VLADIMIR KHARITONOV v. RUSSIA JUDGMENT 11. On 17 July 2014 the Constitutional Court refused to consider an application lodged by the applicant for a constitutional review of section 15.1 of the Information Act. The court held: “As regards the owners of websites that do not contain any prohibited information, who had seen access to their websites blocked as a consequence of having their network address added to the register, what affected their right to impart information was not, in essence, the decision to add the network address to the Integrated Register but the failure on the part of the hosting service provider to act diligently. Accordingly, their right to impart information must be asserted, first and foremost, in their legal relationship with the hosting service provider.” RELEVANT DOMESTIC LEGAL FRAMEWORK 12. On 28 July 2012 a new section 15.1 was added to the Information Act (Federal Law no. 149-FZ of 27 July 2006). It established the Integrated Register of domain names, webpage references (URL) and network addresses of websites featuring content which is banned in the Russian Federation (subsection 1). The telecoms regulator Roskomnadzor is responsible for updating the Integrated Register (subsection 3). Pursuant to a decision by the competent executive body, it lists websites featuring prohibited content, of which there are seven categories, including information relating to the manufacture and use of narcotics (subsection 5(1)(b)). The decision to list the website may be challenged before a court by the website’s owner, hosting service provider or Internet service provider (subsection 6). Immediately on receiving notification that a website has been listed, the hosting service provider must inform the website’s owner and ask him or her to remove the unlawful content (subsection 7). If the owner fails to react, the hosting service provider must block access to the website (subsection 8). In the absence of any reaction from the hosting service provider and the website’s owner, the website’s IP address is added to the Integrated Register (subsection 9) and Internet service providers must block access to it (subsection 10). 13. On 26 October 2012 the Government approved regulations on establishing, compiling and maintaining the Integrated Register of domain names, webpage references (URL) and network addresses of websites containing prohibited content (Resolution no. 1101). The regulations set out the procedure for implementing section 15.1 of the Information Act. RELEVANT INTERNATIONAL MATERIAL 14. The Declaration on freedom of communication on the Internet, adopted by the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers on 28 May 2003, took note of member States’ commitment to abide by the following principles in the field of communication on the Internet: 3