Russia: Tele2 case demonstrates “strict approach” to telcos’ role in SMS marketing // Dataguidance.com

Sergey Medvedev and Ilya Goryachev, Senior Lawyers at Gorodissky and Partners, told DataGuidance, “The decision touches upon different aspects of the Advertising Law and the Communications Law with regard to the status of telcos within the advertising activities initiated by third parties. Whether or not a telco can be qualified as an advertising distributor or simply a technical service, which delivers the message from the third party (who ordered the advertising campaign) to the subscriber of the network services, is a matter of discussion. In this regard, the Tele2 case may be seen as implying a strict approach on the role of telcos in advertising activities.”

Medvedev and Goryachev concluded, “The position of the FAS may be explained by the practical difficulties in finding the actual initiator of the advertising messages. As such, it may be advisable for telcos [active in] the Russian communications market to use contractual liability in relations with their partnering service providers [or] third parties.”