Registry of Destructive NPOs: A Weapon Against Wrongdoers or Shackles for Developers?

Will the registry help protect developers from criminal prosecution and support innovation?

Against the backdrop of tightening legislation regarding foreign non-profit organizations (NPOs) in the IT sector, industry representatives have expressed concerns about potential criminal prosecution for collaborating with foreign NPOs. In this context, market participants have approached the Ministry of Digital Development with a proposal to create a registry of destructive foreign NPOs operating outside of Russia, aimed at safeguarding "law-abiding" developers from criminal prosecution.

This proposal was addressed to Maxut Shadaev, the Minister of Digital Development, and Anton Gorelkin, the Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy. Associations of software developers have suggested that the ban on cooperation with foreign NPOs without branches in Russia should apply exclusively to organizations included in the proposed registry.

The primary reason for this proposal is associated with the fact that current legislation effectively prohibits Russian developers from participating in the international open-source movement. Specifically, this affects collaborations with organizations such as the Linux Foundation, Python Foundation, and Apache Software Foundation, which, in turn, limits the development of domestic IT products created using open-source code. This includes Russian operating systems based on the Linux kernel, such as "Alt Linux," Astra Linux, "Red OS," Rosa Linux, "Atlant," "Osnova," and "Lotos."

Representatives of the IT industry hope that the creation of the registry will help reduce the risks of criminal prosecution for developers actively collaborating with "law-abiding" foreign NPOs. The Ministry of Digital Development has endorsed this initiative, noting that it will contribute to the formulation of risk mitigation strategies and will be used in the development of joint solutions with the Ministry of Justice.

In conclusion, this proposal reflects the aspiration to strike a balance between the need for international cooperation to foster the development of the domestic IT industry and the imperative of ensuring national digital security.