Protecting Sellers and Buyers: Russia to Launch a Unified Registry of Digital Platforms
Russia is set to launch a national registry of digital platforms. According to the authors of the initiative, the registry is intended to protect the interests of entrepreneurs and their customers, while establishing transparent and balanced rules for how platforms operate.
Marketplaces Face New Transparency Rules
Russia is introducing a new regulatory tool for digital platforms – a specialized registry being developed under the law on the platform economy, which is scheduled to take effect on October 1, 2026.
The reform is expected to initially apply only to leading platforms. The registry is designed to formally account for regulated entities, requiring digital platforms to comply with new provisions of Russian law. The rules will apply to digital services that facilitate interactions between buyers and sellers of goods, works, or services, including platforms that use their own technical infrastructure to arrange and process payments. For example, platforms included in the registry – such as marketplaces – will be required to verify sellers through the national public services portal or official state registries before granting access.
Why introduce additional procedural steps? As explained by the office of Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Grigorenko, the new legal requirements are intended to protect the rights and interests of both sellers and buyers and to create conditions for the sustainable development of Russia’s platform economy.
Consumer Protection by Design
The draft government decree outlining the rules for creating and maintaining the registry of intermediary platforms was developed by the Ministry of Economic Development, with input from market participants and relevant government agencies. At present, the ministry is preparing secondary regulations that will further refine the framework, strengthen consumer protection, support businesses operating on platforms, and promote the overall development of the platform economy.
What about platforms that do not initially qualify for inclusion in the registry? A formal application mechanism is provided for such cases, although compliance with statutory requirements will still be mandatory. The registry will be hosted on the website of the Ministry of Economic Development, which will also be responsible for its operation. The launch is scheduled no later than November 2, 2026.
To be included in the registry, a platform must meet criteria established by law. These include having the technical capability to host product listings and orders, execute transactions with payments processed through the platform’s own systems, and comply with additional requirements set by the Russian government.
According to the project’s authors, three key thresholds will apply. A platform’s average daily audience over a year must be at least 100,000 users. It must also either have at least 10,000 partners that have completed at least one transaction, or a cumulative transaction volume of no less than 50 billion rubles (approximately $600 million). To qualify, a platform must meet the user threshold and at least one of the other two criteria. For foreign platforms, only the user criterion will be taken into account.
Building Trust in the Platform Economy
The introduction of a digital platforms registry is expected to reshape how marketplaces operate. Platforms will become more transparent, while large services will bear greater responsibility for transactions conducted on their infrastructure. For consumers, this represents a meaningful shift: online purchases of goods and services should come with stronger safeguards for their rights. Marketplaces and digital intermediaries also stand to benefit, as the legal environment governing their activities becomes more predictable.
Over time, the state aims to create a structured and secure digital marketplace. Improved oversight should make it easier to monitor market dynamics and reduce the risk of fraudulent activity.
Looking ahead, the registry could be integrated with other federal digital systems. Standardization and regulation of platform operations may also boost confidence among international partners in Russian platform-based solutions, including marketplaces and SaaS services that deliver software over the internet.
