Russia Is Only Country Restricting Export of Intellectual Production

Russia is the only country that restricts the export of intellectual production, according to Boris Nuraliev, the president of the independent partnership of programming products suppliers and a director of the 1C company. Nuraliev was speaking yesterday at the Software Tools Industry in Russia round-table discussion being held as part of the InfoCom-2002 forum in Moscow.

According to Nuraliev, the export of software tools from Russia is extremely difficult and expensive due to bureaucratic barriers. In order to officially export software tools for sale outside Russia, it is necessary to pass an examination by the Federal Agency for the Legal Protection of the Results of Intellectual Activity of a Military, Special or Dual Purpose, receive permission from the Federal Agency for Government Communications and Information, and also to receive the customs authority's blessing.

Nuraliev pointed out that it is often more profitable for software tools producers to establish an enterprise and laboratory abroad, despite the higher cost of renting premises and higher wages. According to Nuraliev, his company 1C had to move its laboratory to Ukraine, where these kinds of problem do not exist. He also stressed the fact that 'there are no barriers to importing software tools to Russia. This allows pirates to compete with law-abiding Russian producers on terms that are clearly unfavourable to us.'

Nuraliev believes that in order to defend domestic producers of software tools, the government must intensify the fight against pirated production, and remove the restrictions on the development of offshore programming and the export of intellectual products from Russia.