Internet and Law: A draft law that recognizes official web portal for legal information as a publication source for legislative acts adopted

On October 4 2011 at the second and the third final reading the State Duma adopted the draft law submitted by the President, which proposes adding the official Internet portal www.pravo.gov.ru for legal information to the list of official publication sources for legislative acts.

The text of the initiative reads that the official publication of the Federal Constitutional Law, Federal Law will be considered “the first publication of its complete text in electronic form on the official Internet portal”.

Earlier the Head of the State Duma Committee for Information Policy and Communications, Sergei Zheleznyak, said that “official publication of legislative acts on Internet portal for legal information will be equated with their official publication in “Rossiyskaya gazeta” newspaper. He stated that the draft law “was worked out to meet interests of those who live and work far from the main centers of population and do not have an opportunity to be up-to-date with new laws posted in the periodical, and also to meet interests of handicapped people”.

The official Internet portal for legal information will post not only laws, but also executive orders and orders of the President of Russia. This list also adds acts of both chambers of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, in particular approval of changes of boundaries between constituent territories of the Russian Federation, approval of a decree of the head of the state on declaration of martial law or emergency. The portal will also feature official texts of State Duma’s decisions on giving consent to President on appointment of the Prime Minister, as well as decisions concerning the vote of confidence to government etc.

Apart from this, the portal will provide access to official texts of legislative acts of the government, other government bodies, laws and other legislative acts of constituent territories of the Russian Federation, acts of municipal authorities in accordance with the procedure established by the President of Russia.

Such system will be put into service on November 10 2011. The resource itself is a part of the state legal information system, which is controlled by the Federal Protective Service of the Russian Federation.