On May 27, 2022, the President of the Russian Federation signed a Decree that provides for the establishment of a temporary procedure for the fulfillment by the Russian Federation, constituent entities of the Russian Federation, municipalities, residents of the Russian Federation of financial obligations related to their use of the results of intellectual activity or means of individualization, the exclusive rights to which belong, in particular, to foreign right holders associated with states unfriendly to the Russian Federation, as well as right holders who publicly supported the imposition of sanctions against Russia, banned or limited, after February 23, 2022, the use of the results of their intellectual activity in the Russian Federation, suspended or significantly limited the production or supply of goods to the Russian Federation and the provision services.
The foreign rights holders to whom this Decree is directed to fulfill obligations are not persons under the control of Russian legal entities or individuals, and information on control over which is disclosed by Russian legal entities or individuals to the tax authorities of the Russian Federation in accordance with the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation.
Public law entities and residents of the Russian Federation will be able to fulfill monetary obligations to the right holders specified in the Decree only by transferring funds in rubles to a special ruble account of type “O”.
This account must be opened by the debtor in an authorized bank in the name of the right holder and is intended for settlement of obligations. Only one special account of type “O” can be opened in the name of the right holder. If the right holder has not given written consent to making a payment to a special account or has not published the necessary details on its website, the debtor has the right not to make payments until such consent is received and not be considered a breach of obligations.
If the debtor duly fulfills the requirements of the Decree, his right to use the result of intellectual activity and (or) means of individualization on previously applicable conditions remains.
The right holder, the debtor or their representatives have the right to apply to the Government Commission for Control over Foreign Investments in the Russian Federation with an application for issuing permission to transfer funds to the bank or other account of the right holder (including those opened with a bank located outside the territory of the Russian Federation), transferred by the debtor to a special account of type "O". If necessary, this permission may contain the conditions for making such a transfer.
This procedure does not apply in cases specified in paragraph 17 of the Decree. In particular, the established procedure for fulfilling obligations does not apply to payments not exceeding 100 thousand rubles or an amount in foreign currency equivalent to 100 thousand rubles, made by a resident individual in connection with the use of the result of intellectual activity and (or) funds individualization to meet personal, family, household or other non-business needs.
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