Publication date: 09 Jun 2020

In June 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on creation of a unified information federal registry containing data on the country’s population.

The database will contain more than 30 items, including family name, name, patronymic, date and place of birth, gender, personal insurance policy number, taxpayer ID number, citizenship, marital status, and other information about an individual. The registry will be run by the Federal Tax Service of Russia on the basis of data contained in state and municipal information resources of state power and local self-government bodies as well as governing bodies of state extra-budgetary funds.

Russians will no longer have to fill out forms every time they apply for state or municipal services. Moreover, the unified registry will facilitate prevention of law violation and fraud related to social assistance measures, taxes, fees, and other obligatory payments and will contribute to better fiscal performance. The law, at the same time, provides for protection of certain categories of persons: judges and witnesses.

The transition period will last until 31 December 2025. Until 1 January 2023, no requirement to use the unified registry as the only and mandatory source of information about the population can be established by any legislative act of the Russian Federation.

It is worth reminding that US authorities had earlier announced tightening of control over information posted on social media.