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On 1 December 2022, a new version of the foreign agents’ law enters into force in the Russian Federation. It merges, updates and replaces the norms that have existed since 2012 in the Statute “On the Mass Media”, as well as in the federal statutes on non-commercial organisations and on public associations (see IRIS Extra 2020). The new law, “On Control over Activity of Persons under Foreign Influence”, foresees that foreign funding and/or material assistance are no longer obligatory factors in the designation of the status “foreign agent”: a vaguely-defined...

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered a judgment on 30 August 2022 confirming, and further elaborating, the guarantees for the protection of journalistic sources under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The ECtHR concluded, unanimously, that the search of a journalist’s flat and the seizure of his electronic devices containing his professional information amounted to a violation of Article 10 ECHR. The ECtHR emphasised the lack of assessment of the necessity and proportionality of the investigating authorities’ actions. It found in particular...

On 14 June 2022, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered a judgment finding a gross and systemic violation by the Russian state of the right to freedom of association in combination with the right to freedom of expression and information as protected by Articles 11 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The complaints by 73 non-governmental organisations (NGOs), formulated in 61 applications, all concerned the 2012 Foreign Agents Act. The ECtHR found the restrictions imposed by the Russian authorities on the NGOs which had been categorised as “foreign...

The broadcaster, “Russia Today France” (RT France), asked the General Court to annul the Decision 2022/351 and Regulation 2022/350 of the Council of European Union (see IRIS 2022-3/6). The Decision and Regulation followed the Russian invasion of Ukraine and prohibited “operators to broadcast or to enable, facilitate or otherwise contribute to broadcast, any content by the legal persons, entities or bodies listed in Annex XV”, including RT France. Further to the hearing of 10 June 2022, the General Court gave its judgment on 27 July 2022 and dismissed RT France’s...

On 30 June 2022, the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation adopted the Federal Statute “On amendments to certain legal acts of the Russian Federation” that provides important changes in the media law, in particular in relation to foreign media in Russia. An additional Article 3.4 was introduced to the Federal Statute No. 272-FZ of 28 December 2012 “On measures to influence persons involved in violations of fundamental human rights and freedoms, the rights and freedoms of citizens of the Russian Federation” (О мерах воздействия на лиц, причастных...