On November 29, electronics manufacturers and sellers sent a letter to Vladimir Putin asking him not to sign the law on the mandatory pre-installation of the Russian software for gadgets sold in Russia, Kommersant writes. The new requirements will monopolize the market and launch “disintegration processes” at the international level, they argue.

The author of the letter is the Association of Trading Companies and Manufacturers of Household Appliances and Computer Equipment (RATEK), which includes Google, Apple, Samsung, M.Video and many others.

This is the second letter in which the business is trying to bring the Russian authorities to a dialogue about the “law against Apple.” The first RATEK, together with the associations of retail stores (AKORT) and The Association of Internet Trade Companies (AKIT), was sent in early November, before the second reading of the bill. Then no one listened to the business: a few days later the State Duma passed the bill in the second, and then in the third reading. If signed by the president, it will come into force on July 1, 2020.

The three main arguments of business against the bill boil down to the following:

• The law will negatively affect the development of the industry, at least because it will lead to monopolization in the development of Russian software. There will be no incentive on the market to make a product of high quality since preferences will be given to Russian developers.
• The requirements of the law contradict the principles of the WTO regarding the creation of preferences for Russian software developers.
• Fulfilment of the requirements will launch “disintegration processes” within the Eurasian Economic Union. As a result, business activity in the consumer electronics and software market will decline dramatically.

The law came to be called the “law against Apple,” because preinstalling third-party applications was at variance with the policies of the American company: it warned that it might leave the Russian market. While Apple is waiting for by-laws and specifics – exactly how the authorities are going to execute it, a source familiar with the company’s position told Revyuh.