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The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation that replaced the previous Criminal Code of 1962 and entered into force in January 1997, introduces criminal liability and more severe penalties in a number of offences that relate to the audio-visual and new media sectors. Article 146 of the Code says that if an abuse of copyright or neighbouring rights, as well as plagiarism inflicts substantial damages, violators are subject to fines from 200 to 400 minimum monthly wages (at present: from approximately USD 2,800 to 5,600), or to forced labour of 180 to 240 hours, or to a jail term of up to two years....

The Federal Law of the Russian Federation "On Participation in International Exchange of Information" is the basic Statute that regulates issues of international exchange of information, including mass information. The Statute aims at providing conditions for an effective participation and strong positions of Russia in the area of transnational flow of information. It lists the responsibilities of the government: to provide customers with information, update and protect informational resources (data banks, archives, etc.), introduce modern technologies, and facilitate the exchange of information...

On 20 February 1997, the State Duma passed in the first reading (for a Bill to become law, there should be three readings in the Duma, approval by the Upper House, and signing by the President) a Bill on Limitations of Circulation of Products, Services and Performances of Sexual Character in the Russian Federation. The Bill, drafted by the Committee on Culture of the Duma permits, in accordance with Article 242 of the 1997 Criminal Code, the sale and distribution of legal pornography (as opposed to pornographic material which is considered to be illegal ). At the same time, for the first time...

In IRIS 1996-5: 7-10 we published an overview of the state of Signatures and Ratifications of European Conventions and other international treaties that are relevant to the audiovisual sector. The listing of when States became Party to the Convention relating to the distribution of programme-carrying signals transmitted by satellite (printed on page 8) is, however, not correct. Accidentily it reproduces the dates on which States became Party to the Berne Convention for the protection of copyright of literary and artistic works (as printed on page 7). The correct date on which States became Party...

In the case of the journalist E.V. Limonov (Savenko), Editor of the newspaper Limonka, the Court responsible for information disputes had to decide whether two articles ("Hand grenades at Croats" and "Black list of peoples"), published in Limonka, Nos. 13 and 16 (1995), were unconstitutional and therefore a ground for prosecution. The Constitution of the Russian Federation guarantees freedom of thought and of the spoken and written word, but Article 29 also prohibits any propaganda or agitation which foments social, racial, nationalistic or religious hatred or enmity. Glorification of war and...