PRESS RELEASE*
The following issues are scheduled for discussion at the Government Presidium meeting on July 28, 2011:
1. Improving the government industrial security policy.
A draft concept on improving the government industrial security policy, given the necessity to encourage companies’ innovation activities till 2020, has been submitted by the Federal Service for Supervision of Environment, Technology and Nuclear Management.
The draft concept lays out points for the improvement of the industrial security policy that includes the regulation system to increase the transparency of executive bodies’ activities related to industrial security, to reduce administrative barriers, to delimitate the powers related to industrial security between federal executive bodies, regional authorities and bodies of local self-government, including in part related to control and supervision, and also to encourage modernisation of production facilities, innovative activities of companies and the implementation of innovation.
The following tasks need to be fulfilled to achieve the stated goals:
2. Review of the draft federal law On Amending Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation Related to the Housing for Orphaned Children and Children Left without Parental Support.
The draft federal law has been submitted by the Ministry of Education and Science.
This document envisages organising a new specialised housing facilities stock to provide accommodation for orphaned children and children left without parental support. Housing from the stock will be provided to orphaned children as they reach the age of 18 under a fixed-term lease agreement, which should prevent illegal transactions. After the term of the lease agreement (five years) expires, the housing will be transferred from the specialised housing facilities stock to the low rent municipal housing stock.
The draft law establishes the requirements for the housing provided to orphaned children.
It also introduces a list of reasons that prevent the moving of orphaned children to their previous homes (if persons deprived of their parental rights in relation to these children or persons with grave forms of chronic disease use to reside there).
In order to prevent the loss of orphaned children’s previous homes during their stay with institutions for orphaned children, study at vocational schools or military service by conscription, the draft law proposes giving regional executive bodies responsibility for controlling the use and also the proper sanitary and technical state of this housing.
3. Review of the draft federal law On Amending Part 2, Article 193 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.
This draft federal law has been prepared by the Ministry of Finance.
This amendment proposes indexing the rate of excise tax on taxable goods based on the average price growth of consumer goods and on the inflation rate projected for 2012-2014.
In 2012, the indexing of excise tax on tobacco and alcohol is proposed to be done in two stages, on January 1 and on July 1.
The proposed measures for indexing the excise tax on alcohol and tobacco are in line with the Concept of the Government Policy on Combatting Tobacco Use for 2010-2015 and the Concept of the Government Policy on Combatting Alcohol Abuse and Preventing Alcoholism in the Russian Federation for the Period till 2020, which envisage use of price and tax measures to reduce the availability of alcohol and tobacco for the population, especially for young people.
4. Review of the draft federal law On Amending Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation.
This draft federal law has been submitted by the Ministry of the Interior.
This document envisages, notably, introduction of amendments to the Criminal Code that envisage a criminal responsibility for extremism financing, the confiscation of property received as a result of committing extremist crimes, the amending of certain articles of the Criminal Code with provisions that include criminal responsibility for extremist crimes committed using public information and telecommunication networks; the document also eliminates internal contradictions in Clause 1 of the Notes to Article 2821 “Establishing an Extremist Community” of the Criminal Code.
In addition, the amendments to the Criminal Code proposed by this draft law require the simultaneous introduction of corresponding amendments to the Criminal Procedural Code and to the Federal Law On Terrorism Countermeasures.
The draft law also proposes amending the Federal Law On Countermeasures to Extremist Activities with provisions that define the organisational basis of countermeasures to extremism and responsibility for distribution of extremist materials.
5. Review of the Federal Targeted Programme “Development of Incoming and Domestic Tourism in the Russian Federation (2011-2018)”.
This draft resolution has been submitted by the Ministry of Economic Development.
It includes the decision to endorse the Federal Targeted Programme “Development of Incoming and Domestic Tourism in the Russian Federation (2011-2018)”, the order to the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Finance to include the programme in the list of federal targeted programmes subject to financing from the federal budget when drafting the federal budget for a corresponding year and planning period. It also includes a recommendation to regional executive bodies to take into account the Programme’s provisions when adopting regional targeted programmes in 2011-2018.
The goal will be achieved by developing the country’s tourist and recreation industry, improving the quality of tourist services and promoting the Russian Federation’s tourist product on the international and domestic markets.
