Changes in legislation

The assignment of information to the category of limited access is regulated by 111 legislative acts, including decrees of the President of the Russian Federation, codes and federal laws.

This kind of information, in its most general form, includes the following types of secrets:

• legal professional privilege and audit confidentiality;
• banking confidentiality;
• physician–patient privilege;
• state, commercial, tax and notarial secrecy;
• official secrecy in the field of defense;
• secrecy of: wills, confessions, pawnshop, communications, investigation, deliberations of judges, insurance, adoption.

The Federal Law No. 206-FL of 11.06.2021 introduced amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, tightening the liability for disclosing the limited access information and establishing administrative liability for illegal obtaining limited access information. Such offenses are subject to administrative fines:

• for private individuals – from 5 to 10 thousand RUB;
• for officials - from 40 to 50 thousand RUB or disqualification for up to 3 years;
• for legal entities – from 100 to 200 thousand RUB.

In addition, the administrative responsibility for the illegal dissemination of information about protected persons has been strengthened. The concept of protected persons is regulated by Art. 2. “Persons subject to state protection” of the Federal Law No. 45-FL of 20.04.1995. Those involved:

• judges, arbitration court assessors and jurors;
• prosecutors, investigators, interrogators and persons carrying out operational-search activities;
• military personnel, employees and federal state civil servants of the internal affairs bodies of the Russian Federation, institutions and bodies of the penal system, the troops of the National Guard of the Russian Federation, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, enforcement bodies of the Russian Federation;
• employees of the foreign intelligence agencies of the Russian Federation, the federal security service, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, state security;
• employees of the State Fire Service, servicemen of rescue military formations and federal state civil servants of the federal executive body in the field of emergency prevention and elimination of the consequences of natural disasters;
• employees of the control bodies of the President of the Russian Federation, exercising control over the implementation of laws and other regulatory legal acts, detection and suppression of offenses;
• employees of customs and tax authorities, antimonopoly authorities, federal bodies of state control, the Federal Service for Financial Monitoring, the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, as well as other categories of state and municipal employees according to a separate list of the Government of the Russian Federation;
• relatives of the above persons.

Moreover, the Federal Law No. 216-FL of 11.06.2021 amended Art. 183 and 320 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, clarifying the rules on the illegal disclosure of commercial and tax secrecy, and banking confidentiality, as well as information on security measures in relation to officials of law enforcement or regulatory agencies.

Thus, an amendment has been made that this information can also be collected by deception, blackmail or coercion.

The maximum term of correctional labor for illegal disclosure or use of such information, without the consent of its owner by the person to whom it was entrusted or became known in the service or work, has been increased to 4 years.

Increased liability is provided for these offenses committed by a group of persons in a preliminary conspiracy or by an organized group.

Responsibility for the disclosure of information about security measures applied to officials of law enforcement and regulatory bodies, as well as their relatives, occurs if it is committed by a person to whom the information was entrusted or became known in connection with his official activities.

Possible punishments for such crimes include compulsory work for up to 480 hours or restriction of freedom for up to 2 years.