At the plenary session, the State Duma adopted in the first reading a bill on the extrajudicial blocking of sites with online tobacco sales.
The draft was reintroduced in June 2024, as several deputies had previously withdrawn their signatures under the first version of the bill.
According to the government's response, which is posted in the Duma's electronic database, the draft is supported on condition that it is finalized for the second reading, taking into account comments.
As the authors of the explanatory note to the draft noted, there is a completely effective, convenient and effective mechanism for the extrajudicial blocking of Internet resources offering alcohol for sale, established by Federal Law No. 149-FZ. In order to implement measures to counter the remote retail sale of tobacco and nicotine-containing products, it is proposed to establish a norm aimed at preventing the dissemination on websites (on the Internet) of information containing proposals for the remote retail sale of tobacco products and nicotine-containing products, according to the explanatory note to the draft.
The authors of the draft note that the rules governing the sale of alcohol have no effect on the obligation of website owners and Internet resources to identify and prevent the distribution of proposals for the sale of tobacco and nicotine-containing products on their Internet sites. As a result, they do not identify this illegal content, and the procedure for removing it by contacting Rospotrebnadzor and Roskomnadzor is very lengthy.
As noted in the explanatory note, the blocking of an Internet site by court for offers to sell tobacco and nicotine-containing products takes from three months.
The authors propose to apply a mechanism for the extrajudicial blocking of Internet resources offering tobacco products for sale, as is currently being applied to the online sale of alcohol.
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