The following issues are scheduled for discussion at the meeting:

1. Implementing a project to modernise the general education regional systems

The project to modernise the general education regional systems is envisaged to be implemented from September 1, 2011 to August 31, 2013 in all of the regions of the Russian Federation.

The project's purpose is to make systemic changes to school education, to improve study conditions, to make the system open, and to adopt modern educational technology. These changes will be accompanied by an obligatory increase in the average teachers’ wages to bring them up to the average for the economy in the corresponding region.

2. Providing budget funds to support the general education regional systems in 2013

The Ministry of Education and Science submitted the following draft resolutions to the Government on:

• distributing the subsidies from the federal budget to the regional budgets to modernise the general education regional systems in 2013;
• distributing subsidies from the federal budget to the regional budgets in 2013 to pay financial remunerations to the teaching staff of state educational institutions in the regions and to the teaching staff of municipal educational institutions for performing the functions of a homeroom teacher;
• distributing the subsidies from the federal budget to the regional budgets to pay financial incentives to the best teachers in 2013.

3. Measures to enhance response readiness to large-scale emergencies and fires by using modern techniques

Under a programme for the re-equipment of the Ministry for Emergencies’ units they received in2011 and 2012 with 20 aircraft, including three Be-200 planes and one An-148, over 2,000 fire-fighting and rescue appliances and floating craft, including 12 robots for various purposes, and 250,000 outfits for fire-fighters, and next-generation protective clothing for rescue workers.

In 2013, plans include buying a further 127 units of special equipment and 17 robotic devices.

4. Granting 2013 subsidies to Russian Railways to compensate the company for income losses due to the state regulation of rates on services for commuter travellers provided by the public railway transport infrastructure, and amending Government Resolution No 844 of October 17, 2011

In accordance with the federal law On the Federal Budget for 2013 and the 2014-2015 Planning Period, the Federal Agency for Rail Transport will be given budget allocations to render state support for rail passenger transit in 2013, totalling 39.8 billion roubles.

The draft Government directive provides for allocating in 2013 federal budget funds for subsidies totalling:

• 25,000,000,000roubles for Russian Railways to compensate the company for income losses from the state regulation of rates on the services provided for commuter travellers by the public railway transport infrastructure;
• 13,590,918,000 roubles for rail transport organisations to compensate them for income losses from the state regulation of travel rates for long-distance passengers (travelling in second-class sleepers or day coaches);
• 1,209,600,000 roubles for rail transport organisations to compensate them for income losses from reduced travel rates for students and trainees of general educational institutions over 10 years old travelling on public railway transport.

5. Draft federal law On Amending the Federal Law On Banks and Banking

The draft law makes it possible for the Bank of Russia to set restrictions as indicated in Part 6 of Article 18 of the federal law On Banks and Banking in relation to foreign states that practise limitations on the establishment and the activities of banks with Russian investments and affiliates of Russian banks, with the exception of countries that are members of international organisations that do not follow the reciprocity principle.

6. Draft federal law On Amending Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation in the Section Concerning the Prevention of Illegal Archaeological Activities

The draft law provides for amendments to the law of the Russian Federation On the Export and Import of Cultural Items, the Criminal Code, the Administrative Offences Code, the Criminal Procedure Code and the federal law On Cultural Heritage Items (Historical and Cultural Artefacts) of the Peoples of the Russian Federation to prevent the illegal excavation of and illegal trade of cultural items bearing an archaeological significance.

The draft specifies the concept of an “archaeological artefact”, making it possible to identify one as an item belonging to the cultural value system. It will help to build a mechanism for legally regulating trade and protecting such artefacts.

The amendments to the Criminal Code proposed in the draft law distinguish between archaeological heritage items, particularly valuable cultural heritage items (historical and cultural artefacts) and historical and cultural artefacts as independent objects of legal protection and increase the penalty for their destruction or damage to six years of imprisonment. Criminal responsibility is also envisaged for damaging  an occupation layer by conducting archaeological excavations in breach of the established rules and declining to hand over discovered archaeological items to the state.

The draft law also provides for tougher punishment for administrative offences in the sphere of archaeology, including archaeological diggings, without a duly authorised clearance (permit for archaeological excavations and surveys). It is also proposed to introduce administrative responsibility for illegal trading archaeological items.

