The bill, which was approved in the first reading in the State Duma, aims to prohibit foreign companies from restricting the installation of Russian applications, such as RuStore, on mobile devices, including Apple devices.
According to the draft law, foreign manufacturers will not be able to prevent the use and installation of Russian applications on devices, as well as on technically complex goods, including making payments through Russian systems. One of the authors of the bill, Deputy Anton Gorelkin, noted that it concerns the possibility of installing RuStore on Apple gadgets, despite the complexity of the situation associated with the parallel import of Apple products to Russia, since the company has not officially operated in the Russian market since 2022.
The bill primarily aims to support domestic technologies and developers, including the creation of local solutions for payment systems and application stores, which is an important part of the state strategy to reduce dependence on foreign services. It is important that the bill does not imply a ban on the sale of iPhones in Russia, but may provide for fines for discrimination against Russian applications.
The legal complexity lies in the fact that the Apple ecosystem does not allow the use of application stores other than the AppStore. Currently, Russian laws, including the requirements for pre-installation of software, do not solve the problems with alternative stores, such as RuStore. The question remains open as to how realistic the mechanisms for monitoring the implementation of this law are in the absence of official Apple activity in the Russian market.
Experts believe that the implementation of these norms may require additional technical solutions, such as the ability to install alternative application stores. However, given Apple's closed policy, creating such conditions is unlikely to be feasible without changes in the company's policy itself, which creates additional difficulties for the practical implementation of this bill.
Read more on the topic:
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RuStore – Russian analogue of Google Play – entered the international mobile development market
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