Businesses operating in Russia`s more remote regions are finding themselves in a peculiar bind. Frequent and sometimes prolonged mobile internet outages, a reality in areas lacking robust infrastructure, are not just an inconvenience – they are directly preventing the sale of essential goods, ranging from life-saving medicines to refreshing drinks. This unexpected hurdle arises from the implementation of a mandatory digital product marking system.
The system in question is “Честный знак” (Chestny Znak), or “Honest Sign,” a national digital tracking platform designed to combat counterfeiting and ensure product legitimacy by requiring unique codes on goods like pharmaceuticals, dietary supplements, and beverages. Sales require scanning this code, ideally validated via an online connection.
While the system includes an offline module designed to allow transactions during temporary connectivity loss, it appears to have a critical flaw in areas with extended outages. According to reports from affected regions, this offline functionality is only capable of verifying and processing sales for approximately three days without syncing with the central server via the internet. After this brief window, the system effectively locks up, prohibiting further sales of marked items.
For pharmacies in places like Novgorod, where mobile internet has reportedly been unstable for weeks, this isn`t a theoretical problem – it`s a daily crisis. As Olesya Khrutskaya, Chairman of the Novgorod Professional Association of Pharmaceutical Workers, explains, if the internet is down for more than three days, the offline module fails to update its verification data.
We cannot sell medicinal preparations, medical devices, dietary supplements. The cash register is blocked, sales are impossible… We have to wait for the internet to turn on again. If it appears in a week or two, only after that we will be able to continue working.
Waiting for days, even weeks, means shelves are full, but sales cannot happen.
The issue isn`t confined to healthcare. Rural businesses, like a country club manager named Dmitry in the Novgorod region, face similar paralysis. Selling marked non-alcoholic beverages, such as juice, becomes impossible. “We can`t resolve it in any way because there`s no feedback, nothing works. We just have to stop trading,” Dmitry laments. He describes the frustrating situation where a customer wanting a drink in the heat is denied because the system won`t allow the QR code scan to proceed.
The problem is updating: we cannot update on time. Due to the lack of mobile internet, it`s impossible to de-register goods. This is mainly drinks, all non-alcoholic products… We can`t solve it in any way because there`s no feedback, nothing works. We just have to stop trading… Everything freezes: you want to sell, you scan, and it doesn`t scan, the QR code doesn`t work. A person says they want to drink, and we can`t even sell water. It`s hot outside, and there`s no other way to de-register it.
In response to these concerns, Revaz Yusupov, Deputy Director General of the Center for Development of Advanced Technologies (the system operator), offered clarification. He stated that pharmacies are not currently obligated to use the local offline module until September 1st. Until then, they can sell goods during an outage without offline verification, with the data being sent to the system once connectivity is restored. He also mentioned contacting specific pharmacies and correcting their configurations to restore operation.
Until this time, pharmacies can sell medicines in the absence of the internet without switching to offline verification. And this will not be considered a violation. Pharmacies and stores scan, submit information to the system. If there is no connection, the data goes to the system when the internet appears. The main thing is to configure everything correctly. Yesterday we contacted all the mentioned pharmacies, set the correct configurations, and they continued to work in normal mode.
While the operator`s statement suggests that proper configuration might bypass the immediate blockage for some, it doesn`t fully address the core vulnerability: a digital system designed for nationwide application is hitting a wall where basic digital infrastructure is unreliable. The irony is sharp: a system intended to ensure legitimate trade is inadvertently halting any trade in areas where connectivity is a luxury, not a given. Telling a business struggling with week-long outages that data “will send when internet appears” is less a solution and more a description of the problem itself. The technical solution (offline module) has a built-in timer that seems ill-suited for the patchy internet reality of remote Russia.
The long-term solution, according to some, is the expansion of reliable wired internet infrastructure. However, running fiber optic cable to every remote village is a monumental task. Until robust connectivity becomes universal, businesses in these areas face the ongoing threat of being digitally isolated, their ability to sell goods held hostage by the flickers and failures of mobile signals and the unforgiving logic of a centralized marking system. It`s a stark reminder that in the age of mandatory digital compliance, access to a stable internet connection isn`t just about streaming movies – it`s becoming fundamental to keeping the lights (and the cash register) on.
