advertising Law would be determined by a self-regulatory body rather than the FAS. The bill is expected to be submitted to the Government this summer. 

Digital advertising

Digital advertising is showing incredible growth on the Russian market. It follows that court practice in this area is also developing – there have already been several cases on advertising published by bloggers (so-called “native advertising”) and on social media. 

The Russian Supreme Court has also confirmed that using a competitor’s trademarks as a key word in “search advertising” (i.e. when an advertiser pays to have an advertisement of its product appear in the results listing when a person uses a particular phrase or word such as a competitor’s trademark to search the Internet) may qualify as unfair competition. The FAS has clarified, however, that the claimant will have the burden of proof in such cases.

Recommendations on advertising of OTC medicines

In November 2018, the Recommendations on Advertising of OTC (over-the-counter) Medicines were approved by the FAS and the pharmaceutical industry. 

The Recommendations clarify that the Advertising Law imposes special requirements on pharmaceutical advertising and provides for examples of wordings and techniques that may be used in promotion materials. 

Most pharmaceutical companies have adopted the Recommendations and use them in everyday activities. As a result, there has been a decrease in the number of cases on pharmaceutical advertising initiated by the FAS.

Key contacts

Anton Bankovskiy
Anton Bankovskiy
Partner
Head of Intellectual Property
T +7 495 786 40 63

Expertise

TMT – Technology, Media & Telecommunications Intellectual Property