Lawsuit against iHerb. The information posted on the iHerb website was declared prohibited for distribution in Russia.
The Central District Court of the city of Barnaul, at the suit of the prosecutor's office of the Central District of Barnaul, recognized the information posted on the iHerb website as prohibited for distribution in Russia. The decision was made on August 24, 2021 and has not yet entered into force, the defendant still has time to appeal to the court of appeal. If the decision comes into force (the complaint is not received or remains unsatisfied), the operators will have the obligation to block the site, since its data will be included by Roskomnadzor in the register of sites containing information prohibited for distribution in the Russian Federation.
The iHerb website (this is an online store, the official resource of an American company) contains offers for the purchase of health products, vitamins and dietary supplements.
The lawsuit against iHerb was filed by the prosecutor's office, but the public organization of consumers "People's Control" became the initiators of the preliminary check of the site. It was the appeal of its leader Nikolai Yakushev that served as the starting point. Which gave rise to suspicions that this case had beneficiaries competing with iHerb (Yakushev manages not only this public organization, but also commercial companies). In the appeal, "People's Control" pointed to violations of Russian law by the online store, which resulted in the placement of medicines under the types of dietary supplements without registration certificates, special sports nutrition imported into the Russian Federation only with permits, goods in which the components are plants banned in the Russian Federation . In total, about 2,000 items were listed in the statement. The public organization drew attention to the fact that all these drugs are freely available for sale with delivery to Russia.
The prosecutor's office partly agreed with the conclusions of the "People's Control" and filed a lawsuit in court. Expert Maxim Maksimov spoke on behalf of the plaintiff in court. He confirmed that the method of distribution with unrestricted access of citizens to the site creates a danger to public health. The clinical pharmacologist of the Ministry of Health pointed out that on the website the American company presented medicines and dietary supplements that can cause side effects and have serious contraindications, while some contain excessive dosages of certain substances, including vitamins.
In 2020, the iHerb mobile application in Russia was already blocked at the suits of the prosecutor's office. The company intended to spend serious money on obtaining permits and registration certificates for drugs in the Russian Federation.
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