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On 25 June 2004 the State Duma (parliament) of the Russian Federation enacted the Federal Statute amending the Statute of the Russian Federation On Copyright and Neighbouring Rights of 9 July 1993. On 20 July 2004 the President of the Russian Federation signed the statute into law, which entered into force on 8 August 2004 except for several provisions that will enter into force on 1 September 2006. The Statute excludes that the subjects (constituent entities) of the Russian Federation may legislate on copyright and neighbouring rights. Only the federal legislature shall be authorized to enact...

The administrative reform which began shortly before the last Presidential elections (see IRIS 2004-5: 15) goes on. On 17 June 2004 the Government of the Russian Federation approved an Ordinance regulating the authority of the new Federal Service on Supervision over the Legality in the Sphere of Mass Communications and on Protection of Cultural Heritage (hereinafter - Federal Service on Supervision). Two other Ordinances of the same date regulate in detail the authority of the Ministry of Culture and Mass Communications and the Federal Agency on Press and Mass Communications. The Ministry of Culture...

On 11 June 2004 the State Duma of the Federal Assembly (Parliament) of the Russian Federation adopted the new Federal Constitutional Statute "On Referendum of the Russian Federation". President Vladimir Putin signed it into law on 28 June 2004. The Statute, which aims to make the system of electoral and referendum legislation uniform, repealed the Act with the same name of 10 October 1995. The Statute provides for the procedure of initiating a nationwide referendum, formation of referendum commissions, balloting and vote tabulation. It guarantees access by observers to the voting process, sets...

On 9 March 2004 President Vladimir Putin signed the Decree "On the system and structure of the federal executive bodies". In order to elaborate on the Decree's provisions the Government of the Russian Federation approved on 6 April 2004 the Ordinance regulating the authority of the new Ministry of Culture and Mass Communications and on 8 April 2004 the Ordinance regulating the authority of the new Federal Agency on Press and Mass Communications. The latter Ordinance enters into force on 21 April 2004. According to the Decree of 9 March 2004, the former Ministry of Press, Television and Radio Broadcasting...

On 30 October 2003, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation declared unconstitutional one part of the law that restricts media coverage of election campaigns. The ruling cancels an umbrella clause in the 2002 Federal Statute "On the Basic Guarantees of Voting Rights and the Right to Participate in a Referendum of Citizens of the Russian Federation", which defined campaigning so broadly that any reporting on a candidate tentially capable of swaying voters. Previously, any detail characterizing a candidate within the pre-election period (of about 3 months prior to the voting day) could...