Russia: Minsvyaz submits proposal on amendment to data retention periods under Yarovaya Law // Dataguidance.com

DataGuidance confirmed, on 10 November 2017, with Sergey Medvedev and Ilya Goryachev, Senior Lawyers at Gorodissky & Partners, that the Russian Ministry of Communications ('Minsyaz') had submitted a proposal to the Russian Government ('the Proposal') that aims to introduce a gradual increase in the data retention periods for telecommunications operators ('telcos') under the Federal Law No. 374-FZ on Amending the Federal Law on Counteracting Terrorism and Other Legislative Acts to Provide for Additional Measures to Counteract Terrorism and to Ensure Public Safety ('Yarovaya Law'), which will enter into force on 1 July 2018.

Medvedev and Goryachev outlined, "The Proposal was submitted by the specialists of Minsvyaz to the attention of the Government and forwarded to the Cabinet of Ministers for further consideration. The initiative was also discussed and developed with experts from the Federal Security Service ('FSB'). Under the Yarovaya Law, telcos will have to store the content of users' communications, including texts, photos, videos and sound recordings for up to six months.

Importantly, access to such content must be provided to the FSB at its request. According to the Proposal, the gradual increase of the data retention period will start from one month and will be raised to six months, as per the words of the Head of Minsvyaz, Nikolay Nikoforov. If the Proposal eventually becomes law, such amendments will help telcos save a lot of money, at least at the very beginning of applying the Yarovaya Law. Previously, telcos had assessed their expenses in connection with the Yarovaya Law to amount to hundreds of billions of rubles."

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