Russian Government Supports Draft Law on Restricting Online Tobacco Sales

The Russian government commission has conditionally supported a draft law aimed at blocking retail information for tobacco and nicotine-containing products, according to a report by Versia on November 11.

The law, which seeks to restrict online sales information, will undergo further revisions before its second reading in the State Duma.

The bill, identified as Bill No. 650932-8, was submitted to parliament by a group of lawmakers in June of this year. It is scheduled to take effect on March 1st of the following year, but official implementation will require a minimum of 90 days after it is officially announced.

According to this bill, amendments will be made to sections 10.6 and 15.1 of the Information Act to restrict the remote sale of tobacco and nicotine-containing products. If the law is passed, social networks will be required to block the publication of sales information related to these products.

At the same time, this ban information will be included in the unified register of banned information of the Russian Federation, managed by the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor). The authors of the bill pointed out that websites, social media, and instant messaging services have become one of the main channels for selling cheap counterfeit or smuggled tobacco products. They emphasized that the prohibition of remote retail of tobacco products is explicitly stated in Section 3 of Article 19 of Federal Law No. 15 on the Protection of Environmental Health of Citizens.

The government's proposed review highlights that the bill may help improve the enforcement of the ban on sales of tobacco products and nicotine-containing products. Therefore, if this bill successfully passes through the State Duma, significant changes are expected in the regulations governing the circulation of tobacco products in Russia, which could also impact market dynamics and consumer behavior.