Afonin, Bozhor & Partners —
a leading team of IT lawyers in Russia

In both cases, IT lawyers are faced with similar tasks: to promptly draw up or adjust the documentation required to formalize relations with counterparties or within the company (for example, software users, in-house or third-party developers), as well as to identify and mitigate the risks that arise for the client (civil, tax, administrative, and criminal)

1] In any case, the administrators of both types of platforms need the text of the contract of sale (or provision of services), which will be concluded with the end consumer of goods (services). Lawyers can draw up such an agreement both in the form of a single document and in the form of various "terms of service", which will be applied depending on the type of transaction that the consumer concludes. In such a document, it is critically important to minimize the liability of the seller (owner of the aggregator)—they need to take only the responsibility that is provided for by law. The task of the IT lawyer in this case will be not to create additional "pretexts" for consumers in the texts of contracts and to fully spell out the conditions required by law. For example, it is extremely important to describe the procedure and terms for returning goods; otherwise, consumers will be able to return goods sold remotely within 3 months from the date of their purchase. In addition, if certain types of goods (for example, medical devices) are generally not subject to return, in the case of distance selling, the consumer has the right to return them (except for goods made according to individual parameters). All these features are critically important for an IT lawyer involved in the service because, with the high pace of the marketplace, it will not be possible to analyze every individual request of the consumer—the rules of work should be standardized initially, at the time of drawing up the document

2] The issue of taxation and interaction with the Federal Tax Service as part of e-commerce is no less important. For example, if the marketplace administration is involved as an agent when making settlements between sellers and buyers, then it is necessary to determine in advance the legal and technical conditions for issuing payment receipts using online cash registers; failure to issue a payment receipt will result in a fine of 100% of the settlement amount. In addition, it is extremely important for the marketplace owner that the cost of goods is not considered as part of the taxable income of such an organization, and taxes are paid mainly by the sellers themselves. Finally, if the marketplace deals with the sale of services by individuals (for example, repair or design services), the platform should ensure the payment of personal income tax and insurance premiums or be ready to justify to the inspectors of the Federal Tax Service why such payments should be paid by the users of the platform themselves

3] Taking into account the peculiarities of online marketplaces, counterfeit products may also come up among the goods presented on the platform. Accordingly, the administration, with the involvement of IT lawyers, should provide in advance for specific measures to check the goods placed by sellers on the marketplace and be ready to respond to possible claims of trademark and patent owners. In this case, it is also extremely important to spell out the limitation of the company's liability for goods placed on the platform by third parties and to promptly take action on claims received from copyright holders