Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, adopted a bill which would prevent the sale of certain devices lacking pre-installed Russian software, in an aim to promote domestically developed programmes.
The proposed legislation has been accepted on first reading and, if adopted, will come into effect on 1 July 2020, the State Duma announced.
The government will determine the affected types of devices and the Russian software programmes which would need to be included in them.
The lower house of parliament referred to the gadgets in question as “technically complex goods”, including smartphones, computers and smart televisions.
According to the bill explanatory note, the initiative aims to provide Russian companies with legal mechanisms to promote their technology.
Oleg Nikolayev, co-author of the proposed legislation, told Interfax news agency users in the country might think there are no domestic alternatives to Western applications. He argued if customers have pre-installed Russian software on their devices, they would have the right to choose the applications they want to use.
The Association of Trading Companies and Manufacturers of Electrical Household and Computer Equipment expressed concern some devices won’t be capable of supporting Russian programmes and international device manufacturers may leave the market, BBC reported.