The draft proposes introducing in the federal law On Cultural Heritage Items (Historical and Cultural Artefacts) of the Peoples of the Russian Federation a norm regulating the procedure for identifying, studying and preserving archaeological heritage items. At the same time, it is stipulated that the document confirming the right to conduct field archaeological work shall be a clearance (permit for archaeological excavations and surveys) issued to individuals by the federal body concerned with the protection of cultural heritage items on the basis of a Russian Academy of Sciences' statement.

7. Draft federal law On Amending Article 22 of the Labour Code of the Russian Federation

The amendments (to become effective on January 1, 2013) provide for a list of federal public sector and public institutions, in which the maximum ratio between the average salary of the head of an institution and the average salary of its staff, varying by a multiple of 1 to 8, can be further increased by decision of the federal public body – the chief administrator of federal budget funds – in whose jurisdiction the institution finds itself. All in all, the list includes 45 federal public sector and public institutions.

The list embraces the federal public sector and public institutions in which the ratio between the average salary of the head of an institution and the average salary of its staff is above or close to the maximum established by the Government resolution On Amending Government Resolution No 583 of August 5, 2008, and takes into account the significance and the exclusiveness of the duties performed by the heads of institution.

8. Draft federal law On Amending Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation in the Section Concerning Industrial Safety Assessment and the Specification of Particular Powers Exercised by Government Oversight Bodies over Administrative Offence Proceedings

The draft proposes eliminating the approval procedures for industrial safety assessment opinions. Furthermore, to monitor industrial safety and the wear and tear of equipment and to check up on expert bodies with a view to bring them to justice, in the case of improper expert examinations, the draft proposes tasking the Federal Service for Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervision (Rostekhnadzor) with keeping a registry of industrial safety assessments without evaluating their content.

The draft defines the legal status of an industrial safety expert, and his/her rights and duties. 

The Administrative Offences Code and the Criminal Code are recommended to include a special penalty clause in the event that an industrial safety expert knowingly provides a false assessment.

The draft makes amendments to the Administrative Offences Code designed to optimise Rostekhnadzor’s oversight and supervisory activities and to remove any legal conflicts between different provisions of the code. Moreover, industrial safety experts may be administratively penalised as Government officials, which is due to the enhanced public risks inherent in their activities and the lack of effect in bringing them to justice as a common entity (general person).

The amendments to the Administrative Offences Code are designed to increase the period of limitation for the institution of administrative proceedings for breaching safety committed in hydro-engineering activities and urban development from two months to one year.

At the same time, the draft provides for amendments making it possible to conduct an administrative investigation into the listed categories of administrative offences. The need for such amendments is confirmed through Rostekhnadzor's practice. The draft also provides for amendments to the Arbitration Procedural Code designed to specify the appeal procedure against rulings on administrative offences that can use as a penalty the administrative suspension of activities or the seizure of the instrument or the object of the administrative offence, in the section concerning the possibility of appealing against such rulings should the first-instance court violate the rules of substantive law. 

9. Signing a Protocol on Amending the Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Albania on Mutual Trips by Citizens of April 7, 1993

The Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Albania on Mutual Trips by Citizens of April 7, 1993 establishes a standard visa regime, which provides for certain formalities. At the same time, the agreement lacks provisions on fees for validating and issuing visas. The result is a situation where the cost of Russian and Albanian visas is established exclusively in accordance with the domestic legislation of these two countries. To obtain a Russian single-entry visa, the applicant must pay a consular fee of $50 while Albanian visas cost five euros for Russian citizens. To ensure visa-fee parity promoting bilateral ties, a protocol has been drafted to include in the agreement a clause providing for fixed flat rates for the issuance of visas – 10 euros and 30 euros (a standard fee and a visa validation fee within three days for persons travelling on private or family business or going on tourist trips).

10. Signing an Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the International Epizootic Office to Establish an IEO Regional Representative Office in the Russian Federation

The draft resolution proposes:

• approving the submitted draft Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the International Epizootic Office on the Establishment of an IEO Regional Representative Office in the Russian Federation;
• instructing the Ministry of Agriculture to sign the agreement on behalf of the Government, allowing it to make unprincipled amendments to the document. 

