[governance] It is now illegal to access any foreign website in the Republic of Belarus

[Roland Perry]

In message 
<CAK=Rc5Ks8AixDqK_AwQReu1moESgvmWz4Jx_6Aok+Q61CLpZ_A at mail.gmail.com>, at 
12:34:24 on Thu, 5 Jan 2012, Carlos Affonso Pereira de Souza 
<caffsouza at gmail.com> writes
>The main reason for confusion is Clause 2 of the Edict, obliging
>websites to host its content on servers in Belarus, as the wording of
>the Clause 2 is very ambiguous:
>
>“Activity on selling goods, performing works or rendering services on
>the territory of the Republic of Belarus with use of information
>networks, systems and resources connected to Internet shall be
>conducted by legal entities, their branches and representative
>offices, established in accordance with the legislation of the
>Republic of Belarus, located in the Republic of Belarus … with use of
>information networks, systems and resources located (hosted) in the
>Republic of Belarus and duly registered”.
>
>In other words it enacts the requirement for legal entities and
>entrepreneurs to host websites, which conduct activity on selling of
>goods, rendering of services, performing works, within the territory
>of the Republic of Belarus.
>
>In the situation of absence of any official clarification or court
>precedent, different variants of interpretation of Clause 2 have
>appeared. However, basing on the comments of the regulator and opinion
>of Belarusian leading law firms, the common interpretation has been
>worked out: the hosting requirement is applicable only to Belarusian
>legal entities and individual entrepreneurs. This interpretation is
>indirectly proved by the wording of the Article 22.16 of the recently
>enacted Law Amending the Administrative Offences Code.
>
>It should be noted that sanctions for violation of the Edict will
>apply only to legal entities and entrepreneurs, but not to Internet
>users trying to access websites violating the Edict."

It's nevertheless a potential inconvenience for businesses selling via 
internationally-hosted sites such as Amazon and eBay, as well those 
whose are buying services from a cloud (with the traditional uncertainty 
about there that is).
-- 
Roland Perry
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