Russian retailers seek emergency operating rules for outages following data center attacks, plus permission to store data in ‘friendly’ countries

Russian retailers want a special legal regime that would take effect during mass outages in state information systems, known as GIS, according to the Russian business daily Kommersant. The proposal appears in a letter that the Association of Internet Trade Companies, or AKIT, sent to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

AKIT proposes letting retailers record data they cannot transmit promptly and send it once the infrastructure is restored. The letter’s authors also argue for backup methods of data transmission and say sellers should not be penalized for missed deadlines during the “emergency mode.”

AKIT also believes Russia could temporarily allow the storage and processing of Russians’ personal data in “friendly” countries. Currently, personal data can only be processed and stored inside Russia.

AKIT drafted the letter after Ukrainian drones struck data centers belonging to Yandex and Sberbank. The association said the attacks did not cause major disruptions in retail at the time, but argued that a special regime should be established in case of force majeure. Rusprodsoyuz, which represents major food producers, said isolated outages did occur, forcing some companies to halt operations and switch to paper records. The letter includes several other proposals that AKIT did not disclose.

The Economy Ministry and the Finance Ministry told Kommersant that AKIT’s letter “will be reviewed in accordance with the established procedure.”