Pursuant to the agreement, the Government of the Russian Federation undertakes to:

• make an additional contribution of at least 100,000 euros annually for the upkeep of the regional office;
• provide the IEO regional representative who heads the regional office and  the members of the representative’s family residing together with him if they are not citizens of the host country privileges and immunities in the scope envisaged by the Vienna Convention on  Diplomatic Relations of April 18, 1961.

The agreement specifies the scope of activities of the representative office, which include monitoring the epizootic situation, exchanging the latest information and the most up-to-date methods of epizootic control, and improving the veterinary legislative framework.

11. Introducing to the President of the Russian Federation for submitting for ratification the Agreement on the Scheduled Response by Air Defence Duty Officers in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Member-Countries After Receiving Information about the Seizure (Hijacking) of Aircraft

The agreement sets the order of actions by air defence duty officers in CIS member-countries when facing a possible terrorist attack in the air, or using arms and combat equipment to prevent a possible terrorist attack.

12. Amending Certain Legislative Acts of the Government of the Russian Federation

(in regard to introducing amendments to the Statute on the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation and the Statute on the Federal Service for Intellectual Property)

In accordance with the draft resolution, the Ministry of Economic Development will be responsible for formulating national policy and for regulatory regime in the monitoring and oversight of legal protection and the use of intellectual activity products financed by fiscal allocations from the federal budget and also for maintaining the regulatory regime regarding issues that concern the rendering of public services in the field of legal protection of intellectual activity products.

The draft resolution makes appropriate amendments to the Statutes on the Ministry of Economic Development and the Federal Service for Intellectual Property.

13. Amending the Statute on the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation

The draft resolution vests the Ministry of Industry and Trade with the authority to formulate the rules for organising the manufacturing and the quality control of medicinal preparations and issuing opinions regarding whether or not the manufacturers of medicinal preparations for medical purposes comply with the rules for organising the manufacturing and quality control of medicinal preparations.

14. Amending the Statute on the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation

The resolution was drafted with the aim of implementing the provisions of the federal law On Amending Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation, which introduced amendments to the Code of Inland Water Transport.

The amendments made by the federal law to the code establish port state control on inland waterways. Furthermore, the amendments provide that the Ministry of Transport shall lay down rules, procedures and provisions regulating port state control on inland waterways:

• regulation on Captain of Inland Waterways Basin;
• procedure for preparing and formulating scheduled  (journey) targets;
• procedure for requesting inspections of vessels and other floating craft following the assessment of risks that obligatory requirements might be violated and conducting such inspections;
• procedure for the centralised reporting of port state control results through the information port state control system;
• qualification and other requirements set to individuals exercising port state control;
• list of obligatory requirement violations providing grounds for the temporary detention of a vessel or other floating craft and time limits for such a detention;
• procedure and conditions for issuing a permit for a vessel or other floating craft to proceed to the place for eliminating the discovered violations.

Moreover, the federal law also specifies that the federal transport executive authority shall formulate:

regulations on the investigation of transport incidents on inland water transport;

maintenance rules for inland waterways;

maintenance rules for navigable hydro-technical facilities;

inland waterway basins of the Russian Federation;

procedure for the production of non-mineral building materials on inland waterways;

rules for registering an owner-less vessel;

regulation on the qualification of inland navigation captains;

inland navigation rules;

traffic and anchorage rules for vessels in inland waterway basins;

rules for passing vessels through inland waterway locks;

rules for vessel traffic dispatcher regulation and vessel traffic management on inland waterways;

rules for developing and applying a safety management system;

procedure for preparing a schedule of emergency measures to prevent oil pollution by a vessel and dealing with the aftermath of such pollution with regard to the vessel and procedure for implementing such a schedule;

regulation on inland waterway pilots;

criteria for indissoluble linkage between a state-owned immovable property port facility and a related immovable property port facility belonging to an individual by the right of ownership, economic management or operative administration;

procedure for renting out federally owned immovable property port facilities and the standard terms and conditions for appropriate rent contracts.

Moscow,

January 16, 2013

* Press releases by the Department of Press Service and Information are based on the materials submitted by the federal executive bodies for discussion by the Government of the Russian Federation.