The authors of the bill have taken a more business-friendly approach, removing several controversial provisions from the previous version of the document.
In the latest draft, the authorities agreed to remove the requirement for marketplaces to monitor the "disguise" of employees as self-employed workers — a task already handled by the Federal Tax Service. Additionally, plans to limit platforms and self-employed individuals from working with certain categories of goods, services, and works were also excluded. The government also abandoned plans for routine inspections of platforms. According to Vice-Premier Dmitry Grigorenko’s office, marketplaces are not considered high-risk categories for violations, which is why such inspections have been excluded from the post-reform control and oversight framework.
"Currently, the bill is under discussion in industry working groups of the 'regulatory guillotine,'"
the vice-premier’s office told “Kommersant”.
The Ministry of Economic Development notes that this is where the remaining problematic issues will be addressed. In these working groups, companies and regulators have an equal say, and decisions are not made until a compromise is reached.
One of the issues still under debate is the delegation of rights protection responsibilities to platforms. However, in the White House, it is believed that the bill does not shift the responsibility onto the platforms, as these issues are handled by Rospatent.
The bill has also sparked debate over social guarantees for the self-employed, as their relationships with platforms are classified as civil law, rather than employment law. However, the White House notes that the bill creates legal protection for the self-employed on platforms for the first time.
Another point of contention is the protection of small businesses from price undercutting by large players. The bill prohibits platforms from offering category-wide discounts without the direct consent of sellers, a provision that has been criticized by large suppliers and platforms. There is also no consensus on the proposed ban on influencing search rankings on platforms — introduced to ensure fair competition, but which could limit platforms' ability to develop recommendation technologies.
Companies state that the bill takes into account many of the stakeholders' interests, but "given the complexity of such regulation, several issues will require further attention," said Ozon, one of Russia's largest online retailers, yesterday, emphasizing the company's openness to discussions.
Wildberries and Russ, which are also involved in drafting the bill, stated that the new version "requires further work on a number of norms to balance interests" — the bill "could significantly limit sellers' opportunities to promote their products and lead to a decrease in their turnover."
(Wildberries is Russia's largest e-commerce platform, known for selling a wide variety of products ranging from clothing to electronics, while Russ is a prominent Russian tech company focusing on e-commerce and digital services.)
Source: “Kommersant”
