Russian Federation

[RU] Doctrine of Informational Security Adopted

IRIS 2000-9:1/35

Natalie Boudarina

Moscow Media Law and Policy Centre

On 9 September 2000, the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin approved the Doktrina informatsionnoi bezopasnosti Rossiyskoi Federatsii (the national Doctrine of Informational Security), drafted by the Security Council. The Doctrine contains formal views on the aims, problems, principles and main directions for promoting data security in the Russian Federation.

Certain provisions of the Doctrine concern telecommunications and law. The Doctrine suggests that the parliament discuss and adopt acts to achieve data security in the telecommunications sector. In particular, Parliament shall make plans to: establish a legislative basis for the priority development of the national networks as well as for the domestic production of communication satellites. define the legal status of the organisations that provide global network services on the Russian Federation territory and pass regulations concerning their activity. improve the certification process of telecommunication equipment systems and software for the automatic information processing systems in accordance with the requirements for data security. define the legal status of all participants to relations concerning the information sphere, including users of data and telecommunication systems and to establish their liability for complying with the legislation of the Russian Federation.

Under the Doctrine, the development of modern information processing technologies, national industry dealing with information, including telecommunication industry, is recognised as one of the national priorities. Among the existing threats to the national interests concerning the receipt and distribution of information is that telecommunication systems owned by domestic and foreign entities might establish a monopoly for these services. Therefore, the Doctrine stresses the significance of the state policies to give priority to the development of modern informational and telecommunications technologies, the production of hardware and software in order to improve the national telecommunications network. The Doctrine underlines that the national telecommunications network must become a part of the global network but, at the same time, has to take into consideration the vital interests of the Russian Federation.