MOSCOW, June 21 (RAPSI) - The State Duma on Friday has adopted in the third reading amendments to the Civil Code restricting the distribution of information about a citizen's private life and prohibiting the distribution of so-called "neutral" and "good" lies that do not discredit a person.

According to Pavel Krasheninnikov, the head of the Duma's Committee on Civil, Criminal, Commercial and Procedural Legislation, a regulation is being developed that envisages the "gradual" implication of measures against the distribution of false information about citizens. 

Alongside the habitual principle of the so-called "discrediting lie prohibition," for instance, in the case of distributing information regarding non-existent criminal persecution, a regulation is being introduced for the first time on protecting citizens from distributing false but not discrediting information about them, such as information about winning a contest that did not actually take place. 

However, if a citizen succeeds in demanding the refutation of the discrediting information and the destruction of data storage devices used for its distribution, compensation for moral damages and in certain cases criminal persecution under the article on defamation, then in the case of the distribution of false but not discrediting information, only a refutation can be demanded without compensation.

In addition, a new regulation is being introduced on protecting a citizen's private life that prohibits collecting, storing, distributing and using such information without his consent. This does not apply to information on the private life of officials or any other public figure that represents state or public interests.