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The Federal Statute "On basic guarantees of electoral rights and the right to participate in a referendum of the citizens of the Russian Federation" entered into force on 22 July 2002 (see also IRIS 1999-6: 10). This Act serves as the basis for the whole system of election law in Russia. The act distinguishes between two kinds of information. The first one is election propaganda, which can be disseminated only by candidates and parties. The second one is information on the course of campaigns, which the mass media can disseminate. The Act introduced a list of actions considered as election propaganda...

After lengthy consultation, the new Code on Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation has now been adopted by the Federal Assembly and signed by the Russian President, Vladimir Putin. The Code will enter into force on 1 July 2002. The code deals extensively with administrative offences related to the right to seek, receive, and impart information. There are two types of administrative offences outlined in the Code: those which were in the Soviet Code of 1984 on administrative offences and those which are being included in the Code for the first time. In contrast to the Soviet Code on administrative...

On 2 February 2002, the Federal Constitutional Statute on Martial Law entered into force in Russia. The necessity for the federal law was stated in the 1993 Constitution of the Russian Federation. In the case of a proclamation of martial law, human rights and freedoms may be restricted. According to the Statute, the rule of martial law has territorial limits. The rule of martial law may spread over the whole territory of the Russian Federation or be confined to certain parts. Within these geographical limits, some measures, that concern inter alia the mass media and the dissemination of information,...

Recently signed by the Russian President on 18 December 2001, the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation contains some new provisions concerning the dissemination of information by means of the mass media. First, when a story appears in the mass media about the commission of a crime or concerning the preparation for it, such action shall serve as grounds for initiating a prosecution. On demand by a prosecutor, an investigator or a body of inquiry, the editorial office and editor-inchief of the enterprise concerned shall be obliged to hand over all the documents and materials giving...

Since 1999 cinematography organizations had enjoyed preferential tax treatment in accordance with the Federal Statute on state support of cinematography in the Russian Federation of 22 August 1996 (See IRIS 1999-2: 11). But the period of validity of the legal rules under which the cinematography organizations were given tax benefits expired on 1 January 2002. From this date on cinematography organizations shall pay full profit tax. Earlier such organizations were exempt from the part of the profit tax to be paid to the federal budget. These benefits concerned the profits from the production and...