2 august 2012

Background material for the government meeting of August 2, 2012 (press release)

PRESS RELEASE*

The following issues are scheduled for discussion at the Aug. 2, 2012 Government meeting: 

1. Progress of the activities and additional measures to liquidate the aftermath of a natural disaster – flooding in the Krasnodar Territory

As a result of torrential rains on July 6-7, 2012 causing destructive flooding, 10 communities in the Krasnodar Territory with a total population of 82,400 have been affected.

Communications, energy supplies, and rail and road transport have been disrupted, and various transport infrastructure has been destroyed or damaged. About 8,000 residential houses and 53 public facilities have been flooded. A total of 1,653 homes have been totally destroyed. More than 55,000 people in the emergencies zone have been affected.

Relief is being brought to the victims under budget allocations from the Reserve Fund of the Russian government..

Interaction has been organised with the Public Control Committee (Popular Front), volunteers, Cossacks and other civil society institutions in the emergencies zone to provide targeted assistance to the population.

Search and rescue and priority restoration work in the emergencies zone have been completed. Objects are being handed over to repair and build organisations, as the units of the Ministry for Emergencies prepare to leave the area. 

2. Draft programme of the exploration of the continental shelf and the development of its mineral resources in the long term

The aim of developing the programme for 2012-2030 is to preserve Russia’s competitive advantage on the world hydrocarbon market and to ensure the energy-safe development of the national economy and the social sphere. The primary tasks of the draft programme are to detail the assessment and structure of the hydrocarbon reserves through the further geological study of the continental shelf and the formation of an industrial and social infrastructure for offshore pilot projects to ensure the proactive replenishment of oil and gas reserves.

3. Approving the distribution of Federal Budget subsidies in 2012 to the budgets of constituent entities for providing state support for small- and medium-sized enterprises, including private farms

The draft government directive deals with the distribution of federal budget subsidies to finance activities for providing state support for small- and medium-sized enterprises to the tune of 19 billion roubles in the 82 constituent entities.

In addition, the draft directive proposes to increase the Federal Budget subsidy to the Krasnodar Territory to support small- and medium-sized enterprises in 2012 to implement the Presidential Executive Order  On Measures to Liquidate the Consequences of the Natural Disaster – Flooding in the Krasnodar Territory.

4. Draft federal law On Introducing Amendments to the Federal Law On the Central Bank (Bank of Russia)

The draft federal law would grant the Bank of Russia the following rights:

← - the right to impose restrictions on the interest rate that a lending organisation sets in its bank deposit contracts;

← - the right to appoint authorised representatives to a lending organisation if the organisation is among the top 100 lending organisations in terms of assets and/or deposits, or if the size of the deposits accounts for five or more percent of the total amount of deposits on the territory of a constituent entity, or if the Bank of Russia and the Deposit Insurance Agency implement measures to prevent bank bankruptcy in  the deposit insurance system.

5. Providing state guarantees in 2012 for loans to defence industry organisations to execute state defence orders under state contracts with the Ministry of Defence

The government draft directive envisages issuing in 2012 state guarantees to the tune of up to 6,094,970,000 roubles on loans taken out by defence industry organisations:

- OAO PO Northern Machine-Building Enterprise;

- OAO St Petersburg Marine Machine-Building Office Malakhit;

- OAO Chkalov Novosibirsk Aviation Production Association.

The adoption of the directive would ensure the execution of state defence orders not only within the Federal Budget allocations for these purposes, but also under loans taken out by defence industry organisations against state guarantees for a term of five years.

6. Draft  federal law On Introducing Amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the Criminal and Procedural Code of the Russian Federation, and the Code of the Russian Federation On Administrative Offences, with the aim of increasing criminal and administrative responsibility for violations in the production and sale of ethylated alcohol, alcohol and alcohol-containing products 

The draft law proposes, among other things:

- to introduce an amendment to Article 151 of the Criminal Code that imposes harsher punishment for involving minors in the habitual use of alcohol and alcohol-containing products and fixing the lower limit of the prison sentence to between two and six years for involving a minor in the habitual use of the said products using violence or threat of violence;

- to add to Article 1711 of the Criminal Code a provision on liability, including criminal liability, for the production, purchase, storage and transportation for the purpose of selling unmarked alcohol products subject to mandatory marking with a special federal excise stamps (on a large scale and a very large scale and by an organised group);

- to increase the statute of limitations for imposing administrative punishment on individuals who have violated laws in the production and sale of ethylated alcohol, alcohol and alcohol-containing products by introducing amendments to Part 1 of Article 4.5 of the Code of Administrative Offences, which will reduce the offences in this sphere. 

