Find out the measures: they want to reduce the amount of potential fines for marketplaces by half

The deputies want to free marketplaces from potential million-dollar fines in advance and establish a tax amnesty for them. We are talking about the draft law on the platform economy prepared by the government. Parliamentarians from United Russia, Just Russia — For Truth, LDPR and New People asked the Cabinet to finalize a number of harsh measures from the document. It may be submitted to the State Duma by the government in the near future, the lower house of parliament told Izvestia, which nevertheless supports the need to regulate online commerce.

What requirements for marketplaces do the deputies consider redundant?

Fines for marketplaces for violating trade rules, which are reflected in the draft law "On the Platform Economy" prepared by the government in the lower house, are proposed to be halved, since their current size may lead to the ruin of market participants. The deputies of the State Duma told Izvestia about this. They sent recommendations to the Cabinet of Ministers on finalizing the draft law following a round table on finalizing the government bill, which was held with the participation of four factions, Fair Russia — For Truth, United Russia, LDPR and New People

Izvestia reviewed the latest edition of a package of three documents aimed at regulating online commerce. These are the draft laws "On the Platform Economy in the Russian Federation", "On Amendments to certain Legislative acts of the Russian Federation in connection with the adoption of the Federal Law "On the Platform Economy in the Russian Federation", as well as a draft law with amendments to the Administrative Code. Signed by the first deputy head of the Ministry of Economic Development Maxim Kolesnikov, they were sent on March 31 to the trilateral Commission for the Regulation of social and labor relations.

The appeal to the Cabinet of Ministers, which was reviewed by Izvestia, states that the deputies support the government's systematic approach in regulating the activities of digital platforms. However, they believe that a number of issues still remain unresolved.

In particular, the parliamentarians propose to work out the issue of applying penalties and to abandon decisions that would entail an excessive administrative burden, which would eventually reduce the pace of development of bona fide market participants.

"The amounts of penalties currently being discussed (up to 500 thousand rubles for any violation of the law on digital platforms and from 1 to 2 million for violating the procedure for placing offers for the sale of goods) seem to be overstated," the document says.

— We believe that fines for marketplaces should be halved. In its current form, the mechanism of their application seems to be insufficiently developed," Yana Lantratova, a participant in the round table and head of the State Duma Committee on Civil Society Development from the Fair Russia — For Truth faction, explained to Izvestia.

At the same time, in her opinion, legislation should provide for consumer protection in terms of compliance with the quality and safety of goods that are sold through digital platforms.

— The issue of fines should be resolved in a different way. If we imagine the number of possible violations by marketplaces, among which there will be technical and easily removable ones, and multiply them by millions of fines, then the amount of punishment, of course, will be quite a serious threat to electronic platforms," agrees another participant of the round table, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy from the United Russia faction Artyom Kiryanov.

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He stressed that, in general, legislative regulation of the platform economy is long overdue. According to him, the government is expected to introduce a bill within a week, this will be the starting point for the start of regulation of this area.

— We are increasingly using the services of marketplaces, whose activities are becoming an integral part of life for consumers, perhaps stationary trading will simply cease to exist in the future. Therefore, in our recommendations, we drew attention to those issues that concern the industry today and are sensitive," Yaroslav Nilov, a representative of the LDPR faction and head of the labor committee, explained to Izvestia.

Therefore, all proposals prepared following the results of the round table should be carefully studied and worked out by the government. It is impossible to create conditions under which it will be unprofitable and dangerous for businesses to work, the deputy stressed.

In addition, in a document sent to the Cabinet of Ministers, parliamentarians propose to abandon the introduction of restrictions on promotions and discounts through platforms (including in the form of a permanent discount for the buyer) that do not affect the profitability of the seller. At the same time, they consider it necessary to agree with the inadmissibility of forcing sellers to lower the price of goods.

