Rosalkogol, a government agency that oversees the sale of alcohol in Russia, is seeking permission to be able to blacklist Internet sites that sell alcoholic beverages online, which is in violation of current Russian legislation.
If the Russian Cabinet approves the move, the regulator will have the power to engage Roskomnadzor, another federal agency that keeps an eye on telecoms, IT and mass communications, to block websites that engage in what the government refers to as “distance selling” of alcohol.
Roskomnadzor tends to believe the Rosalkogol initiative would make little sense, as vesting this federal agency with the authority to update its register with even more banned websites would “increase pressure on Roskomnadzor, which will not have its resources enhanced.” The IT overseer shared these fears in an exchange with the Russian business paper RBC Daily.
At the moment, two more government agencies in addition to Roskomnadzor already have the right to handle the register and block access to “bad” websites without any prior court order. These are Rospotrebnadzor, which overseas Russia’s consumer market, and the Federal Drug Control Service.
In spite of the legal ban, Utkonos.ru, Russia’s leading online food retailer, sells wine without complexes.
Market players are divided in their appraisal of the Rosalkogol move. The manager of one online alcohol retailer, who named himself Anton, told RBC Daily that swindlers selling phony alcohol would stay afloat anyway, contacting their well-oiled chain of low-end customers through social networks or by opening ‘mirror’ websites, while licensed alcohol retailers such as Anton, which have so far been able to skirt the ban on online booze trading, would suffer most.
Others are not so skeptical. Vadim Drobiz of the CIFRRA, an alcohol market research center thinks that licensed players running both online and offline alcohol retail projects would only lose a fraction of their revenue since “in Russia, e-trading in authentic alcohol products accounts for only a hundredth of a percentage point.”
Today, circumventing the “no booze on the web” principle is easy in Russia. A sly supplier never documents his online dealings with a customer buying alcohol, making it appear as if a purchase has occurred in an offline outlet.
- RUSSIAN E-COMMERCE REPORT – East-West Digital News has conducted an in-depth research on Russian e-commerce in partnership with leading universities and consultancies. The study includes a detailed analysis of each of the key issues defining this industry, including the legal aspects of e-commerce activity in the country. To receive free insights or to order the full version, please contact us at [email protected].
