In case of default of requirements of the bill, the authors propose the imposition of penalties – up to 50 thousand for officials for legal entities – the amount of cash received or the value of property received.
MOSCOW, 23 Dec. The state Duma in the second reading will consider a bill that requires Russian media to notify Roskomnadzor about the receipt of foreign funding, in the event of default of this requirement stipulated penalties.
The head of profile state Duma Committee on information policy Leonid Levin did not rule out that the document in the environment may be adopted in the third reading. The Committee recommended the bill for adoption with some amendments. In particular, from the bill the norm about the closure of media due to repetitive failure to provide information about foreign funding Roskomnadzor — it’s being replaced by fines.
The draft law was initiated by deputies Vadim Dengin (the LDPR), Alexander Yushchenko (CPRF) and Vadim Kharlov (“Fair Russia”).
According to the document, in case of receipt of money or other property from foreign States, international organizations and under their control, foreign legal entities, foreign citizens, persons without citizenship, publisher or editors of mass media are obliged to notify Roskomnadzor within 30 days of receipt from such persons of money or other property. However, this provision will not apply to cases of receipt of funds from media advertising.
Amendments
The second reading of the bill was introduced a number of amendments. So, it is envisaged that the act will cover not only the media, but also for broadcasters, said Levin on Tuesday at a meeting of the Committee.
However, the law does not concern media, established in accordance with international treaties of the Russian Federation.
“Excluded duty to report receipt of property from foreign sources. The reason is simple: it is quite difficult to establish the value of such property received from foreign sources. We leave in the bill the obligation to notify only about getting money,” he said.
According to the amendments to the second reading, the media will not have to report the receipt of funds from citizens of the Russian Federation possessing the nationality of another state.
In addition, the duty to give notice of the receipt of funds does not apply to cases of income from sales of products media.
Also for the second reading appeared the rule on the minimum amount from a foreign source, the receipt of which the media shall notify Roskomnadzor. “It was set at 15 thousand rubles at a time,” said Levin.
The amendments also stipulate the obligation of Roskomnadzor to place on its official website the information received from the media, broadcasters about getting funds from foreign sources.
“There have also been criticisms about the complex logistics, administration, provision of information on a monthly basis. In this regard, we propose to provide Roscomnadzor this information once a quarter”, — said the head of the state Duma Committee.
Fines
In addition, excluded Novella on responsibility for repeated failure to provide information about foreign financing in the form of termination of activities of mass media.
“In the original version of the bill was offered in case of repeated violation within one year to cease the activity of mass media. Now talking about the introduction of liability – administrative fine for repeated breach of provisions of the bill,” said Levin.
Penalties for failure to notify Roskomnadzor will make from 30 thousand to 50 thousand rubles for officials for legal entities — the amount of cash received or the value of the property received. While a second violation will result in a fine of 60 to 80 thousand for individuals and for legal entities — from three times to four times the amount of the funds of which it was necessary to notify.
