The President of the Russian Federation signed a law that prohibits Russian credit institutions from transmitting information to the competent authorities of "unfriendly" foreign states at their request. On April 20, the State Duma adopted the law, and on April 26 it was approved by the Federation Council.
According to this law, credit institutions are prohibited from providing the competent authorities of foreign states (including the judiciary) with the information requested by such authorities about customers and transactions performed by them, except as otherwise provided by law. If a request is sent by the competent authorities of a foreign state, the Russian credit institution has the right to inform the requesting authority of the existence of a ban on the provision of relevant information.
The credit institution is obliged to inform the Central Bank of the Russian Federation of the fact of receiving a request from the authorities of foreign states no later than three working days. Further, the Bank of Russia sends the received information to the federal executive body determined by the President of the Russian Federation. This authorized body has the right to decide on permission to transfer the relevant information.
The authorized body must make a decision, then information about the possibility of the credit institution to provide the body of a foreign state with the requested information by the authorized body is sent to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. Within three working days, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation must bring the decision of the authorized body to the attention of the bank.
A credit institution, if it receives information about the possibility of providing a foreign body with the information requested by it, has the right to provide the relevant information to such a competent body. The provision by a credit institution to a body of a foreign state of the information requested by it in this case is not a violation of banking secrecy and the legislation of the Russian Federation in the field of personal data.
If a credit institution discloses information without permission, then measures provided for by federal laws will be applied to it and to its officials.
Nadmitov, Ivanov and Partners Law Firm advises on the signing of a law prohibiting banks from transferring information to "unfriendly" countries.