In addition, the deputies consider it important to develop a draft "tax amnesty" and a transition period for sellers on marketplaces who want to return from regions with preferential tax rates to the regions where the business actually operates.

Izvestia sent requests to the Cabinet of Ministers and the Federal Antimonopoly Service with a request to comment on the deputies' proposals.

How is online marketplace regulation assessed?

The FAS press service told Izvestia that they support the adoption of the draft law "On the Platform Economy in the Russian Federation."

"One of the most important tasks in the context of the digital transformation of the economy is to protect sellers and buyers when working on digital commodity markets," the ministry explained.

They also reported that in 2025, the FAS issued warnings to online platforms for an opaque mechanism for sellers to participate in car transactions. The agency believes that such actions carry significant risks for entrepreneurs: they lose the right to manage prices for their own goods.

— The Service has received confirmation information from marketplaces on the completion of technical work to create a voluntary and transparent mechanism for sellers to participate in promotions and finalize the offer for sellers. The Agency analyzes the submitted information, the verification has not been completed. The FAS will monitor the full implementation of the warnings," the service stressed.

The FAS continues to study the practice of leading e-commerce companies in providing discounts at their own expense for compliance with the requirements of antimonopoly legislation, the service said. At the same time, they noted that the measures taken will not restrain the positive effects of the development of online commerce.

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The document does not yet contain any proposals to limit marketplaces in conducting promotions and providing discounts at the expense of platforms. However, the Association of Retail Trade Companies (ACORT) had previously applied to the Cabinet of Ministers with such a request. The government was asked to fix the following rule in the draft law "On the Platform Economy": marketplaces will not be able to invest more than 10% of their annual turnover in the price of goods.

Izvestia sent requests to marketplaces asking them to comment on the deputies' proposals.

The press service of Wildberries &Russ reported that they participated in the round table and supported these points, which formed the basis of the resolution on its results.

— In particular, for violating the requirements in the current version of the draft law, a fairly large fine in the amount of 500 thousand to 2 million rubles is provided for platforms. In our opinion, it may be disproportionate to its subject matter and it is necessary to consider the possibility of differentiating the amount of deductions depending on the degree of danger of the act. Otherwise, given the vague wording and lack of judicial practice, this paragraph of the draft law risks pessimizing the pace of further development of the electronic commerce industry, the company explained to Izvestia.

They also noted that they support the provision specified in the resolution on the rejection of restrictions on the provision of discounts through platforms: platform discounts contribute not only to increasing consumer loyalty, but also to increasing their well-being, allowing millions of citizens to provide goods at an affordable price without reducing the seller's income.

— As for the participation of sellers in marketplace promotions, it is always exclusively voluntary. Moreover, we provide the opportunity to temporarily and indefinitely block the participation of goods in promotions, which allows sellers to flexibly manage their sales strategy," the press service said.

Statistics show that marketplaces today are already subject to a large number of fines, if they are increased many times, then all these costs will fall on consumers, Georgy Ostapkovich, director of the HSE Center for Economic Research and Economic Analysis, told Izvestia.

— On the contrary, the global trend now is to reduce administrative responsibility for business. After all, massive fines hit entrepreneurs, and then end customers, that is, the population," the expert explained.

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However, the expert believes that control is still needed, as sometimes businesses use strange schemes to increase profits, but it is better to help them than just fine them.

Oleg Pavlov, head of the Public Council at Rospotrebnadzor and head of the Public Consumer Initiative, has a different point of view.

— With the role that marketplaces play today, in terms of turnover, they should be as responsible as possible and monitor what is happening on their sites both in terms of product quality and the legality of sellers. In these circumstances, there is no need to talk about easing sanctions against them," the activist believes.

According to him, all this time and now marketplaces are operating in the mode of either minimal sanctions or their complete absence. That is why in many segments this leads to violations of the rights of consumers, sellers and their partners. The purpose of fines is not to punish, but to deprive the incentive to commit these violations, he explained.