Federal Law No. 152-FZ, Articles 10-11, Special Categories and the Biometric Data Definition

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In force since 27 July 2006.

A sensitive categories rule binding public and private bodies.

As of 24 August 2026.

What it requires

Obtain written consent before processing biometric personal data of a person in Russia, including an identifier such as a facial image or voice recording that would fall under Article 11's general definition, unless a narrow Article 11(2) statutory exception applies.
Never make provision of biometric data a condition of service to a person in Russia, except where a separate federal law affirmatively mandates identification.

What it reaches

Excludes recording-derived identifiersNo

What this law does

Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.

Article 10 of 152-FZ names special categories, race and ethnicity, political opinion, religious or philosophical belief, health, sex life, and criminal record data, requiring written consent or a statutory exception. Article 11 separately defines "biometric personal data" as information characterizing a person's physiological and biological features on the basis of which their identity can be established, used by the operator for that purpose.

The article's own text is entirely general and technology-neutral. It carries no illustrative list of modalities at all, and no mention of facial images, voice recordings, fingerprints, or DNA anywhere in the article. Written consent is required for biometric processing, and provision of biometric data cannot be made mandatory, except where Article 11(2)'s statutory exceptions apply.

On that same general wording, an identifier derived from a photograph, video, or audio recording is not excluded: the definition simply never names any modality, recording-derived or otherwise, so nothing in the text carves one out.

When LexLint raises it

processes_biometrics
processes_voice
high_risk_decisions

Read the law

Legalacts.ru
Federal Law No. 152-FZ, Art. 11 (confirmed against a second independent source, zakonrf.info, and the WebSearch summary of Art. 11 text), correcting an earlier draft's unsupported claim of an illustrative modality list

Every line above is drawn from the primary source linked here, read on the date shown. This is a research summary, not legal advice.

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