Russia Adopts Increased Fines for Data Protection Violations

As reported by Russian law firm Alrud, on November 21, 2019, the Russian State Duma passed a bill (the “Bill”) that would increase the minimum fines that may be imposed for violations of Russia’s data protection laws. The Bill would allow for maximum administrative fines of 18 million RUB (approximately $282,000 USD) for violations of Russia’s data localization requirement, which requires entities processing personal data of Russian citizens to process that data in databases located within the territory of Russia. This represents a significant departure from the maximum administrative fines that may be imposed for other data protection violations in Russia as it is significantly higher than other potential penalties.