Russia

On the second episode of our Inside Privacy Audiocast, we are aiming our looking glass at Russia, and are joined for our discussion by Partner Maria Ostashenko and Senior Associate Anastasia Petrova of the Data Protection and Cybersecurity practice at the Alrud law firm in Moscow.

The pair discuss Russia’s data protection framework, zooming in

On November 11, 2016, a Russian court in Moscow upheld the decision of an earlier court to block online access to the website LinkedIn throughout Russia.  This decision, which affirms a decision to penalize LinkedIn by the Russian data protection regulator, the Roskomnadzor, was based on the court’s view that LinkedIn had breached the new

 

  1. The CJEU “Right to be Forgotten” Ruling.  In May 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) delivered an important judgement in a referral from Spain’s National High Court involving Google, a Spanish national, and the Spanish data protection authority (Case C-131/12).  The CJEU’s decision re-interpreted European data protection law to include a so-called “right to be forgotten” that enabled individuals to request search engines to block links that appear on searches of their names if the links go to information that is incomplete, inaccurate, irrelevant, or otherwise damaging to an individual’s privacy.  (This right is limited in the case of public figures, however.)  The decision also found that Google was subject to European data protection law because it operated subsidiaries in Europe whose business was to raise advertising revenues in relation to the search engine’s data processing activities.  The decision triggered an immediate tidal wave of tens of thousands of requests to Google and other search engines that continues to raise controversies to this day.
  1. CJEU strikes down the Data Retention Directive as invalid. In April 2014, the CJEU took the rare step of annulling the controversial Data Retention Directive, which mandated the systematic (“bulk”) retention of communications metadata by telecommunications companies in the EU, for potential access by law enforcement authorities (see our blog post here).  The Court criticised the Directive’s indiscriminate targeting of suspects and non-suspects alike, and the law’s general lack of safeguards, finding that it amounted to an “interference with the fundamental rights of practically the entire European population” contrary to Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU.  The Directive’s invalidation raised questions about the continuing validity of the national laws that had implemented the Directive throughout the EU.  In the UK, this lead to the accelerated adoption of substitute legislation, the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act 2014 (“DRIPA”), and its implementing regulations.
    Continue Reading Top 10 International Privacy Developments of 2014

UPDATED:  This post was first published on December 19, 2014; it is now being updated to reflect President Putin’s signature of the bill discussed below on 31 December, 2014.

In July 2014, Russia enacted Law 242-FZ (the “Localization Law”).  The Localization Law amends the Russian Federal Law on Information, Information Technology and Information Protection, and

In July this year, Russia enacted Law 242-FZ (the “Localization Law”).  The Localization Law amends the Russian Federal Law on Information, Information Technology and Information Protection, and would introduce a new requirement for certain businesses (including in particular those processing data concerning Russian citizens and also maintaining offices in Russia) to ensure that personal data