Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development is preparing amendments that would remove the criteria for online services to enter the national digital-platform registry, a ministry official said at the Digital Solutions forum.
The registry began operating on Oct. 1 and includes 13 services: Wildberries, Ozon, Avito, Kuiper, Lamoda, Delivery Club, AliExpress and six Yandex services. The ministry says some platforms do not yet meet the current criteria but want to join the list and comply with the law.
Gleb Turkanov, acting director of the ministry’s digital development and data economy department, said at the forum that officials initially expected to include large platforms able to adapt quickly to the new rules. The ministry is now considering removing the entry requirements.
Current rules define a platform as a service that enables users to list goods or services, conclude a transaction and make a payment. The government also set quantitative thresholds: an average daily audience above 100,000 people and at least 10,000 partners. Instead of the partner threshold, a platform may qualify if the turnover generated by partners through it exceeded 50 billion rubles in the previous year.
The ministry told Interfax that it plans to include the initiative in a package of amendments to the law on the platform economy. The proposal is still a ministry plan, not an enacted change. The registry rules took effect on Oct. 1.