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On January 26, draft Government Resolutions were published, obliging marketplaces ("intermediary digital platforms") to conduct preliminary verification of both sellers upon registration and product listings before their publication.

What Must Marketplaces Verify When Registering a Seller?

When registering a Russian seller, their full name (company name) and Taxpayer Identification Number (INN) must be provided. For individual entrepreneurs (IPs), the Primary State Registration Number (OGRN) must also be indicated, and for legal entities, the address must be additionally provided.

Foreign organizations must provide their name, the full name of the head, and bank details or other payment information.

The marketplace is obliged to verify the authenticity of the provided information using the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (EGRUL), the Unified State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs (EGRIP), or the service for verifying self-employed individuals. Alternatively, verification is permitted through identification and authentication systems (Gosuslugi, MSP.RF, etc.).

For foreign legal entities, the verification of authenticity is essentially optional. If the marketplace cannot verify the provided information through foreign information systems, the seller is registered on the marketplace with a corresponding note.

What Must Marketplaces Verify Before Publishing a Product Listing?

Only certain specific product listings will be subject to verification. In particular, listings containing information about the sale of pesticides and agrochemicals, medicinal drugs for medical use, medical devices, and a number of other product categories.

Verification of such listings is performed based on state registries (e.g., the state register of medicines).

When Will This Regulation Take Effect?

Currently, the draft Government Resolutions have not yet been adopted and are at the stage of public discussion. The public discussion will continue until February 24, 2026. However, if this regulation is adopted, it will come into force on October 1, 2026.

Furthermore, marketplaces will be obliged to verify product listings published before the new regulation takes effect. A transition period is provided for this.

What Problems Do We See?

1. Foreign organizations are essentially not verified and can even provide false information about themselves. A number of counterfeit and substandard goods come precisely from foreign organizations, and under the new regulation, checking their information remains as formal as it is now. For example, in January on Wildberries, we encountered several hundred clone listings from the same Chinese seller with counterfeit goods. Formally, the seller created over 200 (!) different accounts, but the seller names differ by a few characters at the end, and the registration numbers are "fake." Even the new rules will not help in such a situation.
2. The verification of listings is aimed at a fairly narrow range of goods and does not ensure compliance with intellectual property rights on marketplaces, as only various public law violations are checked. This shortcoming stems from the law on the platform economy and is sharply highlighted by the new regulation.

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