On amendments to the legislation on the Russian language

On June 17, 2025, the State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted the law “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation” (draft No. 468229-8) in the third reading. This law, in addition to amending legislation on culture and public policy, supplements the Law “On Protection of Consumer Rights” with a new Article 10(1).

The new article contains a requirement for “information intended for public familiarization of consumers and which is not an advertisement”. It is now mandatory for such information to be performed (displayed) in Russian. The use of a foreign language or the language of a subject (nation) of the Russian Federation is allowed, but only provided if such text is completely identical in content and technical design (have the same color, font size and type).

The new requirement comes into effect on March 1, 2026 and will apply to signboards, directional signs, external surfaces, information plates and other publicly available materials that are not advertising. It will not affect information that must be communicated to the consumer under Articles 8, 9 and 10 of the Consumer Protection Law. The new regulation will also not apply to information posted on the Internet, as the law speaks either about information posted “using signboards or other means of posting information” or about information posted in publicly accessible places.

It is important to note that the new law provides for exceptions. In particular, exceptions relate to the use of trade names and trademarks. If relevant foreign words are registered as a part of these objects of intellectual property or as trademarks or trade names, they can be used on signs and in information materials without being translated into Russian (accompanied).

It should be reminded that a similar legal regulation for advertising materials and information that must be provided to the consumer was previously introduced in part 2 of Article 3 of Federal Law No. 53-FZ “On the State Language of the Russian Federation” dated 01.06.2005. From this point of view, the new law merely extends the earlier regulation to information that could not be categorized as either advertising or regulated by the Law on Consumer Protection. Similar requirements were also established in the legislation of some constituent entities of the Russian Federation (e.g., in the Resolution of the Moscow City Government dated 25.12.2013 No. 902-PP “On the placement of information constructions in the city of Moscow”).

In this regard, we recommend that companies and businesses should audit all information materials that are not advertising (signboards, signs, placards, etc.) and, if necessary, update them in accordance with the new requirements so that the text in any foreign language (or the language of a subject/nation of the Russian Federation) is accompanied by a fully identical text in Russian in terms of content and design, or register corresponding designations as trademarks.