In compliance with the government’s directive, the term of the programme’s implementation has been extended to 2018 in order to reduce the burden on the budget without changing the maximum amount of its financing and the final results of implementation.
6. Review of the Agreement On the Operation of the Customs Union within the Multilateral Trading System, to submit for ratification by the president of the Russian Federation.
Submitting to the president of the Russian Federation for introducing for subsequent ratification the Agreement On the Operation of the Customs Union within the Multilateral Trading System
This draft resolution has been submitted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Economic Development.
The main goal of the Agreement is to ensure the full function of the Customs Union if one or more of its members join the World Trade Organisation. It also provides legal grounds for ensuring that member states of the Customs Union honour their commitments to the WTO despite delegating some trade regulating functions to the supranational level.
Under the Agreement, WTO provisions that are related to the regulations of the Customs Union become part of the Customs Union’s legal system. If the WTO Agreement sets rules other than those provided by the Customs Union’s agreements and/or the decisions of its bodies, the rules of the WTO Agreement will supersede. This principle is to be applied only to those WTO provisions that regulate legal relations that are within the Customs Union’s jurisdiction.
The Agreement determines the relation between the standards and rules set by the WTO and the Customs Union and the procedure for coordinating the parties’ actions with regard to accepting their obligations in the WTO, with an understanding that the first party to join the WTO shall notify the other parties and coordinate with them its actions related to accepting obligations as a condition of accession if they require changes to the Customs Union’s legal system.
The Agreement envisages the right of a Party that is not a WTO member to depart from the provisions of the WTO Agreement in part where the legal system of the Customs Union and the decisions of its bodies do not conform to WTO standards and/or if such legal relations are autonomously regulated within its national legal system. The party that does so shall notify the Customs Union’s Commission on the nature and amount of such deviations, and the Customs Union’s Commission will publish these notifications. After such a Party joins the WTO, any such deviation will be allowed only if it is directly envisaged by the terms of its entry to the WTO.
In compliance with Clause 2, Article 15 of the Federal Law On the International Treaties of the Russian Federation, the Agreement is subject to ratification.
7. Review of additional qualifications for those placing orders for medical equipment.
8. Review of the organisation of the inter-agency commission to prepare and hold international inter-regional economic forums.
This draft resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation on the organisation of the inter-agency commission to prepare and hold international inter-regional economic forums has been submitted by the Ministry of Regional Development.
After the 7th Russia-Kazakhstan Inter-regional Cooperation Forum, which was held in the city of Ust-Kamenogorsk in Kazakhstan on Sept.6-7, 2010, and was attended by the heads of state, the president of the Russian Federation gave an instruction to set up a mechanism to control the implementation of the decisions adopted at the Forum by reorganising the Organising Committee to prepare and manage Russian-Ukrainian inter-regional economic forums.
In order to organise systemic work to prepare and hold Russian-Kazakh, Russian-Ukrainian and other forums, the Russian Ministry of Regional Development proposes organising a permanent inter-agency commission to prepare and manage international inter-regional economic forums by a government resolution.
9. Review of the organisation of the committee to prepare and hold celebrations for the 200th anniversary of Mikhail Lermontov’s birth.
This draft executive order has been submitted by the Ministry of Culture.
The members of the organising committee chaired by Minister of Culture Alexander Avdeyev will include Andrei Busygin (as deputy chairman of the organising committee), senior officials of the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media, the Ministry of Sport, Tourism and Youth Policy, representatives of concerned regional executive bodies, of the Russian Academy of Sciences and public organisations, as well as members of parliament and cultural figures.
The document includes an instruction to the organising committee to work out and endorse a plan of main events within a six-month period.
In compliance with the draft executive order, the events envisaged by the plan of main events to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the poet’s birth will be financed from budget allocations to concerned federal executive bodies and the Russian Academy of Sciences for a corresponding financial year.
10. Allocation to the Government of the Republic of Dagestan state housing certificates for those who lost their homes due to the heavy rains in the Republic in September 2009.
Moscow,
July 27, 2011
* Press releases by the Department of Press Service and Information are based on the materials submitted by the executive federal bodies for discussion by the Government Presidium.
