Russia might completely ban govt purchases of imported software

MOSCOW. Aug 27 (Interfax) - The Russian government might impose a complete ban on state procurements of foreign software, according to a draft resolution posted on the website for draft laws and regulations.

The resolution was drawn up by the Finance Ministry to implement new provisions of the laws "On the contract system" (44-FZ) and "On purchases of goods, work and services by certain types of legal entities" (223-FZ). They are aimed at regulating issues concerning the provision of national treatment and standardization of rules for purchases when providing national treatment in procurements by government and state companies. National treatment means subjecting foreign goods to the same rules and standards that exist for similar domestic products.

The draft resolution calls for amending government resolution No. 1236 "On imposing a ban on access for software originating from foreign nations for the purposes of making purchases to meet state and municipal needs," which sets out the procedure for compiling and maintaining the Registry of Russian Software.

If the document is passed, provisions that make exceptions to the ban on purchases of foreign software will be cancelled as of January 1, 2025. At present, state purchasers can buy foreign software if the registries of Russian and Eurasian software do not include information about software solutions that correspond to the same class as the foreign software being considered for purchase.

State purchasers can also buy imported software if Russian or Eurasian analogs do not meet their requirements in terms of features and technical and operating characteristics.

The Registry of Russian Software now includes about 22,000 software products from 8,000 Russian developers.

The draft resolution also calls for revising, in line with the new changes to laws 44-FZ and 223-FZ, government resolutions that regulate the procedure for maintaining the registry of contracts (PP No. 1132), set requirements for operators of electronic trading platforms (PP No. 656 and PP No. 657) and determine the procedure for information support within the contract system (PP No. 60).