The Ministry of Digital Development accused Eksmo-AST of violating the Legal Deposit Law

As follows from the annual report of the Ministry of Digital Development, cited by Kommersant and Eksmo-AST For more than three consecutive years it has not submitted mandatory electronic versions of books to the Russian Book Chamber (RCB). The reason is the fear of possible leaks of copies.

The Ministry of Digital Development considers that the publishing group is violating the law “On Legal Deposit of Documents” and does so under the pretext of combating the illegal use of copies by third parties.

The ministry also reported that this issue was raised both by the Council of Experts on Digital Transformation of the Book Industry and by participants in sector conferences. As a result, the Ministry of Digital Development proposed that the publisher and RKP resolve the issue by the end of 2024.

Eksmo-AST, for its part, announced technical difficulties “that the parties are trying to resolve during negotiations.” Roskomnadzor also commented on the situation and stated that they do not control the sending of legal deposits of books by companies.

Last year, only 17% of 4.4 thousand publishers sent legal deposit to the chamber, according to the report from the Ministry of Digital Development.

Liters: Samizdat sent the largest number of copies: 26.1 thousand copies. Ridero contributed 13 thousand, Prosveshcheniye – 4.1 thousand.

By law, violation of this requirement may result in a fine. For individuals it is 200 to 500 rubles, for officials the penalty varies from 1 to 2 thousand rubles. Legal entities are subject to a fine of 10 to 20 thousand rubles for each copy.

According to Maxim Ryabyko, member of the board of directors of the Association for the Protection of Copyright on the Internet (which brings together Alpina Digital, Azbuka-Atticus, Eksmo-AST), today there is no document regulating the security of an electronic copy and copy protection.