The fate of the "tax on the Internet" in Russia is still unclear

Despite an active discussion of the possibility of introducing an “anti-piracy tax,” as the initiative of director Nikita Mikhalkov is called, the fate of this bill is still unclear. So, recently the government criticized this law. Nevertheless, today there is information that the Ministry of Culture of Russia is counting on the introduction of a "tax on the Internet" in the third quarter of 2015.

However, the Ministry of Culture itself refuted this information, saying that the department still has not developed even the final position on this issue. What exists now is a document aimed at protecting the rights of authors, and the law still needs to be finalized.

Thus, in the Public Council of the Ministry are going to create a special working group to finalize this law, and the timing of entry into force is not defined.
')
Now this ministry proposes to exempt certain categories of the population, for example, pensioners, disabled people, schoolchildren and students, from paying the tax. “The question of the possibility of applying exemptions in the form of exemption from paying a global license to certain categories of users of the Network is at the stage of development and discussion,” said Deputy Minister of Culture Grigory Ivliev. So, even if the law is adopted, the telecom operators will be able to "protect users from additional payment who do not actually consume objects of copyright and related rights."

The bill now has a lot of opponents, including both users and network operators. Representatives of the Internet sphere are against the introduction of the law, complaining that if a law is adopted, it will be necessary to purchase and install expensive equipment.

The essence of the bill itself is the creation of a special registry of digital content in which data on author's works can be entered. And then a certain “rights management organization” will conclude an agreement (on a “collective basis”) with users on the possibility of providing a global license for authoring content. Users will consume such content, and operators will be obliged to pay a certain fee, the parameters of which have not yet been defined.