7. Draft federal law On Introducing Amendments to Articles 3.7 and 8.28 of the Code of Administrative Offences

The draft law would harmonise the provisions of Articles 3.7 and 8.28 of the Code of Administrative Offences establishing liability for illegal felling and the damaging of forests (using mechanisms, automobiles, self-propelled vehicles and other technology) if such actions do not constitute a crime according to the Constitutional Court, which has issued a resolution declaring them to be unconstitutional to the extent that they permit, as administrative punishment, the confiscation of the instrument used to perpetrate the offence even if the owner is not the guilty party.

8. Draft federal law On the Ratification of the Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Belarus on the Procedure for Setting Prices (Tariffs) on the Supply of Natural Gas to the Republic of Belarus and its Transportation via Gas Pipelines on the Territory of the Republic of Belarus

The agreement establishes for the Republic of Belarus in 2012 the price of gas supplied to meet its domestic needs and determines the formula of the price for 2013 and subsequent years, as pegged to the price of gas for consumers in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area.

The agreement also spells out the procedure for calculating, as of 2012, the tariffs for the transportation services of OAO Beltransgaz pipelines both for domestic consumption and outside the Republic of Belarus.  

9. Draft federal law On Ratification of the Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Belarus on the Terms of Purchase and Sale of Shares and Further Activities of the Open Joint Stock Company Beltransgaz

The agreement envisages the conclusion of a treaty between OAO Gazprom and the State Property Committee of the Republic of Belarus on the purchase by OAO Gazprom of a block of OAO Beltransgaz shares worth $2.5 billion.

The agreement defines the terms and the areas of OAO Beltransgaz's further activities, specifically:

- the modernisation, reconstruction and development of the gas transportation system owned by the company;

- the performance by OAO Beltransgaz of the functions of the sole importer of Russian gas supplied to the Republic of Belarus for its domestic needs and the terms of such supplies;

- the transportation of gas via the Republic of Belarus beyond its borders and the performance of the role as the operator of the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline  section on the territory of Belarus.

10. Draft federal law On the Ratification of the Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Belarus on Cooperation in the Exploration and Peaceful Use of Outer Space  

This is a framework agreement that sets down the basic principles, norms and conditions for the development of bilateral relations in the space sphere, including on the distribution and protection of intellectual property rights and responsibility, export control, property and technology protection, space goods customs clearance and other matters.

The adoption of the draft law would provide an organisational and legal framework for mutually beneficial cooperation between Russia and Belarus in the peaceful exploration and use of outer space.

11. Submitting to the President for subsequent introducing for ratification the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the Eurasian Economic Community

The Convention On the Privileges and Immunities of EurAsEC was signed in Moscow on Dec.19, 2011 by the presidents of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

Its aim is to ensure the necessary conditions for the effective functioning of EurAsEC, the performance of its tasks and the achievement of the goals set under the Treaty on the Foundation of EurAsEC dated Oct. 10, 2000.

12. Signing the protocol on introducing amendments to the Agreement on Licensing Rules for Foreign Trade in Goods dated June 9, 2009

The provisions of the protocol envisage certain changes to the Agreement on the Rules of Licensing Rules for Foreign Trade in Goods. The protocol also envisages technical changes to harmonise the terminology of the agreement with the legislation of the Customs Union.

13. Submitting declarations on the volume of production, sale and/or use of ethylated alcohol, alcohol and alcohol-containing products, and on the use of production capacity

The draft resolution proposes:

- to approve the rules for submitting declarations on the amount of the production, sale and/or use of ethylated alcohol, alcohol and alcohol-containing products and on the use of production capacity;

- to declare null and void earlier government resolutions on the issue;

- to introduce amendments to the Statute on the Federal Alcohol Market Regulation Service to specify the service's authority to adopt departmental regulatory acts (the procedure for filling out declarations and submitting declarations in the electronic form).

14. Introducing amendments to the Statute on the Federal Road Agency

15. Introducing amendments to the Directive of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 67-r dated Jan. 27, 2012

The draft directive would allocate subsidies from the federal budget in 2012 to the budgets of the Republic of Khakassia and the Novosibirsk Region in the amount of 257,594,600 roubles (for the reconstruction of the Abakan-Sayanogorsk Motorway) and 2,300,000,000 roubles (for the construction of the bridge across the River Ob in Novosibirsk).

16. Signing the Protocol on Introducing Amendments to the Agreement on the Regulation of Supplies of Certain Types of Steel Pipes Originating from Ukraine to the Territories of the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation

The protocol sets quantitative limits on importing Ukrainian steel pipes into the Russian Federation without anti-dumping duty payments in the second half of 2012 in the amount of 150,000 tonnes.

 

Moscow, Aug. 1, 2012

* 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 of the Russian Federation