MOSCOW, December 22 (RAPSI) – The State Duma passed in the third and final reading a bill on penalties for refusal of search engines to delete links to unreliable information sources at the request of individuals, RIA Novosti reported on Tuesday.

Under the bill, individuals would face fines of up to 50,000 rubles ($702) for groundless refusal to delete links. Corporations would pay fines ranging from 80,000 ($1,100) to 100,000 rubles ($1,400).

The document also fixes penalties for non-compliance with court decisions. Individuals would pay fines varying from 300,000 ($4,200) to 500,000 rubles ($7,000); companies would face fines of up to 1 million rubles ($14,000).
In July, the lower house passed a bill that requires search engines to delete links to unreliable information sources.

According to the bill, any individual can request that search engines do not return links to information about the individual if the individual believes it unreliable, irrelevant or is being distributed in violation of the law. However, this does not include information about the events related to criminal offenses with a valid statute of limitation, or information about the crimes for which sentences have not been overturned or served.

The legislation was signed by President Vladimir Putin. It will take effect on January 1, 2016.