"If the initiative goes further, it will become a big threat to the video game industry in Russia"

Yesterday it became known about a package of amendments to the law on the rights of the child. According to him, the Ministry of Health proposes to allow the examination of computer games for the threat to the mental health of children. We asked Roman Lukyanov, Managing Partner of Semenov &Pevzner Law Firm, to comment on this initiative.

Roman Lukyanov
It is difficult to comment on something, now the project is at the stage of public discussion.

Antonina Tsitsulina, president of the Association of the Children’s Goods Industry, spoke very accurately in the RBC material: “In 2016, Kazakhstan also came out with the initiative of mandatory psychological and pedagogical expertise, proposed to make it part of technical regulation. Then the EEC (Eurasian Economic Commission) conducted a serious analysis, found out that there is no such expertise anywhere in the world, it contradicts our obligations in the WTO (World Trade Organization) and cannot be part of technical regulation.”

This is actually the case, so while the feeling is that the initiative (at least in its current form) will not be translated into law.

Now let’s focus separately on computer games. They are excluded from the list of the document, because they are primarily content, not a product. The law already provides for measures to prevent mental harm to a child from the content (age marking). And these measures are international experience.

It is also unclear from the proposed text of the bill what should happen to a video game if the examination finds that it causes mental harm to a child.

For board games and toys, it is possible to suspend the circulation. Such a decision, according to the text, should be made by the federal executive authority that performs the functions of developing and implementing state policy and regulatory regulation in the field of consumer protection.

But the specified federal body today is not endowed with the authority to block content (computer games).

In general, the criteria that experts are asked to evaluate mean that most of the games should be banned (if the law is passed), although initially such games may not be intended for children at all. In addition, in case of violation of the norms on age marking, there is a double responsibility: a fine and, in fact, a lock.

It is also important to note that, since the examination is carried out at the request of individual citizens and legal entities and at their expense, such an examination can become an instrument of unfair competition when the game can be blocked (taking into account the proposed criteria for assessing the threat of mental harm) at the request of a competitor company.

If the initiative goes beyond the stage of public discussion, undoubtedly, this law is a big threat to the video game industry in Russia.

I assume that if this happens, other ministries will oppose it.

Also on the topic:

• The Ministry of Health is ready to ban games that depict murder, violence and gamblingThe Russian government has decided to help the domestic gaming industry
• Is there any news?