MOSCOW, May 19 (RAPSI) – The State Duma's Information Policy and Communications Committee recommended on Tuesday that lawmakers vote to approve in the first reading a bill which requires Russian state-owned entities to buy domestic computer software, RIA Novosti reported.

An explanatory note to the bill says that the legislation was drafted to protect the Russian market, boost the national economy, support Russian IT companies, and to ensure preferential treatment for Russian software for federal and municipal organizations’ computers and databases.

State-owned companies will have to prioritize domestic software or provide a detailed explanation of why they can’t do so.

The bill defines Russian software as the software owned by Russia, Russian citizens, the state or companies in which Russia or Russian citizens have over a 50% share. Also, software owners’ payments to foreign companies must account for less than 30% of the sales revenue.

Leonid Levin, head of the Committee on Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications, said that currently up to 70 percent of software in Russia is purchased by state-owned companies, while Russian software accounts for no more than 25 percent of the market.