The following issues are scheduled for discussion at the Government meeting on 7 December, 2012:

1. On the draft state programme The Development of Industry and Improving its Competitiveness 

The programme aims at creating a competitive, sustainable and structurally-balanced industry capable for an efficient self-development based on integration in the global technology environment and for the development of advanced industrial technologies. 

The programme includes the following subprogrammes: The Automotive Industry; The Agricultural Machine Building; Food and Processing Industry; Machine Building in Specialised Production; Light Industry and Popular Art Crafts; Accelerated Development of the Military Industrial Complex; Transport Machine Building; Tool-Making Industry; Heavy Engineering; Power Electric Equipment and Power Engineering; Metallurgy; Forest Industry Sector; The Development of the System of Technical Regulation, Standardisation and Uniform Measurements; Chemical Industry; New Generation Construction and Functional Composite Materials; The Rare and Rare Earth Metal Technology; Modern Individual Protection Equipment and Life Supporting Systems of Coal Mine Personnel.    

In addition, the federal targeted programme The Scrapping of the Stock of Chemical Weapons in the Russian Federation is part of the general programme.

2. On the draft state programme The Development of Forestry

The programme aims to improve the efficiency of forest use, protection and reforestation, to provide for meeting social demand for forest resources and useful qualities of forests and for preserving the environmental and resource potential and other global forest functions.

The programme includes the following subprogrammes: Forest Protection, Provision for Forest Use [forest use = logging]; Reforestation.

3. On the draft plan for legislative activity of the Government of the Russian Federation in 2013

The draft plan for legislative activity of the Government of the Russian Federation in 2013 is adopted in order to implement the statutes provided in the programmes of national socioeconomic development and other programme documents of the President and the Government of the Russian Federation.

The draft plan includes 8 sections and provides for the development of 90 draft laws in 2013.

4. On the results of the federal budget performance in implementing federal targeted programmes and the Federal Targeted Investment Programme for 9 months of 2012

Within nine months of 2012, the GDP amounted to 44,065.3 billion roubles. Within nine months of 2012, the consumer prices for commodities and services grew on average by 5.2%.

The federal budget revenues amounted to 9,385.4 billion roubles within 9 months of 2012. The practical federal budget spending amounted to 8,714.2 billion roubles in the aforementioned period. The federal budget surplus amounted to 671.2 billion roubles.

The federal budget revenues

Total federal budget revenues accounted for 9,385.4 billion roubles including a 54.4% proportion of tax revenues and a 45.6% proportion of non-tax revenues. The most part of the federal budget revenues came from the customs duty (37.6%), VAT (28.2%), mineral tax (19.3%) and the corporate profit tax (3%).

The federal budget revenues from taxes amounted to 5,109.9 billion roubles for nine months of 2012, which exceeds the forecast by 80.2 billion roubles.

The major part of federal budget revenues from taxes included VAT (51.7% of total tax revenues), mineral tax (35.4%), and the corporate profit tax (5.6%).

The federal budget spending

On the whole, the practical federal budget expenses in the aforementioned period amounted to 8,714.2 billion roubles. Practical federal budget expenses (excluding interest payments) for nine months of 2012 amounted to 8,439.9 billion roubles.

The expenses under contracts, including the payment for work, services and the receipt of non-financial assets in 9 months of 2012 amounted to 1,856.6 billion roubles.

The state debt for 1 October 2012 amounted to 5,717.2 billion roubles. The state foreign debt for 1 October 2012 was 1,253.5 billion roubles.

As of 1 October 2012, the aggregate funds of the Reserve Fund totalled 1,900.1 billion roubles, the aggregate funds of the National Welfare Fund (NWF) totalled 2,708.6 billion roubles. In the period of 9 months of 2012, the Reserve Fund’s funds increased by 1,088.6 billion roubles, and the NWF funds reduced by 85.8 billion roubles.

Major indicators of the implementation of the Federal Targeted Programmes and the Federal Targeted Investment Programmes 

Total funding of 53 federal targeted programmes and two state programmes of the Russian Federation for 1 October 2012 amounted to 1,059.5 billion roubles.

According to the Federal Treasury, the funding of the federal targeted programmes between January and September 2012 amounted to 569.1 billion roubles.

In the aforementioned period, the federal budget funding of construction projects, facilities and events of the federal targeted investment programmes (including funding design and research) amounted to 369.2 billion roubles.  

5. On the draft federal law On Introducing Amendments to Part One of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and on Repealing Paragraph 53 of the Article 1 of the Federal Law No. 229 of 27 July 2010 On Introducing Amendments to Part One and Part Two of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and Some Other Legal Acts of the Russian Federation and on Repealing Some Legal Acts (Statutes of Legal Acts) of the Russian Federation Due to Settlement of Arrears in Taxes, Levies, Penalties and Fines and Some Other Issues of Tax Administration

The draft law introduces a mandatory pre-trial procedure of taxpayer appeal against all non-standard acts of tax authorities and aims at improving the procedure of pre-trial examination of disputes between tax authorities and taxpayers under the current law on taxes and levies in order to create favourable conditions for dispute settlement without appealing with courts and also to ease the load on the court system and to provide for successiveness of a pre-trail and trial stage of such disputes.

