The draft directive has been published on the regulator’s website, due for enforcement within 10 days of publication in the Bank of Russia Newsletter.

The CB rules that the minimum share of Russian software developers or copyright owners shall be 25%. License agreements shall allow payment system operator use the software in Russia for a minimum of 5 years, and the licensor shall update the software.

According to the document, payment card production shall be performed by Russian companies on Russian territory.

Payment systems IT shall comply with CB requirements for money transfer data protection. The level of compliance shall be at least ‘satisfactory’.

The original version of the document was much more restrictive. The draft stipulated that all chip components be produced in Russia, and the share of Russian software was limited to Russian developers, and excluded Russian copyright holders.

In May, the State Duma passed amendments that introduce a reserve deposit for payment systems without the ‘national importance’ status (such as Visa and MasterCard). The deposit amount shall equal all money transfers processed on Russian territory within two days, split into eight quarterly tranches. Non-payment or partial payment of the deposit leads to a fine. In the case of unilateral suspension or termination of payment infrastructure services, the Bank of Russia also fines the operator.

Procession localization in Russia is a chance for payment system to avoid paying up the reserve deposit. The Government has given companies time until 31 October to transfer their processing to ‘national importance’ systems or the national payment system operator, currently established by the Central Bank. If companies make the deadline, the deposit will be null.

At present, the only payment system with ‘national importance’ status is the National Settlement Depositary.

Project Group №1