Expert explains details of new law protecting Russian language
Amendments to consumer protection legislation will come into force in Russia on March 1st, affecting manufacturers, sellers, and website owners. A key requirement is to make product information fully accessible and understandable to Russian-speaking consumers. Artyom Tarasov, senior lecturer in the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law at the Faculty of Law, informed how to prepare for the new rules and whom they will affect.
According to the interviewee, the document aims to eliminate misconceptions that arise among consumers when they see foreign words on packaging.
“Consumers must see understandable text in the national language. For example, the familiar shampoo ingredient sodium laureth sulfate must be translated on labels as sodium laureth sulfate. The original spelling can be retained, but only as an addition. Foreign words do not have to be removed completely; their translations are sufficient,” Tarasov emphasized.
Special attention is paid to the presentation of information. The law requires visual parity with the original.
“Russian text should be as noticeable as the foreign text (the same font, size, and color). Cosmetic manufacturers often use different fonts, for example, SLS is usually bolded,” the senior lecturer noted.
Digital platforms and websites offering goods or services must be brought into compliance with the new regulations.
“For example, according to Federal Law No. 152 On the Processing of Personal Data, websites must include consent to the processing of personal data. All consents contain a link to cookies, so even this will need to be amended,” the expert explained.
Businesses will bear the brunt of the new requirements.
“The adverse consequences of non-compliance will primarily fall on legal entities and individual entrepreneurs engaged in the provision of services,” he said.
The list of items not covered by the new law includes three categories.
“First, these are trade names (the official names of legal entities). Second, these are domain names. They don’t provide information to the consumer, but are technical in nature. Thirdly, trademarks officially registered with Rospatent are protected,” the specialist commented.
Failure to comply with the requirements is subject to administrative liability.
“Fines for individual entrepreneurs and officials range from 500 to 1,000 rubles, and for legal entities from 5,000 to 10,000 rubles,” he emphasized.
According to Tarasov, the law will play a positive role in improving consumer awareness and information accessibility.
“Article 10 of the Federal Law on Consumer Rights Protection previously required sellers to provide accurate information. Quite often, manufacturers or sellers mislead buyers by concealing the key consumer properties of a product or providing deliberately false information. It should be noted that the use of foreign words in the names of residential blocks also complicates the sending of correspondence. Just last week, we sent a complaint to a person registered at one of suburban residential areas of Kazan. The postal worker asked several times if the address was correct, explaining that the Russian Post form doesn’t allow the use of English words. After double-checking the documents, we confirmed the address was correct, and they suggested sending the letter to a similar postal code,” the educator concluded.