6. On the draft federal law On Introducing Amendments in the Russian Federation Law On Organising Insurance Operations in the Russian Federation and the Federal Law On Mandatory Civil Liability Insurance for Drivers

The draft law provides for:

• a stage-by-stage increase of indemnification amounts covering damages;
• an increasing promptness of insurance compensation in the part of indemnification of the injury inflicted on the health of the insured by stating the right of the insured for insurance compensation directly for injury;
• extending to the insured the right to choose the method of indemnification between an instruction for repairs (a certificate confirming the insurer liability to pay for repairs of a vehicle) or in  pecuniary form;
• a detailed procedure of actions of drivers in case the documents on an accident are composed without road police; specified periods for sending a notification on an insurance event, periods for inspection and/or independent expert review of a vehicle, periods within which an insured should offer his vehicle for such an inspection;
• a detailed procedure of determining underwriter rates including in terms of the Green Card System under the United Nations by setting minimal and maximum underwriter rates;
• legal support of control over setting a correct insurance compensation under the contract of mandatory insurance liability of drivers and compliance with the procedure of payment of insurance compensation providing for the protection of the rights of injured persons when appealing with a federal executive body supervising insurance operations;
• regulating the cases of mutual guilt of drivers and the guilt of more than one driver for the damage inflicted on the injured;
• detailed statutes on an emergence of the rights to claim; on transition of the rights to claim (subrogation) and the procedure of their implementation, delimitation of foundations (valid or non-valid foundation for refusing an insurance compensation) for a recourse claim;
• a detailed list of documents submitted by a license applicant for insurance operations in the part of exclusion of mandatory insurance rules and other documents issued by the Russian Government under the federal law;

7. On the draft federal law On Introducing Amendments to the Article 5.59 of the Russian Federation Code on Administrative Offenses and in the Article 1 of the Federal Law On the Procedure of Examination of Applications from Russian Citizens

Under the proposed amendments, associations of citizens and legal bodies, equally with Russian citizens, will have the right to submit applications to state bodies and local governments.

Under the draft law, applications can also be submitted to state and municipal institutions and other organisations with public functions.

8. On the draft federal law On Introducing Amendments to Some Legal Acts of the Russian Federation on Security of Ownerless Waterworks

The draft law specifies the domain of the law on waterworks security, specifies the concept “operating organisation”, introduces new concepts “decommissioning a waterworks”, “a waterworks demolition” and an “ownerless waterworks”.

The draft law proposes to specify the powers of the state bodies of the Russian Federation and the powers of regional state bodies in waterworks security.

To create the legal framework for relations concerned with conservation and demolition of waterworks, including ownerless waterworks, and their security, the draft law establishes that the Government determines the procedure of their conservation and demolition.

Under the draft law, regional executive bodies are responsible for major repairs, conservation or demolition of ownerless waterworks.

9. On presentation to the President of the Russian Federation for introducing for ratification the Agreement between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan on the Procedure of Residence of the Citizens of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the Russian Federation 

The bilateral agreement signed in Astana on 7 June 2012 has been developed in order to create favourable conditions for residence of nationals of one state on the territory of the other state and abolishes the requirement of the registration within 30 days after entry for nationals of one state during a temporary stay on the territory of the other state.

The agreement is due for ratification under the federal law On the International Agreements of the Russian Federation.

10. On presenting to the President of the Russian Federation for introducing for ratification the Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Italian Republic on Railway Transit of Weapons, Ammunition, Military Equipment, War Material and Personnel through the Territory of the Russian Federation due to Participation of the Armed Forces of the Italian Republic in International Efforts for Stabilisation and Reconstruction of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

The statutes of the agreement establish an international legal foundation for Russia to offer, in compliance with UN Security Council resolutions, a possibility for transit through the Russian territory of armaments, ammunitions, military equipment and material, as well as servicemen and civilian personnel of the Armed Forces of the Italian Republic dispatched for participating in the operations conducted by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.

11. On introducing amendments in the Statute on the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation

The draft resolution establishes that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is a federal executive body authorised to set rates for burial of radioactive waste which simultaneously requires amendments in the Statute on this Ministry. 

12. On introducing amendments in the Statute on the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation and in the Statute on the Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre and Cartography

It is proposed to introduce amendments in the Statute on the Ministry of Economic Development extending to the Ministry the powers on submitting to the Government the proposals on attaching names to geographic points (excluding the names of regions and regional administrative centres) and renaming these geographic points as well as on approving the procedure on detecting the existing names of geographical points and the procedure of conducting an expert review of the proposals on naming geographical points and issuing expert conclusions.

It is also proposed to introduce amendments in the Statute on the Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre and Cartography specifying its powers in the part: conducting an expert review over proposals on geographical names and issuing expert conclusions; agreeing the contents of mapping works prepared by the federal executive bodies; agreeing the proposals on naming specific categories of geographic entities; organising registration and lists of geographical names; organising the work on detecting the existing names of geographical entities.

13. On introducing amendments in some acts of the Government of the Russian Federation (in the part of introducing amendments to the Statute on the Federal Service on Intellectual Property)

The draft resolution establishes the status and main objectives of the Federal Service activity in legal protection of the results of intellectual activity of the military, specialised and dual-purpose spheres as a budget institution. The Federal Service on Intellectual Property (Rospatent) has the powers of the founder.

A supplement is annexed to the Statute on Federal Service on Intellectual Property (Rospatent) due to the introduction of the aforementioned amendments. 

14. On the governmental commission on implementing the federal law On Free Legal Assistance in the Russian Federation 

The draft resolution provides for creating a governmental commission for issues of implementation of the federal law On Free Legal Assistance in the Russian Federation as well as approving a Statute on it.

In addition, the draft resolution proposes to instruct the Ministry of Justice to submit to the government the proposal on the composition of this governmental commission within 30 days.

Moscow,
6 December 2012

* The contents of press releases of the Press Service and Information Department contain materials submitted by the federal executive bodies for discussion at the Russian Government meeting