Belarusian authorities to require Yandex Taxi to place servers within country

MINSK. Nov 20 (Interfax) - The Belarusian authorities plan to require Yandex Taxi, Yandex's ride-tech service, to place its servers within the country, Belarus' Transport and Communications Minister Alexei Lyakhnovich said on Saturday on Belarus 1 state TV.

These requirements are based on the planned amendments to the legislation on transporting passengers by roadway.

"Yandex Taxi must be registered within the country, so that its servers are here," Lyakhnovich said, clarifying that, "We have the concept of 'road transport dispatcher' and 'taxi dispatcher', which can, among other matters, use information resources. Therefore, this is a dispatcher who also has responsibilities in accordance with the law on roadway transportation, roadway transport, and the rules for transporting passengers."

Lyakhnovich also noted that, "[The representatives of Yandex Taxi] have now probably learned that the relevant documents are being drafted, and they have begun slowly to transfer servers and establish legal entities within the Republic of Belarus."